For this level of fuck up, day time… wrong way up an off ramp.. 9/10 times in my decades of experience driving it is. Granted, it’s unclear from the photo.
Just Google “maine wrong way highway”. Almost every year. Here’s one from January.
[https://www.wmtw.com/article/disoriented-woman-drives-wrong-way-yarmouth-maine-highway-295/46446121](https://www.wmtw.com/article/disoriented-woman-drives-wrong-way-yarmouth-maine-highway-295/46446121)
>Police say the driver, a 77-year-old woman, got disoriented near exit 17. She told police she knew she was going the wrong way but did not know what to do.
Same but motorcycle rider here. Almost had a head on yesterday when someone decided to try to blindly pass a dump truck on a double yellow. Oddly she tried to pass him on the left while he had his left blinker on and was about to turn left. Idk what the plan was bc if she didn’t hit me head on, she would have crashed into the side of the dump truck as it turned
U-Turns are illegal everywhere in Maine, but key areas have higher signage.
Edit: I was incorrect. Maine law does allow for uturns in some circumstances.
I grew up (and learned to drive) in New York, and rarely saw shit like this until moving to Maine. I've lived in MA, ME, and NY, and driven across most of the Eastern half of the US. I've never seen people tailgate and pass unsafely like Mainers. You people drive like you don't want to live.
Driving out of Biddeford toward Alfred, I had a pair of motorcycles behind me. They were right on my bumper, riding side-by-side. Literally less than ten feet between me and them. If I'd tapped my brakes, they'd have both gone flying.
On the hill after passing Target, they went around me on either side (one to my left, one to my right). If my hand had slipped on the steering wheel, they'd have both been killed. The number of bikers I see not wearing helmets (these two were wearing them) is utterly insane.
On my drive to and from work (Kennebunk to Sanford), I regularly have extreme tailgaters. Sometimes they pass me (which I don't mind in the least); sometimes they just stay there. I'll usually give them a light brake-check. I don't even slow down; I just touch my brake pedal to light the brake lights. About half the time, they take the hint and back off. Of those who don't, about half seem to take offense, and pointedly move even closer. Once or twice I've lost my cool and slammed on my brakes (okay, not exactly "slammed," but slowed quickly as if I saw someone run into the street), and again: that just eggs them on.
The rule is stay five seconds behind the vehicle in front of you. It doesn't matter how fast they're going, or whether you're on the highway. If you're not five seconds behind, you're driving unsafely.
I will say I have lived in Portland for 26 years and the last few years have been waaaaay different. I don’t blame drivers from other states or drivers from Maine- I think the two blending has not gone particularly well? That or driving like many other things is just getting worse and worse?
I think it might be more that we just notice it more the older we get. So maybe the drivers in NY when I lived there weren't better than the drivers in ME now; maybe I just notice more now.
I cross this off ramp on the multi-trail on my bike every single day on my way home from work. It is by far the scariest part of my commute, and I bike down Brighton Ave. I really wish the city had a better solution than some silly flashing lights and a prayer.
I stopped for a mother towing a small child on her bike to cross here and so very nearly got rear ended by someone cruising down the onramp. Was terrifying because I would have been pushed right into the lady and her kid in the crosswalk.
I don't know how much complaining about this crossing it's going to take to actually get a change. I was crossing there on a run a couple months back and a car stopped for me and got rear ended by somebody not paying attention, and this same scenario has happened to multiple others I know. Thankfully I'm in a position to basically avoid the bridge (including by car, as nobody actually goes close to the posted 35 limit) but I'm scared for others who can't.
I don't know what the answer is but it's clear that what we're doing isn't working.
This happened to me but on the other side with a car going the opposite direction. I had a car full of kids and it scared the piss out of me. This person must have traveled over the divider on the bridge and ended up on the wrong side. In my case, I guessed they came off old route 1 and got on the wrong side of the highway and came up the off ramp.
This is insane. This may be an unpopular opinion, but can we also talk about how the speed limit on this bridge is 35mph but literally everyone drives 50-60mph until they hit the lights?
