"Casper" (casperiv)
03/11/2014 at 10:55 • Filed to: None
3
27|
"Casper" (casperiv)
03/11/2014 at 10:55 • Filed to: None | 3
| 27 |
So, it's 32 degrees this morning and foggy. This afternoon it is going to be 60+ and sunny. I have a meeting across town after work, so I decide I will suffer through the morning ride to have my bike in the sun. I load up my gear, strap on my backpack, and take off thinking the cold will be the worst part of the commute... I was wrong.
About 15 minutes into my ride, not long after I get onto the freeway, I encounter a huge clump of traffic. There's no reason for it that I can see, there's no trucks, no wrecks or cops, and the fog has broke at this point in the ride. I work on my way toward the front only to see a woman in a minivan in the overtaking lane, weaving out of the overtaking lane to the standard lane, and back. There are about 20 cars piled up behind her in the overtaking lane while she drives erratically at 65 MPH and slightly slower. Traffic to her left is doing about 65-70 MPH and thus slightly passing her. There is a third lane at this point, but now there is a pack of trucks in this lane doing 55 MPH to climb the hill.
Everyone waits for the lady to take a hint and speed up, move over, and be done. Instead, someone flashing their brights at her results in a brake check... of 20+ cars and motorcycles. You could feel the rage emanating from the traffic even in the 32 degree weather. As soon as the standard (middle) lane traffic had a chance, it moved over to the slow lane and the race was on. The first 7 cars pass her on the right. The next group wait to see if she took the hint for about 30 seconds, then they begin making their move too. Half way through another 7-8 cars passing her, she randomly and without a blinker, swerves into the middle lane, nearly broadsiding a HVAC service van. Realizing she isn't going to win a fight with the larger of the species, she corrects back so far that she runs into the shoulder, peppering me with gravel and random road crap. At this point I have had enough, as soon as she does manage to move into the standard lane I pop down a couple gears and fly up to her window. What do I see? An old woman lost and confused? A woman terrified of driving on the freeway? No, a 500lb welfare recipient trying to EAT CHEETOS AND TALKING ON THE PHONE! At that point I pegged my limiter at her window and took off. I had to leave before I culled her from the herd.
There are no amount of speeders or generic douche drivers that can ever cause as much danger/delay on the road system that woman was... and yet the cops never do anything about them. The rage is now very strong with this one.
Here, have a funny license plate I saw the other day for listening to the rant:
anothermiatafanboy
> Casper
03/11/2014 at 10:59 |
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How could you tell she was on welfare?
Lekker
> Casper
03/11/2014 at 11:00 |
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Stupid ass people like that. Serious threat to drivers, and riders. That kind of driving is enough to call 911 and have her pulled over for driving distracted. That kind of behavior is seriously unacceptable. Glad you weren't hurt by the rocks and shit, I've taken one to the ribs and left me a mean ol' bruise.
Racescort666
> Casper
03/11/2014 at 11:01 |
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The road rage is strong... so strong...
Totally hear you on this. At least you were able to get by without much more danger. I hope you enjoy the nice ride home.
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Casper
> anothermiatafanboy
03/11/2014 at 11:02 |
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Other than it's painfully obvious around here because so many of them put little stickers in their windows, I could tell by the phone and giant envelope on her dashboard. I have a 90%+ accuracy of guessing correctly just looking at people so far in this state even without the easy give away items like the phones or signup packets.
'Wägen, EPA LOL
> anothermiatafanboy
03/11/2014 at 11:03 |
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davedave1111
> Casper
03/11/2014 at 11:04 |
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Whenever I see someone on the phone while driving (which is illegal here), I just hold down the horn so they can't hear their conversation. If we all did it, they'd pretty soon learn that attempting to have a conversation while driving is thoroughly pointless.
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Casper
> Racescort666
03/11/2014 at 11:04 |
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It will be a little dark by the time I leave my meeting, but hopefully I will have escaped the office a few times to enjoy the sun through out the day.
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Casper
> Lekker
03/11/2014 at 11:05 |
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Yeah, a chunk of rubber she kicked up scuffed the side of my fairing, but it should rub off. Mostly I just had to shake sand and gravel out of my jacket when I got to the office.
jkm7680
> Casper
03/11/2014 at 11:06 |
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Agreed. If somebody doesn't see me in traffic, I honk like hell. I use the passing light but it doesn't really seem to help.
