I have lived here ( the washington metro area) all my life.  Today I broke down and pulled as far over to the right as possible in reston.  I set up my large plastic orange and reflective hazard triangles and turned on my hazard flashers.  I was 200 feet from an intersection and allowed 100 feet for the hazard triangle in between.  A curb and lack of a shoulder lane forced the situation.

to my dismay, two people ran over my hazard triangle and at least 10 drivers almost struck my car due to not paying attention, talking on the phone or just generally being stupid or in experienced.  I watched the whole thing while waiting for my ride to assist.  The look on peoples face that they had to avoid a disabled vehicle by slowing down and signaling and merging while avoiding traffic in the next lane was appalling.  

one woman, driving a small black compact 4 door nissan waved to another driver after running over my road signal breaking it.  The second driver in a mini van wasn't even talking on the phone, just acted like he didn't see or didn't care that my car was stopped and he ran over it.  One guy in an SUV talking on his phone slammed on his brakes after realizing that he was about to run over my warning triangle almost causing a fender bender behind him.

the majority of divers revved their engine as they passed in what sounded like pure rage.  None stopped to ask if they could help.  I do not look like a scary criminal and my car is not an old piece of crap.  fortunately me and my car were outta there in about 30 minutes.  Still kinda shocking how rude and ignorant people are when driving.

has anyone else had a situation like this?

Sounds like an everyday occurance to me.

Yup, seems we have some of the worst drivers in the world here. Everyday I play chicken with someone at a intersection that doesn't know how a stop sign works. People blocking the intersection really ticks me off because the signal changes and you can't go anywhere. I'll always wait at a green light if there is not enough room for my car across the intersection without blocking anything.

The women seem to be the worst, one almost ran over my leg while backing out a few months ago.

Well color me shocked.

Next time setup spike strips behind that hazard sign.  Anyone who hits them got what they deserved and were warned about.

_MaH

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Actually, none of it surprises me,  it surprises me that anyone is surprised by it.  I grew up in CT, went to college in North Jersey and worked in southern and central CT before I couldn't take anymore of the liberal BS and moved down here.  What everyone in this area calls "aggressive driving" is the norm in the northeast.    it's so crowded, what do you expect?  and think about how angry and entitled the typical liberal is.  you have two factors affecting this a) the more crowded it gets, the more aggressive people tend to become because if they don't, they wont get anywhere and also, they're irritated from traffic  b) the liberal aholes are like locusts and have moved into this area bringing their attitude and naturally driving styles with them.   i tried getting away from them and apparently didn't move far south enough.  they've destroyed their states and are looking for another one to feed on.  so sad.  they get here and complain VA doesn't have all the wonderful social services, gov't and school things they had back home and don't mind paying for higher taxes because they're still less than what they left.  fast forward 8 years after coming here and NoVA reminds me an awful lot of CT in many ways, except gasoline is cheaper for now.

as for people running over your warning triangles, that sucks.  if you set them up in an area like where the 29 to 66 west on-ramp is in gainesville, i'm not surprised they got hit, there's no room there and more than once, i've almost gotten tagged trying to get on 66.  between the short merge lane and the people you described not helping out by moving over a lane even though there's always room, very dangerous.  twice, i've had people speed up to close the gap that i was shooting for, you could hear them hammering on their engines.  if it's an area like that, i'm also not surprised no one stopped to help, since it's dangerous to try and stop there.

... and just to be an a-hole ....

Next time properly maintain your car so it does not break down.

Glad that you are okay and it was only your warning triangle that was run over.  This area has more self absorbed assholes than just about any other place I've ever been.

Sorry that happened to you, but yea, i am not surprised, I will admit, when my Toyta died on me when I used to commute back and forth from WV, some guy picked me up when i attempted to make the 97 mile hike the rest of the way home, this guy actually drove me all the way back to WV right to the house.

I offered him gas money, he declined, he had to have burned a half a tank of gas getting me home, he was driving an SUV, granted this was long before the gas crisis, but still, he declined anything other than my thanks and a firm hand shake!

I do not pick up hitch hikers and tld the guy I wouldnt have stopped for him, we both laughed at that, but he said he saw me break down and that he knew i was not a hitcher  so thats why he came back for me.

I wont soon forget that guys kindness! this did happen in va along route 66.

The problem is if you do this in the far right lane assholes turning right on red will take your spot.

Get some flares.

Folks seem to think a little harder before running over them.

Get a flare gun.

Folks seem to think a little harder when dodging one aimed at the windshield.

_MaH

thanks for the words of wisdom, i bought some new triangles and some flare 3 packs.

Still missing spike-strips, claymore mines and a big orange road sign saying "FUCK OFF" in bold black text.

AR in the trunk wouldn't hurt, either.

For future reference, I drive a gray Dodge Ram 1500 with NRA plates, a CB antenna on the roof, and a Gadsden Flag sticker on the back window.

Do not fire upon this vehicle.

Do not fire upon this vehicle unless you're planning on not missing, or provoking return fire.

_MaH

Pffffttt.... doesn't surprise me in the least.

Reflective warning triangles? Shit, one of the last calls I ran before moving to WV,
we had a multi-car crunch-pile, so we parked the pumper across the lane to shield
us, plus set up flares and cones.

