I see stupid people...

"Casper" (casperiv) 01/28/2014 at 11:11 • Filed to: None

0

17

Well, the day is off to a great start. I was sitting at a light, waiting to make a left hand turn. Behind me was a woman in an SUV with a huge disabled parking pass hanging from her window and a bunch of other random cars behind her. As the light turns green I take off and make the turn, but just as I cross the intersection I look in my mirror and see she hasn't moved. She is just sitting there looking at her lap or phone or [insert other stupid non-driving related item]. The car immediately behind (an Avenger) gives her a honk. No reaction. Then another. Eventually I see them all round the bend behind me. It looks like they finally woke her and she at least let a couple people make the light, but most get stuck waiting for another round. That's the end right? Nope.

As the same cluster of cars came to a stop beside and behind me at the next light I hear someone just laying on their horn. I look back and it's the handicapped lady just sitting there holding her horn down and yelling at the car that had honked their horn at her. The people in the Avenger are just ignoring her as best they can and looking forward as she is now behind them. She then decides to rev her engine and lurch toward them while continuing to blare the horn. After about the 45 second mark of straight horn blaring I roll down my window to yell at her just as nearly everyone else at the intersection does the same. She stops blaring her horn long enough to yell some random gibberish, then returns to blowing her horn. At this point she is no longer having an issue with just the Avenger, but most of the traffic on the road. People in the other cars are getting pissed, she's yelling and flipping everyone off. As the light goes green she get's back on blaring her horn and tailgating the person in front of her. Fortunately, I was making a turn anyway and got the hell out of there before I lost it. The idiot disabled lady and the rest of the cars continued off into the distance with her still blaring her horn and aggressively tailgating/swerving around.

So, by 7 am I had already hit my fill of stupid for the day. How's everyone else's morning going?

Slave2anMG > Casper 01/28/2014 at 11:15

1

They walk and drive amongst us.

thebigbossyboss > Casper 01/28/2014 at 11:15

6

I love coming to work early in the morning. The idiot's aren't up yet.

Casper > thebigbossyboss 01/28/2014 at 11:17

0

I normally come in before 6:30, but I went back out to buy people in the office doughnuts to be a nice guy. It was a mistake. Besides this, two old people tried to crash into me, everyone over the age 50 was driving 1/2 the speed limit everywhere, and a drunk guy on a bicycle decided to make an illegal turn across 5 lanes of traffic right in front of a ton of cars.

thebigbossyboss > Casper 01/28/2014 at 11:20

0

Ugh, I hate to say it, but I really hate cyclists. I have been yelled at often by cyclists doing stupid things, like running red lights etc etc.

Casper > thebigbossyboss 01/28/2014 at 11:23

0

Yeah, we had one blow a stop sign in front of a bunch of motorcyclists, then threaten to call the police on us because he "knew his rights" and didn't have to obey stop signs... but we had to give him right of way because he was on a bicycle and was the same as a pedestrian.

We really need bicycle licenses with bicycle training classes required.

thebigbossyboss > Casper 01/28/2014 at 11:26

0

I oppose "bicycle licenses" but I don't mind the cops giving the occasional ticket to smarten up idiots.

They lowered the speed limit on a section of road round here with no driveways at all because some idiot was killed going the wrong way in the dark with no lights.

VicVinegar > Casper 01/28/2014 at 11:29

0

I seem to remember a conversation on an older episode of Top Gear in which they discuss the need to avoid people who drive terrible cars (I believe they were referring to Hyundai and Kia, which, to be fair, were abysmal vehicles at the time). I am starting to become convinced that, in many cases, SUV's are a similar issue. The type of person who buys an SUV and does not actually need the ground clearance or seating (or cargo) capacity of some of the larger models, is more often than not someone who does not feel comfortable driving smaller cars, so they purchase something unnecessarily large in which they feel invincible. Consequently, if my theory is correct, there would be a correlation between SUV ownership and a lack of driving confidence and or interest in the activity.