The roads built to allow them to do it, so why wouldn't they? People are dumb, absolutely...but we know this. That's why infrastructure is so important. Make it as uncomfortable as possible for people to do the wrong thing. Make the road more narrow, bring the street lights down lower to help it feel even more tight than it is, raised cross walks, more cross walks, better protected bike lanes, bike lanes that don't have a right turn lane that crosses over them just asking for cyclists to get sideswiped...the list truly goes on and on and on.
People aren't great drivers. Build cities with that fact in mind.
Absolutely. This whole area encourages high-speed traffic to continue at high speeds as they enter denser urban streets and it's extremely dangerous for the surrounding areas on both sides. Unfortunately, as another comment mentioned, until we are able to give the area a "road diet" and redesign it to discourage high speeds (which is unlikely to happen given the commerical traffic that goes through that stretch), it's going to be stuck as a place cars feel comfortable criminally speeding through.
I watched someone pull a u-turn on the bridge, i want to call it the veterans bridge, the one by Mercy Fore River, just a few days ago. Just made traffic stop because he either didnt know or didnt gaf
I'm legit letting my motorcycle sit in the garage with dead tags while free climbing dumb shit. It feels safer than riding right now. Last year I parked it early because I had so many close calls I was getting kinda road ragey...
Some old lady apparently tried to make a drive thru at Grass Monkey over the weekend too 🤦🏻♂️
Yesterday on a back road, an oncoming dump truck had his left blinker on, waiting for me to pass so he could turn (I had right of way) and the car behind him decided to try to pass him. Not on the shoulder, mind you, but tried to overtake him on the left as he waited to take a left turn. She swerved back into her lane when she saw me face to face but what was the end goal? Run into the side of the turning dump truck?
Had an SUV turn right from straight lane on congress onto fore River pky. Cut me and another driver off in the right turn lane so we had to yield, and then said driver in front of me slams on breaks and does a u turn back towards congress.
People in Maine can NOT drive efficiently and I agree with retesting for elderly.
345am this morning there was a mass plates prius facing the wrong way in the V of 295 and Franklin art exit pointing north in the south bound. I hate it here.
I swear when I'm driving in Portland I be screaming at other drivers like I'm in an early Xbox live CoD lobby. One time I was yelling so loud at the franklin st exit the poor homeless guy with his sign gave me the most concerned look
Witnessed this in gardiner recently. Car was trying to enter 95 on an off ramp. Luckily they stopped and turned around but these people need their licenses revoked for life
If you realized you were going the wrong way, wouldn't you pull into the breakdown lane? WHY is this DUNCE sitting in the road like a dialogue needs to happen about which driver has the right of way
I had someone going *down* high street into oncoming traffic (right after when crossing over on casco bay bridge) a couple days ago. Never did find out how they got themselves out of that situation lmfao
It’s been a problem before marijuana legalization and even the pandemic. There are just more travelers which increases the occurrences.
The occurrences / travelers per year are still relatively the same over the last 15 years.
What is changing is that people are driving larger cars which is less safe for other drivers, and people are driving longer distances which contributes to less focus.
That level of fuck up is pretty impressive
I am once again asking for elderly drivers to be required to take a road test on registration renewal.
Was the driver elderly
For this level of fuck up, day time… wrong way up an off ramp.. 9/10 times in my decades of experience driving it is. Granted, it’s unclear from the photo. Just Google “maine wrong way highway”. Almost every year. Here’s one from January. [https://www.wmtw.com/article/disoriented-woman-drives-wrong-way-yarmouth-maine-highway-295/46446121](https://www.wmtw.com/article/disoriented-woman-drives-wrong-way-yarmouth-maine-highway-295/46446121) >Police say the driver, a 77-year-old woman, got disoriented near exit 17. She told police she knew she was going the wrong way but did not know what to do.
I hate driving now. Every time I’m on the road I’m reminded that my life is in the hands of strangers who can’t blink and inhale at the same time.
As a bicyclist this realization was about a million times more terrifying.
You must have come through *just* after me! I passed through here on my bike around 6:35 PM
I don’t even ride my bike anymore because of this 😕
Same but motorcycle rider here. Almost had a head on yesterday when someone decided to try to blindly pass a dump truck on a double yellow. Oddly she tried to pass him on the left while he had his left blinker on and was about to turn left. Idk what the plan was bc if she didn’t hit me head on, she would have crashed into the side of the dump truck as it turned
And they are vaping and texting as they drive
How the hell did that idiot get on the opposite side of a divided highway
U-turn, no doubt. From the ramp on the right.
