“I spent 5 hours listening to conspiracy theories”: the worst part of carpooling

I travel with fake news

This was a morning trip from Rennes to Bordeaux (which takes about 5 hours) with three unknown women. At first everything was fine, everyone was friendly. But as we drove, the debate gradually shifted to ecology and politics. So far nothing strange, just fairly serious topics in which everyone seemed involved, especially the driver.

But the trip took a completely different turn when the conversation came into focus “scientists killed or hypnotized to forget and silence their discoveries”THE “Covid created in the laboratory by the pharmaceutical industry for the sole purpose of selling vaccines that had already been created well before the pandemic in Ukraine, hence the war with Russia”of the “drag queen propaganda” in schools, fetal organ trafficking, Brigitte Macron being “a pedophile transgender woman”of Emmanuel Macron who would no longer really be Emmanuel Macron, of a conspiracy with the Kennedys and the Bidens, future children conceived by super-developed geneticists with 4 bases of DNA, and so on…

In short, 5 hours of listening to all these conspiracy theories punctuated by “It’s scientifically proven!” » OR “I saw it on the internet” to support the observations. The longest 5 hours of my life!

In conclusion, be careful what you read on the internet and pay attention to the reviews of your carpoolers!

Lou Anne

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The crazy driver

A few years ago, when I was a student (and therefore completely broke), I had to go to Toulouse to attend a seminar as part of my Master’s degree. Since I was on a very limited budget, I decided to use a carpooling app to get there and looked for the first available driver (bad idea).

When I saw him arrive at our meeting point, I initially thought I had hit the jackpot. He was a very nice guy and very friendly. I want to point out that at that time I was in a relationship and that I didn’t imagine anything could happen at all. “Eye candy”, as they say.

In the car we immediately struck up a conversation. We shared our travel experiences and chatted about everything. We realized we had mutual acquaintances, which was quite funny since I’m from a small remote village.

But as we got closer to Toulouse (we had about an hour and a half by car), things started to get difficult. The driver (let’s call him Maxime) started driving increasingly faster and more erratically, abruptly changing lanes and overtaking other vehicles in a hyper-reckless manner, on the right. When I tried to point out that he was driving dangerously, he laughed and pretended it was just for fun, as if it were super fun to cause a huge accident on the A68.

I did my best to stay calm and alert, but I was terrified that we might hit another car or hit the guardrail. As if that wasn’t enough, and having understood that we would soon arrive at our destination, Maxime started to insist very much that I give him my Instagram account. I told him I had a boyfriend, but he didn’t seem to care at all, believing he was 100% lucky while I was clearly pissed off. He kept saying that he wanted to meet me again for a drink, which I refused at least three times before he stopped trying.

Thankfully we finally arrived at our destination, without any incident, and without him managing to get me my Insta (victory!). Of course I left him a terrible note and blocked his number. But this experience really left a mark on me. He reminded me how important it is to be careful when carpooling, even though it may seem like a safe option. I have carpooled again two or three times since then and am very selective in choosing drivers. I also make sure I always have a backup plan in case the need arises.

Pauline

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Three journeys, three atmospheres

I’ve been carpooling for ten years, always as a passenger, and I’ve been lucky enough not to have too many bad trips. However, I still kept some of them.

Like this trip where the driver didn’t get on the highway without warning first. The journey lasted 5h45 instead of 4 hours. Huge stress for me because when I arrived I was going to work and I was afraid of being late.

On another trip, I sat in the only seat left in the front of the vehicle. It was then that the driver warned me that he had a dog and that he would be at my feet for the next 400 km. Having a terrible fear of dogs, and without having been warned in advance, I can assure you that the journey was very long!

But the most recent trip was easily the worst. The driver arrived 25 minutes late, without warning, without apologizing. The car was actually an eight-seater minivan, so I was sitting in the trunk with all my stuff falling on me at every turn. The car was old enough that the ceiling was stuck with thumbtacks. With 150 km of motorway and the ban on getting off while the driver was taking a bathroom break, I arrived more than happy.

Marion

Electric touch

One of my only carpooling adventures happened in 2014 or 2015. I was at my sister’s house near Aix-en-Provence and I was going near Toulon, to one of my aunts. I selected a driver who was doing almost exactly the same route as me, who looked young and had a small car. I really wanted to be Safe because I was traveling alone.

But when I saw the driver arrive, he hadn’t taken his usual car but an electric car. I remind you that it happened ten years ago, at the dawn of electric cars and that those that were already on the market were not exactly the best.

We were in the middle of summer, it was 40 degrees, and it didn’t fail: the driver turned on the air conditioning, draining the battery at high speed. We found ourselves driving in a remote place with the battery at 10% and still two hours of driving ahead of us. So we went looking for a terminal to charge the vehicle… We first stopped at a supermarket, but it wasn’t the right terminal. We finally found where to charge the car at a dealership. But what I didn’t realize is that charging an electric car battery takes a LONG time. As a result, this trip, which should have lasted a maximum of two hours, took the whole day. When I arrived safely, exhausted from the heat and this hellish day, I told myself I would never carpool again.

Postal CodeLOH

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