driving pet peeves

[silverwhisper]

eilan: please, no apologies necessary. besides, i enjoy watching you exercise your superior snark-fu. :>

[still laughing]

ed

 

[silverwhisper]

other big pet peeves:

drivers who speed up to prevent your passing them. if being passed by me really annoys you, then for fuck's sake, drive that fast all the goddamned time!.

idiots in oncoming traffic who don't signal that they're turning while you're also waiting to turn. is it so very goddamned painful for you to let me know you're turning so i can focus on other traffic accordingly?

ed

 

[bisexplicit]

People who don't stop at four way stop signs.
People who don't turn right on red when its legal and thus prevent you from doing so.

 

[Eilan]

Deer.

 

[bisexplicit]

Backseat drivers.
Most specifically; my mother.

 

[EJFan]

Backseat drivers.
Most specifically; my mother.

that's odd... you're mother was great in MY backseat.

 

[bisexplicit]

that's odd... you're mother was great in MY backseat.

Oh, I /so/ don't like you anymore!

 

[EJFan]

Oh, I /so/ don't like you anymore!

you're right... i should never have said that.

she wasn't a backseat driver... more of a rider i think.

 

[bisexplicit]

you're right... i should never have said that.

she wasn't a backseat driver... more of a rider i think.

*gives you a little girly slap*
*cries*
*runs away*

 

[silverwhisper]

[trout-smacks 'em both]

[scampers off, stage left]



ed

 

[bisexplicit]

Where does stage left lead exactly...? Is that where you store all the trouts?

 

[silverwhisper]

nope: just off-stage, someplace... :>

[pokes bi in the tummy and scampers off]



ed

 

[bisexplicit]

Well, fine, scamper off...I ran away first, though.

 

[Eilan]

Overall, I have a LOT of driving pet peeves... and I'd be willing to bet that I'm even more peevish than Eilan.

Wow, I'm impressed!

I've heard all about you Massachusetts drivers. My best friend lived just outside of Amherst for about a year. Aren't U-turns pretty much legal there?

People who are afraid of the highway. They don't know how to merge onto it, they suck at changing lanes, they drive too slow, and heaven help them if there's construction.

I was once in the back seat of Ms. Anal Retentive's car when she stopped on the ramp while attempting to merge. There were cars coming, and it worried her. We almost got rear-ended, and the driver behind us was understandably upset. Hell, as the one who almost got squashed, I was upset!

 

[EJFan]

I was once in the back seat of Ms. Anal Retentive's car when she stopped on the ramp while attempting to merge. There were cars coming, and it worried her. We almost got rear-ended, and the driver behind us was understandably upset. Hell, as the one who almost got squashed, I was upset!

this sort of reminds me of a story as well...

i'm originally from NJ and was making a run up there w/a coworker who'd never been. we were going down an on-ramp and i warned him to NOT STOP when he got to the end or else we'd be sitting there forever. he was too timid, stopped, and sure enough we sat there forever.

 

[silverwhisper]

the art of the highway merge.

EJ: what highway?

ed

 

[Lynxie]

Wow, I'm impressed!

I've heard all about you Massachusetts drivers. My best friend lived just outside of Amherst for about a year. Aren't U-turns pretty much legal there?

Yeah, unless there's a sign saying that you can't make a U-turn, then it's perfectly alright. And as for stopping at the end of highway ramps...EJ's right, you'll be there forever (unless the person behind you gets mad enough and rams your car into traffic). Rotaries (known elsewhere as traffic circles or roundabouts) are something else out-of-state drivers can't seem to handle - in MA, traffic in the rotary has the right of way, and incoming traffic must yield to them.

In other news...I got to take my 16-yr-old brother-in-law for his road test to get his license yesterday. It's so weird to drive with someone who actually obeys all the rules in the handbook.

Edited to add: Hit and runs piss me off. Hit and runs involving cats or dogs that could potentially be someone's pet piss me off even more. Own up to your fuckups.

 

[EJFan]

EJ: what highway?

ed

dude... this was like 10 years ago... i think it was down 'round cherry hill (we had a store in that area so it's a good guess) but i have no clue what hwy it was. but hey... an on-ramp's an on-ramp, right?