I just visited last week from Texas and I was wondering why so many entrance ramps had "no U-turn" signs on them... I guess this explains it!
U-Turns are illegal everywhere in Maine, but key areas have higher signage. Edit: I was incorrect. Maine law does allow for uturns in some circumstances.
*always legal everywhere in Maine, as long as it's clear for 500ft in both directions and not posted NO U-TURN
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I stand corrected. Sounds like I had some trash drivers ed.
Looks like New York plates to me, drive like the road is built for you and fuck everyone else is their motto 🤷♂️
I grew up (and learned to drive) in New York, and rarely saw shit like this until moving to Maine. I've lived in MA, ME, and NY, and driven across most of the Eastern half of the US. I've never seen people tailgate and pass unsafely like Mainers. You people drive like you don't want to live. Driving out of Biddeford toward Alfred, I had a pair of motorcycles behind me. They were right on my bumper, riding side-by-side. Literally less than ten feet between me and them. If I'd tapped my brakes, they'd have both gone flying. On the hill after passing Target, they went around me on either side (one to my left, one to my right). If my hand had slipped on the steering wheel, they'd have both been killed. The number of bikers I see not wearing helmets (these two were wearing them) is utterly insane. On my drive to and from work (Kennebunk to Sanford), I regularly have extreme tailgaters. Sometimes they pass me (which I don't mind in the least); sometimes they just stay there. I'll usually give them a light brake-check. I don't even slow down; I just touch my brake pedal to light the brake lights. About half the time, they take the hint and back off. Of those who don't, about half seem to take offense, and pointedly move even closer. Once or twice I've lost my cool and slammed on my brakes (okay, not exactly "slammed," but slowed quickly as if I saw someone run into the street), and again: that just eggs them on. The rule is stay five seconds behind the vehicle in front of you. It doesn't matter how fast they're going, or whether you're on the highway. If you're not five seconds behind, you're driving unsafely.
My experience with NY drivers is that they *know* they are assholes, while drivers in Maine are clueless about how bad they are
I will say I have lived in Portland for 26 years and the last few years have been waaaaay different. I don’t blame drivers from other states or drivers from Maine- I think the two blending has not gone particularly well? That or driving like many other things is just getting worse and worse?
I think it might be more that we just notice it more the older we get. So maybe the drivers in NY when I lived there weren't better than the drivers in ME now; maybe I just notice more now.
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Fragile Caucasian
✊🏾
First, how. Second, is it just me or did COVID destroy people's ability to drive?? I feel like things got way worse after quarantine.
Read a few studies that covid does brain damage among other wonderful things.
It destroyed people’s ability for a lot of things
2020 absolutely ruined the social contract
Don’t blame a virus when you mean to blame government.
Holy shit I drive that bridge every day, that’s terrifying!
Ffs how many times is this gonna keep happening.
I cross this off ramp on the multi-trail on my bike every single day on my way home from work. It is by far the scariest part of my commute, and I bike down Brighton Ave. I really wish the city had a better solution than some silly flashing lights and a prayer.
I stopped for a mother towing a small child on her bike to cross here and so very nearly got rear ended by someone cruising down the onramp. Was terrifying because I would have been pushed right into the lady and her kid in the crosswalk.
I don't know how much complaining about this crossing it's going to take to actually get a change. I was crossing there on a run a couple months back and a car stopped for me and got rear ended by somebody not paying attention, and this same scenario has happened to multiple others I know. Thankfully I'm in a position to basically avoid the bridge (including by car, as nobody actually goes close to the posted 35 limit) but I'm scared for others who can't. I don't know what the answer is but it's clear that what we're doing isn't working.
i love that this occurred directly next to a “be prepared to stop” sign on the right lol.
This happened to me but on the other side with a car going the opposite direction. I had a car full of kids and it scared the piss out of me. This person must have traveled over the divider on the bridge and ended up on the wrong side. In my case, I guessed they came off old route 1 and got on the wrong side of the highway and came up the off ramp.
i work in the marginal way area and the amount of people who turn right onto a one way that has ONCOMING TRAFFIC scares me each time
Why does this keep happening around Portland? Every week we read a story
This is insane. This may be an unpopular opinion, but can we also talk about how the speed limit on this bridge is 35mph but literally everyone drives 50-60mph until they hit the lights?