Casper > VicVinegar 01/28/2014 at 11:35

0

I think it's any driver that's so bad that they lack confidence in their ability to move from A to B without crashing, so they buy a massive or overly "safe" vehicle to compensate even if it's not really safer. They then continue their bad habits in this new beast of a vehicle to the detriment of everyone else on the road :(

Textured Soy Protein > Casper 01/28/2014 at 11:35

0

Here you go, you'll feel better now.

VicVinegar > Casper 01/28/2014 at 11:39

0

Exactly. the vast majority of terrible drivers I encounter are in SUVs or some car so terrible that no one who had even the faintest interest in driving would ever purchase it.

Casper > thebigbossyboss 01/28/2014 at 11:41

0

I don't oppose the licenses because they need to decide once and for all if they are allowed on the road equally with cars. If so, they need to pay for the basic road fees like cars do. If not, they need to give way to cars by default. I'm pretty sure we are only a couple years from having licenses for bicycles up here in the NW. There was a big vote on it last year and it didn't fail by much.

Casper > VicVinegar 01/28/2014 at 11:42

0

... and Prius... never forget the Prii.

Korea Miéville > Casper 01/28/2014 at 11:48

0

Wow, I didn't know they gave those placards to the mentally disabled.

thebigbossyboss > Casper 01/28/2014 at 11:54

0

Well, don't get me wrong, I have lots of issues with cyclists especially cyclists that insist in riding in the snow, but pedal bikes contribute far less to road wear and tear than your average car because they go less miles and weigh 1/10th the weight.

What does NW mean?

Casper > thebigbossyboss 01/28/2014 at 13:21

0

Oregon/Washington area. The issue isn't wear and tear from vehicles. I actually work with a lot of the road programs and the biggest issue with road damage is weather in most regions. In cities, the majority of expense is incurred by maintaining/reworking road surfaces (they don't actually have much traffic, the traffic just moves much more slowly than an interstate) and reworking lines and signs. Bicycles cost a significant amount of money in just lines and signs. They also cost a huge amount in cities trying to widen and correct roads for bicycle use. For example, it can cost up to $540,000 for a 1 mile long bicycle lane, and that lane needs almost the exact same amount of maintenance as the rest of the traffic lanes. That is also assuming easements work out for businesses and utilities along the route.

Then there's the economic impact studies. Bicycles reduce the average speed of traffic when intermixing, which reduces your economic flow and productivity of a system, so when calculating cost, it's a factor many municipalities struggle to calculate. Combine that with the cost of them having accidents, suing the city, etc, and they become very expensive very quickly to many cities.

thebigbossyboss > Casper 01/28/2014 at 13:33

0

I hadn't considered the cost of bicycle lanes. Here they built one of marginal usage at great expense...for some reasons I don't know. Although I dont think it actually involved paving, just re purposing existing asphalt. However they did put big ass curbs up etc, and it certainly has hindered traffic flow.

Do cities in the US have property tax? That is what pays for that kind of crap here, whether we like it or lump it. I mostly lump it, but the yuppies outnumber me by a great number.

How do you think enforcement of this could work? I mean surely a lot of people will just say "Screw it, I ain't paying" and ride anyways.

Casper > thebigbossyboss 01/28/2014 at 13:45

0

It's a weird split. In the US a large portion of roads are paid for with "road tax" which is collected via fuel taxes (so it only applies to cars) and a small amount through other side taxes via registration/licensing fees and business use taxes. They then expand their resource pools with bond measures and the like, which can be tied to property taxes or what not, but they are for specific projects ranging from a bridge to widening roads, to building light rail systems. People see that they pay for transportation taxes, but they rarely know what for. Most of it doesn't go to roads, most goes to simply maintaining the bureaucracy and additional systems that were heaped on top of the roads (mass transit, pedestrian paths, utility needs, etc).

The "screw it" issue is the same one with cars. On average 1/5 people have an invalid licenses for one reason or another around here. Only 60% have insurance even though it's required by law. The real problem is always enforcement. You can go ahead and give them a ticket, but they were already doing it illegally, so you can't make it more illegal... and you can't really arrest them all for doing it.