A soccermom yippy-yapping on her cell still almost hit the truck, and had to slam on
the brakes to keep from getting t-boned when she tried some creative driving to
avoid it. Gave me a dirty look as she drove past.

WTF?! You couldn't see the big-assed red & white truck with the flashing lights on it
that was parked across the lane of travel, as well as the flares?

If they're like that here, my hats off to the guys & gals who do it in LA or such places.
I don't see how they survive running MVA calls....

i got so sick of the traffic in VB/Norfolk I moved 5 blocks from work ... so happy now.

Yep, I turned down a 10% raise partially because it would of involved me commuting from Herndon to Gaithersberg once a week. I love my 15 minute commute.

Right there with you guys. I live in Sterling and - short of a few locations I know shortcuts to - refuse to travel to anything east of Fairfax City.

Hell, I was fired from a job because of this. Actually had a job interview that same afternoon!  Got the job - a whole 2 miles away from home

_MaH

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Some police officers frown on this. I'm sure I don't know why.

I commute from Woodbridge to Hyattsville every work-day. As bad as the drivers in NoVa are, the ones in DC and the surrounding area in MD are worse. A lot worse.

I've seen people stop in the center lane of 295 to let someone out of the car. It's a freaking nite-mare.

What?  that's not ok?  and neither is pulling over to the break-down lane of 495 to BS?

+1.  Once upon a time, I was merging onto MD 32 off of 295.  A dude was at last 7 car lengths behind me.  He SPED UP once he saw I was going to try to merge.  I did so anyway and he passed me, still accelerating, and gave me a honk.  Like a gave a &*$%.  

I know you find people like that in VA, but I think you find more of them in suburban MD.  

I once lived three blocks from work myself. The only real downside? No excuse to ever be late, or call in on those nasty snowstorm days.

Ehhhh.... might not have been a damn thing he could have done about it.

The properly-maintained engine in Mrs. Tanker's grocery-getter self-destructed (can't remember
what it was exactly) @ 89K. Just after warranty expiration, of course.

You're surrounded by people from places like (self) Centreville. What do you expect?

Last time my waaaay northwest boonie ass pulled over to help someone get their urban assault vehicle going again I almost got pepper sprayed. This may have been the "Che" shirt with the $$ signs on it that made me seem threatening.

This being said, you have the perfect storm here, as far as driving styles go, since a significant percentage of people aren't from here. You have the VA slowpokes, who seem to think it's okay to slow while merging into 60 mph traffic, slow on any bend on I-66, especially when a lane gets added ("oh no, what do i do?"). You have the midwestern drivers here, whom I can't figure out - they'll do 5 mph below the speed limit in the left lane. Add the NW libtards from states doing everything they can to prevent evolution from occuring... until they themselves get behind the wheel. And then you have the DC drivers (especially cabbies) - never inspected, no tires balanced, and can't stay in their lanes.

Effed up.

I thought I saw something orange out of my peripheral and heard something crunch when I was driving the other day.

No one has even raised the disaster that even a few flakes of snow seem to cause.

Here is a hint for all the city SUV drivers:

Your brakes do not work any better on a 4-wheel drive than a 2-whell drive in slippery conditions.

That is the exact reason I live 5 miles from work and go in at 530. I will kill a bitch. I actually coined the phrase "Virginia lane change" when i moved here.

When there is a two lane left turn land and the road you are turning onto has three lanes and the asshole on the outside drifts to that far lane. Basically, it is some lazy bastard who doesnt feel like holding there steering wheel long enough to finish the turn. That and the my blinker is on, YOU BETTER ACCOMADATE ME NOW. Gotta love 0 step ahead thinkers.

You see people use their turn signals?  Wow, that's a rarity around me for some reason and when they do use them it's a last minute thing.  Like jamming on the brakes 20ft from a turn, starting to turn, THEN hitting the signal.  Thanks jackass!  

Sitting at a stop light in Tysons a few months ago, the light was red. There was a car in front of me, and a car behind me.

Light turns green, so much traffic the car in fronto f me can't go, so I can't go.

CRASH. Woman behind me was texting, saw the light turn green, and ran into the back of my pretty new Lexus.

I don't know how I handled it calmy.

But, I did the RIGHT thing. We went to a parking lot near there and figured it out. I LOATHE people who get into accidents AND DON'T GET OFF THE ROAD and SIT in the GD lanes.

How are the police supposed to do their CSI shit to determine who's at fault if you move away from the scene of the accident?

Yeah, I mean they will never be able to figure out who hit who with the rear bumper caved in and the front bumper caved in on the other car!

It is a mystery!

I thought that was the norm were everywhere south of NY. Yep ... four way go does not mean four way stop. Although people like that serve a purpose: their 4wd vehicle repairs paid a good deal of my college tuition when they forgot to turn it off and drove around on dry pavement in their parking garages and heard a *plink* from their transfer case. Alas, this would not have worked here, since there are few underground parking garages with the corners paved with asphalt.

I never figured out what would want to make some brit drive his 911 convertible when there are 4 inches of snow on the ground though.

I HAD TO PEE. I'M SORRY. I WON"T DO IT ANY MORE.

Dude!!!!

Don't stop peeing just for us!

^^^^ THAT.