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2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
It's not my job to keep the 80,000 pound jerks off my rear bumper...it's their job to keep off it. And the more I read these posts the more I think I will resort to my old once-used method of dropping my speed when one gets on my bumper. An 80,000 pound vehicle doing 75 miles an hour, five feet off my bumper is much more dangerous than one doing 50. If he won't increase his following distance then I'll just have to decrease my speed to bring it closer to a safe distance. It's not nearly as dangerous as what he's already doing.
If there's no number take the company name, yahoo yellow page it when you get home. Call ask for the safety director or manager/owner. Calmly describe your driving and their driving.
If you're in a state that has idiot speeds for trucks above 55, call you state legislators and ask why they are doing this to their citizens.
You can be a PITA with many of the truckers. I often point out that many change lanes at the ramp I often use onto I-70 to help merging uphill, often not needed because I floor the gas pedal when necessary. But I don't want to be another statistic of an 80000 pound, or higher, vehicle.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I DO stay out of their way; what gets me is, as I said, when they run up to your bumper when you're cruising at 65-70 mph in the far right lane.
In fact, we called the police (*77) for some idiot young clowns who passed us at 100 mph or more in a convoy of 3 sporty coupes on a 55 mph non-interstate in MD. I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or get angry when the cop asked if the drivers were black or white!!! (Like we could even see the drivers, and are they really allowed to ask about race?)
I DO stay out of truckers' way; what gets me is, as I said, when they run up to your bumper when you're cruising at 65-70 mph in the far right lane.
When a semi driver is to be corrected, I usually have a passenger write down the plate numbers, trailer number, and any other I.D. including the time and place.
Then I talk to the driver over the CB and if he is a jerk, he is advised that he will be stopped & checked for outstanding warrants. That threat usually works for me.
Two burglars who happened to be black came to break into my house last week, and when I called the police, you better believe I identifed them by race. To do otherwise would be absurd.
I find it absolutely amazing that anybody would even thinks that a police officer shouldn't be allowed to ask for what amounts to a good description of a criminal because of race. This shows that what I have been saying about the destructive nature of political correctness is even more true than I thought it was. Scary, very scary.
Right you are.
There is a huge difference between being fair-minded and "politically correct". I am not politically correct and don't intend to be. I happen to notice there are differences between people. Sheesh.
I just can't believe that some people would expect the police to go around looking for criminals without knowing their race. The absolute idiocy of that is almost beyond comprehension.
Frankly, if I reported a crime and the police officer didn't ask the person's race, it would be clear to me that the police had no intention of even trying to catch the criminals.
I agree that in the case described, it can be difficult to see the driver, and a description of the car is probably more important. But asking for a description of the driver, including race, should be SOP for any police organization. If it isn't, that means that they place pleasing the evil gods of political correctness above catching criminals.
I remember about 15 years ago, the Japanese prime minister made a remark that the U.S. would not be as successful because of all the minorities. There was a world of criticism but of course...he was Japanese. We couldn't, and shouldn't do harm to him. He just spoke his mind. But now I'm seeing why he may have said that. All this PC and afirmative action only succeeds in promoting the less qualified people...not necessarily the worst, and perhaps, in the long run, they may end up being a better choice, but you want your smartest people to go to your colleges to get your smartest scientist, teachers, lawyers, whatever. I think we need to hit racism hard, but don't create our own brand of it and give it another name, like Afirmative Action.
If a cop has the race of the driver, then that's just one more piece of information that will help him/her track down the person.
Back to the point... what is it that some folks don't seem to understand when they pull off to the side of the road? Yesterday, I come around a bend on a two lane with almost no shoulder on the road, and have to swerve to go around a guy walking towards me and a van that's parked on the side with two wheels on the road surface, no flashers. And what was he doing??
He had a plastic bag and was going bag to pick up a squirrel that had met its maker (or more likely a Honda) lying in the middle of the road.
Mmmmmm... roadkill stew! :surprise:
I get this a lot of my bicycle too, and I admit it's better than beligerence, but I follow the rules of the road just as a car would (except I stay far right) and sometimes I'm locked into my pedals waiting for a car to go when they clearly have the right of way. They look at me a few seconds...I'm waiting for them to exercise their right to cross the intersection, so I motion them that it's their turn, they motion me back...and I want to yell,"It's your turn! Go!" Excessive courtesy can have the same affect as indecision. It can be dangerous.
How's that for a reversal? Seems nothing makes me happy!
Here we were, my wife and I, in a relative lull on our 4th of July weekend trip to the beach. Going 55 in a 55, with two motorcyclists (!) behind us, keeping pace for about 10 miles or so. Nice scenery, pleasant weather.
Then out of nowhere these 3 hotshots come. Luckily they were cruising along (at 100+) in the left lane. They went by so fast that it hardly registered what kind of cars they were. I don't know if the occupants were black, white, purple, or green. I didn't know if anyone (other than the drivers) were even in the cars. I only assume they were young because of the type of cars - all sporty coupes, I think a Mustang, Integra, and something else. IIRC my wife was reading a book at the time, so she just saw them as blur.
