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I'm so sick of the UPS guy drawing on the dry erase board, with his cutesy little additions, and his monotone little improvs. "Early birds." "Look, Sally is smiling."
Well I'm not smiling. Cut your hair you hippie douche! Go vote for Obama and leave me alone!
Posts: 1286 | Registered: Dec 2005
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CT, save enough tar and feathers for those idiots who use the driving lane to turn left instead of using the turning lane.
Posts: 1069 | Registered: Feb 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Swampjedi: CT, save enough tar and feathers for those idiots who use the driving lane to turn left instead of using the turning lane.
And for the people who go through the express lane at the grocery store with too many items.
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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I did that once when it was late at night and snowing so bad I couldn't see the lines, and I couldn't remember if there was a left turn lane or oncoming traffic to my left.
People around me were not happy.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Yes! Yes! Misuse of the turning lane and misuse of the express lane. Vile.
I grant exceptions for people I assess -- in my infinite wisdom and omniscience -- not to be making a habit of the transgressions, but honestly and unavoidably to be confused just that one time.
But fie -- fie, I say! -- on ye habitual transgressors! A pox, and then the tar and feathers!
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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People who keep the same pace as the car to their right when in the left lane of the highway. I don't care if you're going the speed limit. I don't care if you're going ten over and so is the car next to you. Pass or follow!! I'm trying to go twenty over!
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You're an ass. Obey the law, and shut your yap.
DISCLAIMER: Anything said in the previous post was meant in jest. You are not an ass. Do not take anything I say seriously. If you were offended by this post, well, you're an ass. Shut yer yap.
Posts: 1357 | Registered: Mar 2002
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According to my cop friend, it's illegal to coast in the left lane like that (in highway driving). You should always be either passing or getting back over to the right. So I'll echo:
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From Fort Collins to Thornton (north of Denver, there are thirteen (I counted) signs saying either KEEP RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS or SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT. And yet there still some oblivion cruising along in the left lane, going "it's fun to drive!!!"
Posts: 1286 | Registered: Dec 2005
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I want to tar and feather the people who drive five under the speed limit on a two-lane no-passing road. I want to get home, dammit, and I'm hungry and cranky. And if you even think about slowing down further, I'll bust out that tar and feathers.
Posts: 3932 | Registered: Sep 1999
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quote:Originally posted by ClaudiaTherese: Yes! Yes! Misuse of the turning lane and misuse of the express lane. Vile.
Fun related factoid:
quote: John Trinkaus ... One of his specialities is the study of minor acts of dishonesty and antisocial behaviour. In his 25 years of research, one demographical group has come to stand out above all others as being most likely to push boundaries and break rules. These are not disaffected teenagers nor Italian football hooligans. They are women van drivers.
Trinkaus's important sociological finding is perhaps best illustrated by his extensive work covertly monitoring a supermarket's "10 items or fewer" checkout over a span of nine years. As many of us may have seen for ourselves, Trinkaus found that some shoppers using this lane had more than 10 items. Some cunningly placed their items in groups of 10 and paid for each group separately. Trinkaus found that about 80 per cent of all the supermarket lane cheats were female van drivers.
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I would tar and feather people who are tailgating me and flashing their brights at me at night when I'm driving at the speed-limit or a little below while driving on a two-lane, no-passing zone. IF I CANNOT SEE, I AM NOT SPEEDING UP! And it's called a speed LIMIT for a reason!
Posts: 1751 | Registered: Jun 1999
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Nice link, Mucas. Though I would spin the article the other way. Women who drive minivans have kids and don't have time to put up with any more crap from the world. Very no-nonsense thinkers.
Posts: 1314 | Registered: Jan 2006
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quote:Originally posted by ClaudiaTherese: Yes! Yes! Misuse of the turning lane and misuse of the express lane. Vile.
Fun related factoid:
quote: John Trinkaus ... One of his specialities is the study of minor acts of dishonesty and antisocial behaviour. In his 25 years of research, one demographical group has come to stand out above all others as being most likely to push boundaries and break rules. These are not disaffected teenagers nor Italian football hooligans. They are women van drivers.
Trinkaus's important sociological finding is perhaps best illustrated by his extensive work covertly monitoring a supermarket's "10 items or fewer" checkout over a span of nine years. As many of us may have seen for ourselves, Trinkaus found that some shoppers using this lane had more than 10 items. Some cunningly placed their items in groups of 10 and paid for each group separately. Trinkaus found that about 80 per cent of all the supermarket lane cheats were female van drivers.
Women aged 30-50 are the most likely to ignore the business hours in the cafe I work at and sit around gossiping, thereby delaying my going home. I'm going to start tallying what kind of cars they drive.
Posts: 2907 | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:Originally posted by dean: I would tar and feather people who are tailgating me and flashing their brights at me at night when I'm driving at the speed-limit or a little below while driving on a two-lane, no-passing zone. IF I CANNOT SEE, I AM NOT SPEEDING UP! And it's called a speed LIMIT for a reason!