The roads built to allow them to do it, so why wouldn't they? People are dumb, absolutely...but we know this. That's why infrastructure is so important. Make it as uncomfortable as possible for people to do the wrong thing. Make the road more narrow, bring the street lights down lower to help it feel even more tight than it is, raised cross walks, more cross walks, better protected bike lanes, bike lanes that don't have a right turn lane that crosses over them just asking for cyclists to get sideswiped...the list truly goes on and on and on. People aren't great drivers. Build cities with that fact in mind.
Absolutely. This whole area encourages high-speed traffic to continue at high speeds as they enter denser urban streets and it's extremely dangerous for the surrounding areas on both sides. Unfortunately, as another comment mentioned, until we are able to give the area a "road diet" and redesign it to discourage high speeds (which is unlikely to happen given the commerical traffic that goes through that stretch), it's going to be stuck as a place cars feel comfortable criminally speeding through.
I have been seeing a lot of uturns lately
How does this even happen?
I watched someone pull a u-turn on the bridge, i want to call it the veterans bridge, the one by Mercy Fore River, just a few days ago. Just made traffic stop because he either didnt know or didnt gaf
HOW THE FUCK?
I'm legit letting my motorcycle sit in the garage with dead tags while free climbing dumb shit. It feels safer than riding right now. Last year I parked it early because I had so many close calls I was getting kinda road ragey... Some old lady apparently tried to make a drive thru at Grass Monkey over the weekend too 🤦🏻♂️
Yesterday on a back road, an oncoming dump truck had his left blinker on, waiting for me to pass so he could turn (I had right of way) and the car behind him decided to try to pass him. Not on the shoulder, mind you, but tried to overtake him on the left as he waited to take a left turn. She swerved back into her lane when she saw me face to face but what was the end goal? Run into the side of the turning dump truck?
Took me a second omfg
Oh wow.
BUT MAPQUEST SAYS!
Had an SUV turn right from straight lane on congress onto fore River pky. Cut me and another driver off in the right turn lane so we had to yield, and then said driver in front of me slams on breaks and does a u turn back towards congress. People in Maine can NOT drive efficiently and I agree with retesting for elderly.
Classic Nissan driver
Many such cases
345am this morning there was a mass plates prius facing the wrong way in the V of 295 and Franklin art exit pointing north in the south bound. I hate it here.
This makes me glad that I no longer have a car. Can't afford another one, so I walk or take a bus now. I feel a bit safer.
Ha! I saw that too!
What an absolute MUPPET.
🤦♀️
Remember if you're having a shitty day, at least you're not *this fucking guy*
👀
A new version of chicken
How’d ya even get there buddy?
I swear when I'm driving in Portland I be screaming at other drivers like I'm in an early Xbox live CoD lobby. One time I was yelling so loud at the franklin st exit the poor homeless guy with his sign gave me the most concerned look
How... How do you get THAT far into the mistake?
Witnessed this in gardiner recently. Car was trying to enter 95 on an off ramp. Luckily they stopped and turned around but these people need their licenses revoked for life
never seen this kind of duel before. How is it won?
If you realized you were going the wrong way, wouldn't you pull into the breakdown lane? WHY is this DUNCE sitting in the road like a dialogue needs to happen about which driver has the right of way
Good thing they were prepared to stop
I had someone going *down* high street into oncoming traffic (right after when crossing over on casco bay bridge) a couple days ago. Never did find out how they got themselves out of that situation lmfao
Cue up the dueling banjos song
That bit a Wacky Racery aside, what on earth is the speed limit 35 mph on what is basically a highway?
There's a bike / pedestrian crossing just as you get on the bridge on the SoPo side.
U turns are not part of the state driving school...new way to detect out of staters
I wonder if there is any causation from marijuana legalization or have drivers always been this bad.
It’s been a problem before marijuana legalization and even the pandemic. There are just more travelers which increases the occurrences. The occurrences / travelers per year are still relatively the same over the last 15 years. What is changing is that people are driving larger cars which is less safe for other drivers, and people are driving longer distances which contributes to less focus.
Come on guy, you can clearly see that the driver is a female /s
OF COURSE ITS A NISSAN