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Racescort666
> Lekker
03/11/2014 at 11:06 |
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One of my buddies will call people in for DUI when he sees stupid shit like that. It's not very often that it happens (with great power comes great responsibility) but sometimes it's just as necessary.
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Casper
> davedave1111
03/11/2014 at 11:09 |
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It's illegal here, but it's WAY more illegal to honk at someone or even flash your headlights. Which is funny because it's the only civil way to communicate between vehicles on a freeway... and we don't explicitly have aggressive driver laws. They took existing laws and stretched them into a weird abomination that means you can get a Class A misdemeanor for asking to pass.
Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy
> Casper
03/11/2014 at 11:11 |
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How can someone be stupid to distract themselves like that? This makes me want to be a "highway vigilante".
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Lekker
> Casper
03/11/2014 at 11:14 |
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Stupid ass driver. Did you at least give her the bird?
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Casper
> Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy
03/11/2014 at 11:14 |
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The thing is, if she had hit the car beside her when she tried to move into the other lane without signaling, I know they would have justified it because she felt pressured to make the lane change... ignoring that everything was her fault and she created the entire situation.
This is the state where if you try to run over a police officer and get shot, they blame the police officer. It's also the place where someone got hurt robbing a store and sued the store owner for their medical bills. No one here has any concept of personal responsibility.
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Casper
> Lekker
03/11/2014 at 11:15 |
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No, I try not to give people sign language. It's evidence against me if the situation does escalate. I like having as much of the law on my side if I have to defend myself.
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Lekker
> Racescort666
03/11/2014 at 11:16 |
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It is, and most people forget we need to actively help protect our own community. Most people think oh the cops will get x or y. Sometimes it is our civil duty to do the right thing, and that sometimes means calling the po-po. I've done it twice, and both times he got away unharmed. I know because it was on the same idiot racing his purple full-cage miata doing 70 in a 45.
HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
> Casper
03/11/2014 at 11:17 |
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this licences plate is a good representation of my feeling toward that fugly "Cadillac".
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Lekker
> Casper
03/11/2014 at 11:19 |
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You're logical. I like that. Good point, and nothing to refute there.
wkiernan
> Casper
03/11/2014 at 11:19 |
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In other words, you're completely guessing.
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davedave1111
> Casper
03/11/2014 at 11:23 |
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The Highway Code in the UK states that the horn is only to be used to alert someone to your presence. But clearly anyone talking on the phone while driving needs to be alerted to the fact that the road is not empty...
You're only supposed to use it for situations like someone pulling out when they clearly haven't seen you, but I tend to stretch a point and use it when someone's doing something daft which they shouldn't do with anyone else around, since it's fair to assume they're a good driver who hasn't noticed the other traffic, rather than a complete idiot doing something it's bonkers to do with other cars around.
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Casper
> wkiernan
03/11/2014 at 11:30 |
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Well it's a logical assumption based on all available information.
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Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy
> Casper
03/11/2014 at 11:30 |
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Fits the description of the stereotypical American, imo.
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Casper
> Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy
03/11/2014 at 11:32 |
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Sadly yes. It's what the stereotypical American is being made into. They are a byproduct of system wide dependency and a complete lack of personal responsibility and motivation.
Blind Willy
> Casper
03/11/2014 at 11:39 |
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I keep threatening to buy one of these. I just hate trashing up my bumper...
MPA
> Casper
03/11/2014 at 11:43 |
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I like the people that are obviously using speakerphone, but still holding the phone up to their face.
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Casper
> MPA
03/11/2014 at 11:48 |
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The worst thing about here is that when they implemented a cellphone ban, they had an exemption for conducting business (which made sense) but then removed the exemption except for farmers. So they spend all their time trying to nail people like service technicians calling back to their dispatch because they know they will pay the tickets and not bothering with the people causing problems like parents talking on the phone while trying to shove a sippy cup in their doughy little beasts face. Now we have people doing the speaker phone held 5 inches from their face thing, while still doing all the other dangerous stuff yet milking businesses for a little extra.
It's sad.
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anothermiatafanboy
> wkiernan
03/11/2014 at 13:09 |
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hes not guessing hes stereotyping!