See, that sentiment doesn't work in Massachusetts. The speed limit is actually 10 miles over the posted sign, but it's the preferred is 15. Seriously, I don't know anyone that goes 55 on my highway. Plus, you don't get pulled over unless you're going at least 75. If it was any less, the police would be pulling over anyone.
Posts: 1789 | Registered: Jul 2003
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Same thing around here. I was shocked when I first moved here, but traffic goes fast - and drivers don't always pay good attention, especially around curves and up and down hills.
That said, I completely understand going a bit slower at night. At rush hour, though, too slow is a big problem.
Posts: 3932 | Registered: Sep 1999
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quote:The speed limit is actually 10 miles over the posted sign
Then why do they post that limit?
I mean, sure, here many people (perhaps most) go above the posted limit at least occasionally and MOST cops won't USUALLY stop you for it if you're going the flow of traffic, but theoretically you could get a ticket for it (and some people do.)
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Well, at least on highways. On the smaller roads you usually go at least 5 above the speed limit, but 10 is still the norm. I don't know why the signs are posted like they are. But honestly, it's just the way it is in Mass. That's the flow of traffic. I don't know anyone who actually goes the speed limit, unless they really want to annoy the person behind them.
Posts: 1789 | Registered: Jul 2003
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Save some of that tar for people who ride bicycles on the sidewalk. (exempting those outside of the 12-112 age group)
Posts: 6 | Registered: Jun 2007
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quote:Originally posted by Juxtapose: Women aged 30-50 are the most likely to ignore the business hours in the cafe I work at and sit around gossiping, thereby delaying my going home. I'm going to start tallying what kind of cars they drive.
At our local cafes, these appear to be mainly women in the 25-40 age range who talk loud, push large baby carriages, and wear matching Lululemon yoga pants. It's the yogalook version of Stepford wives.
---
Edited to add: as clarification, these are far from all or even most of the women with children. Most women hanging out together in groups with kids that do not seem to push the boundaries of working hours. (I notice, though, because I am often working late at cafes but am very aware of watching the closing time carefully.)
quote:Trinkaus found that about 80 per cent of all the supermarket lane cheats were female van drivers.
Without knowing what percentage of the total population going to supermarkets are female van drivers, this is not very useful.
Posts: 10177 | Registered: Apr 2001
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If you are on a four-lane highway and you think the speed limit is fast enough, stay in the right lane. If you come up on someone who is actually going less than the speed limit, slow down and wait for the left lane to open up. Then pass as quickly as you can and get the hell out of the way of the real drivers!
Nothing drives me crazier than someone who is just going to hang out in the left lane within one car length in front of or behind someone in the right lane. You are actually endangering yourself by doing that, because one of these days I'm gonna PIT maneuver your a** and send you careening off the highway and into a ditch.
Posts: 1286 | Registered: Dec 2005
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The rule of the road is: Anyone going slower than you is an idiot. Anyone going faster than you is a maniac. Apparently, anyone pacing you is an a-hole.
Also, screw tar and feathers; the people who slow down to gawk at a traffic accident in the opposite lane deserve to be drawn and quartered.
Posts: 636 | Registered: Apr 2002
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quote:You are actually endangering yourself by doing that, because one of these days I'm gonna PIT maneuver your a** and send you careening off the highway and into a ditch.
That would be funnier if it hadn't actually happened to me. Though in my defense, I was passing a semi-truck in the rain so I didn't want to cut right back in front of him considering the slick conditions. Though please, only attempt to scare someone if the ditch is deep enough to keep them from going through it and straight into the oncoming traffic coming from the other way. Because otherwise there's death, and death is not cool.
Posts: 1733 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:You are actually endangering yourself by doing that, because one of these days I'm gonna PIT maneuver your a** and send you careening off the highway and into a ditch.
Technically, this does not count as self-endangerment any more than wearing an attractive dress constitutes asking for rape.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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I think they put the Massachusetts speed limits (around Boston anyway) at 55 because if they put it at 65, people would still go 20 over, and 85 is pretty reckless.
I never see people going 55, though. 65 is the slow lane, and the fast lane moves just under 80.
Posts: 1314 | Registered: Jan 2006
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I like to think that if they put the speed limits at a reasonable number, people would simply follow the speed limits.
