[mike721]

Good thing I was wide awake this morning at 0500 as I got to work, or I might not be typing this right now.

I was within 1/4 mile of my parking spot at work, in Newark airport, which for those not local Newark is a large, VERY busy NYC airport that just happens to be across the river in NJ. I always joke that it's not the dark, the rain, the deer, bears, or the trucks on my commute that scare me, it's the lost people in the airport, and one of them almost took me out today.

I was coming down a 30 mph curving ramp in the airport, which merges with another that comes in from the left, the one coming in has a stop sign and stop line at it's end, I have the right of way. I see a car coming down that ramp, typical rental car (rental car return is off this same ramp), and something told me to take a closer look. I tried to catch the driver's eye, instead he was looking everywhere else, up, down, left right, bewildered and trying to read about 10 signs at once, and I'm convinced he never saw me or the stop sign. I slowed down, moved over, and anticipated trouble..and here it came. I was slowing down and watching him as he ran right through the stop sign, failed to follow the lines on the road, passed right through where I would have been in a second, then I think he finally saw me ( I had high beams on by then and was laying on the horn) and he also realized he was headed diagonally across the road and going for a guard rail and he did the predictable worst thing possible and slammed on the brakes, stopped blocking my path. I was going slow enough that I was able to swerve and get around him and then I hit the gas and got out of there before he did anything else stupid.

Be careful out there...

 

[mike721]

I have worked in NYC airports for the last 33 years, vehicle accidents are a daily occurrence due to lost, distracted drivers, driving unfamiliar rental vehicles, trying to read confusing signage (maybe in a language they don't read) which rushing to meet their flights after fighting their way through NYC traffic.

You need 2 sets of eyes to survive on these roads, and that just for me to get to the parking lot.

Once I'm inside and on the field it's even better, imagine 10,000 people, in 5000 vehicles ranging from golf carts to 120,000 pound pushback tractors, dodging airplanes and pedestrians while moving in random directions, always rushing to get somewhere sooner.

Airports are dangerous on both sides of the curtain.

I was that driver. Not THAT driver, but...

When I traveled for business I hated airports. Could never figure out where to go and would creep along trying to read all the signs.

Once I landed at BW in Baltimore, got my car and started looking for the airport exit. I went around the airport three times before I figured it out. When I saw the exit I stepped on the gas to get over the traffic lanes and next thing I know I've got blue lights in my back window. Cop gets out and asks why I was driving so fast. Explained how I couldn't find the exit, finally figured it out and didn't want to miss it a 4th time. He just chuckled, commented that I'm not the first person to get lost at BW and let me go.