 

[EJFan]

Rotaries are something else out-of-state drivers can't seem to handle - in MA, traffic in the rotary has the right of way, and incoming traffic must yield to them.

we traded in rotary for push-button down here for that exact reason.

 

[silverwhisper]

EJ: that's no excuse!

ed

 

[EJFan]

EJ: that's no excuse!

ed

don't you have, like, work to do or somethin'????

*throws arms up into the air, turns & saunters out mumbling*

*oh wait... spies one of SW's misplaced trout... stares & ponders*

 

[Eilan]

Rant

Hit and runs piss me off. Hit and runs involving cats or dogs that could potentially be someone's pet piss me off even more. Own up to your fuckups.

This is scary. If someone won't own up to hitting a dog or cat, imagine what would happen if he or she hit a person. Remember that woman (in Texas, maybe?) a couple of years ago who hit that guy with her car and then left him in her garage entangled in her windshield while it took him several days to die? Lovely, huh?

Dumbasses who pass stopped school buses should be thrashed. In one of our neighboring counties, some drunken fuckface blew by a stopped school bus and hit a six year old girl who'd just gotten off the bus. The guy stopped long enough to help some high-schoolers who were on the bus get her out from under his car, then he got in his car and fled. Fortunately, someone had already written down the chickenshit bastard's plate number, so he was arrested pretty quickly. The little girl had to be airlifted to a children's hospital and was in critical condition at one point, but she's going to make a full, if slow, recovery.

Moving right along. . .

Parents who won't put their little ones in child seats, don't install the child seats correctly, or don't insist that their older kids buckle up. I see a lot of this on the days that I pick up my first grader. I'd have a hard time living with myself if I caused an accident that seriously injured one or more of my children. It would be even worse if I could have prevented their injuries by taking a few simple safety precautions. In the event of a car crash, it's VERY difficult to keep an unrestrained child from becoming a projectile, no matter how strong you think you are.

I'd like to shake the parents who think that the child-seat laws don't apply to their kids. In my state a child must be four years old AND 40 pounds to ride in a car without being in a car seat--it's NOT 4 years old OR 40 pounds. That means a 35-pound 5-year old needs to be in a car seat, as does a 50-pound 3-year old. My husband has had parents argue with him over this during traffic stops.

Yeah, some kids don't want to sit in car seats. Tough. My kids know that the car doesn't start until EVERYONE'S buckled up/strapped in. They also know not to unbuckle their seat belts or try to get out of their car seats. About three years ago, my oldest got herself in a lot of trouble for getting out of her car seat and standing up while we were going about 65 mph.

 

[silverwhisper]

eilan: the stupid crap we've seen parents not do in their cars warrants its very own thread, i think. it really angers me and hell, i'm not even a parent myself!

[pre-emptively trout-smacks EJ to disarm him]

[picks up the discarded trout]

[begins nunchaku demonstration using two trout]

:>

ed

 

[EJFan]

Parents who won't put their little ones in child seats, don't install the child seats correctly, or don't insist that their older kids buckle up. I see a lot of this on the days that I pick up my first grader. I'd have a hard time living with myself if I caused an accident that seriously injured one or more of my children. It would be even worse if I could have prevented their injuries by taking a few simple safety precautions. In the event of a car crash, it's VERY difficult to keep an unrestrained child from becoming a projectile, no matter how strong you think you are.

i actually posted something about this on my blog a few weeks ago. they had one of those stories on the local news where they have these clinics to teach people how to properly install child safety seats.

i dunno... i don't have kids, but i suspect that if you can't fucking install a safety seat correctly, you have no real business reproducing to begin with? anyone with me on this? sorry if it sounds evil but i've about had it with teaching the morons of the world all the little shit they should be able to figure out for themsevles. this is why we still have instructions on friggin' shampoo bottles and labels for where the stamps go on envelopes.

as to the accident victim dying in the garage:

my old trumpet teacher was an EMT and he was at an accident scene once where some pedestrian got hit and ran his head through the windshield of the car. the windshield broke enough for his head to go through... then the pedestrians motion reversed when the car stopped... the windshield closed up around his neck as his body pulled away and it chopped his head off. gross, i know, but i hadda tell it.

 

[EJFan]

[begins nunchaku demonstration using two trout]

*grabs pistol from holster a la indiana jones... shoots SW in the groin*