I was thinking about speeding last night. The fellows who wrote Freakonomics said that people make calculations in deciding whether to "cheat." "Cheat" in this case means any kind of rule-breaking, and speeding would apply. The mental calculation is a question of weighing the benefits of cheating and the penalties for not-cheating against the likelihood of being caught and the penalties for cheating. (The example they gave was teachers helping their students on standardized testing. If a teacher knows her students won't perform well and she knows that if they don't perform well, she'll lose her job, and that they rarely ever catch teachers cheating and even if they caught her cheating, the worst that would happen would be that she'd lose her job, she might well opt to cheat.) For most people, the pay-off of speeding aren't that great-- spend less time driving, can leave later to go to work--, but then again the chances of getting caught aren't that great-- most people who speed aren't pulled over for it--, nor are the penalties for getting caught too awful-- a $150 ticket here. For me, I don't lose much by not-speeding (I have to leave for work earlier, but oh well), and I realize that the chances of getting caught aren't huge (most everybody speeds, and few of them get pulled over) but if I got caught speeding, the penalties for me would be exceptionally heavy. So with the benefits of speeding being fairly negligible, I simply try really hard to never speed.
Other people-- people following behind me in a 45 mile-per-hour zone-- make different calculations, but then they're in a different position and different rules apply to them. But unless they're willing to take the potential consequences on themselves rather than on me, I don't think that they have any right to try to force me to speed up.
Maybe next time you're behind a person that you'd like to tar and feather for going the actual speed limit, you'll think to yourself that they might have a very-good reason for going that speed and have a little patience. Or else you could lobby to get the actual speed limit raised to the level that you think it ought to be.
Posts: 1751 | Registered: Jun 1999
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quote:Originally posted by dean: Maybe next time you're behind a person that you'd like to tar and feather for going the actual speed limit, you'll think to yourself that they might have a very-good reason for going that speed and have a little patience. Or else you could lobby to get the actual speed limit raised to the level that you think it ought to be.
I like my tar and I like my feathers, and I'm happily using them mentally exactly as I please. Running low on supplies as of late, but that's what I get for a dearth of imagination.
Mind you, I do usually assume people probably have a good reason for speeding (might be true, plus better for my peace of mind, as there isn't anything I can do about it anyway), and so long as it does not appear to me they are driving recklessly otherwise, I just ignore it.
I have a harder time with some other behaviors. Cutting in a queue without at least excusing yourself to those already waiting -- and with a good excuse -- isn't one I can come up with a good excuse for doing. Neither is dawdling along in the passing lane nor misusing the turning lane, unless one is simply clueless and confused -- and in many of those cases, likely shouldn't be driving (or should pull out of traffic to figure things out).
Also,
quote:Originally posted by ClaudiaTherese: I grant exceptions for people I assess -- in my infinite wisdom and omniscience -- not to be making a habit of the transgressions, but honestly and unavoidably to be confused just that one time.
But given that the tarring and feathering is restricted to mental endeavors, and given my own inordinately high opinion of my judgment skills with regards to others, I'm quite satisfied with my current levels of ire and frustration. Bah, humbug! *shakes fist
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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I wouldn't expect you to speed, dean, my problem is with people who are keeping me from making a decision to speed.
Which is an actual argument I hear that is so selfish and inconsiderate: "If you need to get there in a hurry, maybe you should have left sooner." I actually had a professor say that to me. My response was "Yes, so when you find out your wife was in an accident and is in surgery, I expect you'll stick to the speed limit, because you should have left before you got the news."
Posts: 1286 | Registered: Dec 2005
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Yes, because habitual speeding to reduce transit time and compensate for preparatory tardiness is obviously comparable to speeding in response to an emergency situation.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:I wouldn't expect you to speed, dean, my problem is with people who are keeping me from making a decision to speed.
They aren't keeping you from speeding, you realize. They are proceeding at a legal speed, as they choose; you don't factor into their decision at all.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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For the times that I am in an emergency, that philosophy of "well, you should have left earlier" doesn't make sense. It's the people who use that attitude as an excuse to be obnoxiously oblivious to what everyone else is doing that are the problem.
Tom, what everyone else is doing should absolutely factor into their decision making. They aren't the only drivers on the road. In all honesty, I bet they are the causes of more accidents than speeders, because speeders are more likely to be alert than the oblivion who only recognizes that he is going a happy speed with no concern with whoever is wishing he'd get out of the left lane and stop blocking traffic.
Look, I don't care if you want to go the speed limit, or even a little less, so long as you're in the right lane. If you disagree with how I'm driving, fine, but the road is for everyone, and what gives you the right to stay in the left lane so that no one can pass you? That's what's inconsiderate and selfish.
Posts: 1286 | Registered: Dec 2005
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You have no right to speed so it is unreasonable to expect people to go out of their way to create an environment in which you can do so.
EDIT: I don't disapprove of speeding in general (I do it myself on the highway). I disapprove of the notion that other people should have to worry about inconveniencing me while I'm breaking the law.
quote:In all honesty, I bet they are the causes of more accidents than speeders...
Statistics would appear to contradict this off-the-cuff assumption. The idea that speeders are necessarily more alert than people obeying the speed limit is not exactly coherent.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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quote:You have no right to speed so it is unreasonable to expect people to go out of their way to create an environment in which you can do so.
You have no right dawdle in the passing lane, either, so it is unreasonable to call expecting people not to do so expecting people to "go out of their way."
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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Then why do they post that limit? ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