So for the cops to ask us if the occupants were black or white struck me as ridiculous.
I'm a pretty fast driver, probably in the top 15 percentile. But every once in a while, I see some maniac, or group of maniacs, whizzing by me at a very unsafe speed. I think there are some people who show a total disregard for their own safety and more importantly the safety of others.
That's why I favor higher speed limits, so as not to criminalize most drivers, who drive safe but illegal speeds, with severe punishment for those who break those higher speed limits.
I've said before though, except for a relatively small number of maniacs who drive at ridiculous speeds, I find slow, inattentive drivers to be a greater menace than a competent, fast driver who is paying attention to the road.
On my 2,000 miles three state trip I almost always stayed in the far right lane. If the interstate/freeway had 3 or 4 lanes (same direction) I would occasionally use the #2 lane. When traffic is heavy, sometime using the #2 lane is better. I saw a lot of semi's doing this. The fact is, there is a very high percentage of people who DO NOT know how to merge. Even if you slow down for them, they just won't take the opening.
(Switching gears)
Inconsiderate driver..... I was driving up to "T" shaped intersection with a traffic light. Ahead of me I see a new Mercedes C-class getting ready to run the red light making a left turn. Then they suddenly brake, put the car in reverse to back up. Apparently, they thought it was a three-way with a stop sign.
As I pull up behind the Mercedes waiting for the light to turn green, I see that the little car still has the reverse lights on. I have seen this happen on several occasions; the driver forgets to put the car in drive. I could see that the driver and passenger were about 65ish in age and I could just see the lady driver punching the gas backing right into my Mercedes ML500. So, I back up a couple of feet to give her a little extra room.
The light changes and sure enough starts to back up and then slams on the brakes. She puts the lil' C-class in drive and off she goes. People just don't think sometimes.
Mark
Obviously police have no interest in watching and checking who gets into a car with a handicapped hanger. They can barely give out their quote of speeding tickets in most municipalities.
Any solution? Picture of handicapped person for whom the tag was authorized on the tag. If the person getting out of the car doesn't match the tag picture... call the ??? store manager?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
In the state of CA (I really don't know the regulations for others) an abled body person of opposite sex can go into the opposite genders public restrooms.
Then, to top it all off, the other day, I see three shopping carts left right in a parking space directly across from a cart return area. It was a warm day with no rain, so extreme laziness was the only reason for leaving the carts there.
Ok, got that off my chest. :P
T least she knew what was happening in time.
I one time was stopped behind someone at a light when all of a sudden I noticed I was getting closer to the car in front of me. I pressed on the brake pedal harder and I still was getting closer, I am practically standing on my brake pad when I noticed that I wasn't moving but she was backing up. Seems like she thought she put the car in park but just put it in neutral and rolled back into me. At first she thought I had hit her, but fortunately for me there was a witness who stated that she rolled back.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I parked at a restaurant next to a row of handicapped spots. I came out to find a little slip of paper admonishing me about parking in handicapped spots. They didn't give any number of address to let them know they were wrong, I wasn't in a handicapped spot. This was at a time they didn't all have signs on pole, some just had painted pavement to mark them. I was burning.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Of course, most of the teenagers and others that show no symptoms probably are stealing use of the tags, but don't always judge a book by it's cover.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Seems she felt that she should have one because of her mental condition, which could be aggravated by too much stress. Or something like that...she babbled on for about 15 minutes just describing her condition.
Anyway, when she went to the local shopping center, she couldn't find a parking place close to the entrance, which caused stress, which in turn aggravated her mental condition. She wanted our office to contact PennDOT and demand a handicapped parking tag for her, even though she didn't have a note from a medical doctor. And, yes, she was completely serious...
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
I think one can safely remove "slow" and "fast" from this exerpt and have a statement worthy of stone.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I find your first point interesting/frustrating as well. One one side there are the peds that take the "pedestrian right-of-way" rule in parking lots a *bit* too far and on the other side are the drivers that feel obliged to drive 15-20+ across the front access lane of the lot (between building and lot) and will all but run over you if you cross paths.
Other than inconsideration, the problem here is with design... parking lots are designed to create conflict between drivers and pedestrians. A more practical design for lots would be to have the driving lane on the "rear" of the lot, walking paths between the rows of parked cars, connect every other row with a "loop" connection (so if you were looking for a spot, you could drive up and down the rows without having to turn around) and a small "drop off" area along one side of the building for those who just cannot park and walk. This would only work, of course, if there was room (so only for large stores and malls) because it would take up a little more space than traditional lots, but those are the busy areas where the conflicts tend to arise most frequently.
Back to the main topic.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
The left lane was open for him to overtake, but he didn't. He followed me the whole way down (I was driving about 12mph over the speed limit) I ended up changing lanes because I didn't want to get rear ended. When he finally overtook me, he tailgated the person in front of me.