Is it my speedometer, or do some people just drive painfully slow?
I think it's acceptable to drive five miles per hour, maybe even nine, faster than the posted speed limit. I am pretty sure police don't pull drivers over for speeding unless a)they're going 11 or more miles per hour faster than the speed limit or b)they have some other secret reason to pull them over, like they think the driver is smuggling prohibited chinchillas across state lines.
So what drives me totally batty is when a driver keeps his car in the fast lane, going exactly the speed limit, when he could easily pull over to the slow lane to let me pass. Or worse, when a driver sits in the fast lane, going exactly the speed limit, right next to someone in the slow lane who also is going exactly the speed limit. And inevitably, one of the drivers speeds up just enough to make me think maybe I can pass him, really quickly. But then he slows down again, right when I'm about to make my move. Then there's times when I REALLY want to pass someone, and it's like he knows, and he slows down on purpose, right when he gets lined up with someone else. How about the guy who is going so slow for 10 minutes until you get to a stop light and then he drives like he's trying to outrun a tornado, and you can't keep up with him to save your life, or, Heaven forbid, to pass him.
My favorite is the guy who's driving along, looking off to the right the whole time, which slows him down to unbearable speeds. Or the guy who's gesturing to his passenger the entire time and therefore can't drive any faster than five miles per hour under the speed limit.
Sometimes I think my speedometer is really broken. That's when I'm giving humanity the benefit of the doubt.
Showing posts with label driving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label driving. Show all posts
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Traffic School, revisited
Here's another story from traffic school:
We're talking about drunk driving, and this one lady (not the same lady from yesterday) says, "I think police officers should stand outside the bars and give people breathalyzers (spelling?) so they don't drive drunk."
The instructor said, "Some people would say that's entrapment, though, if cops were waiting outside bars."
The lady responded, "Well, it IS entrapment."
So, she doesn't want to accept responsibility for driving drunk, and wants the police to spend their time and resources waiting for her outside a bar so they can stop her from driving drunk. But she also does not want police to wait for her outside a bar, because that's entrapment. So basically she doesn't want to accept responsibility for drinking too much and then driving -- she wants the police to accept responsibility for that. And she doesn't want the police to accept responsibility for her drinking and driving.
So she wants to drive drunk, I guess, but not get in trouble for it because it's not her fault and it's not her responsibility NOT to drive drunk.
Also, she said that the photo radar vans that photograph people speeding are unfair because they are distracting to drivers because they make drivers look at their speedometers. So she doesn't want to accept responsibility for speeding because it's not her fault because it's so distracting to have to look at her speedometer.
Are you kidding me?
Even if her car doesn't have cruise control, it's not that hard to maintain a constant speed, especially on a road where the speed limit doesn't change. If you're paying attention to driving, then you should be able to travel at the speed limit. When you are driving, you have only a few things you have to do: watch traffic, travel at the speed limit, follow traffic signals and watch out for dogs, cats, people, bicycles and the occasional skunk.
And THEN, she said EVERYTHING was a distraction, from the yellow recommendation signs to the other drivers on the road. Come on!
I'm sure it wasn't her fault that she got a seatbelt violation ticket while speeding, drunk, in a car that had no headlights and three flat tires -- all after getting into a fistfight with a police officer who entrapped her with a breathalyzer outside the bar where the bartender forced her to drink seven shots of tequila before her friends forced her to drive them home and wouldn't let her put on her seatbelt.
Seriously!
We're talking about drunk driving, and this one lady (not the same lady from yesterday) says, "I think police officers should stand outside the bars and give people breathalyzers (spelling?) so they don't drive drunk."
The instructor said, "Some people would say that's entrapment, though, if cops were waiting outside bars."
The lady responded, "Well, it IS entrapment."
So, she doesn't want to accept responsibility for driving drunk, and wants the police to spend their time and resources waiting for her outside a bar so they can stop her from driving drunk. But she also does not want police to wait for her outside a bar, because that's entrapment. So basically she doesn't want to accept responsibility for drinking too much and then driving -- she wants the police to accept responsibility for that. And she doesn't want the police to accept responsibility for her drinking and driving.
So she wants to drive drunk, I guess, but not get in trouble for it because it's not her fault and it's not her responsibility NOT to drive drunk.
Also, she said that the photo radar vans that photograph people speeding are unfair because they are distracting to drivers because they make drivers look at their speedometers. So she doesn't want to accept responsibility for speeding because it's not her fault because it's so distracting to have to look at her speedometer.
Are you kidding me?
Even if her car doesn't have cruise control, it's not that hard to maintain a constant speed, especially on a road where the speed limit doesn't change. If you're paying attention to driving, then you should be able to travel at the speed limit. When you are driving, you have only a few things you have to do: watch traffic, travel at the speed limit, follow traffic signals and watch out for dogs, cats, people, bicycles and the occasional skunk.
And THEN, she said EVERYTHING was a distraction, from the yellow recommendation signs to the other drivers on the road. Come on!
I'm sure it wasn't her fault that she got a seatbelt violation ticket while speeding, drunk, in a car that had no headlights and three flat tires -- all after getting into a fistfight with a police officer who entrapped her with a breathalyzer outside the bar where the bartender forced her to drink seven shots of tequila before her friends forced her to drive them home and wouldn't let her put on her seatbelt.
Seriously!
Monday, June 1, 2009
Traffic School and its Students
I went to traffic school this weekend. And it was the right weekend. I actually learned something. Several things, really.
One main thing I learned is that people are not very smart and many of them shouldn't be driving and I'm scared for my life.
So let me tell you about this one lady (I'll definitely have another post about her -- maybe we'll give her a name -- Spiky, because she had spiky hair).
We were talking about speed limit signs and how white ones are actual speed limits and yellow ones are kind of recommendations. So the instructor said how on highways the speed limit is usually 55 miles per hour unless otherwise posted. Or maybe it was 65. Anyway, sometimes, at an exit, a yellow sign will recommend 45 miles per hour down the off ramp.
So she asks, "So, if you're driving on the highway and you're going 55, when do you actually start going 45? Do you put on your blinker and then slow down before you get off the highway so you're going 45 when you get on the off ramp? Or do you keep going 55 until you get off the highway and then put on your brakes and immediately slow down to 45?"
Seriously? She's really asking this?
Thank goodness, our instructor said, "Well, you have to use a little common sense on that one."
No kidding?
I think she's putting a little too much thought into that. Just get off the highway and slow down. If someone's behind you, don't slam on your brakes before you exit. If no one's behind you it doesn't really matter. If someone's in front of you, do what they do or you'll hit them.
And this woman is on the road. She's probably causing accidents every time she has to make a decision. Like when she wants to make a right turn, she's driving along, trying to decide at exactly which point she should put on her blinker, and exactly which point she should slow down to make the turn and exactly how many degrees to turn her steering wheel at exactly which interval. By the time she's got this all figured out she has missed her turn, so she slams on her brakes and reverses back to the turn so she can correctly execute it.
She even saved her photo radar ticket so she could show her daughter how good she looked when she was driving.
Wait til you read about the next lady. Tomorrow's post.
One main thing I learned is that people are not very smart and many of them shouldn't be driving and I'm scared for my life.
So let me tell you about this one lady (I'll definitely have another post about her -- maybe we'll give her a name -- Spiky, because she had spiky hair).
We were talking about speed limit signs and how white ones are actual speed limits and yellow ones are kind of recommendations. So the instructor said how on highways the speed limit is usually 55 miles per hour unless otherwise posted. Or maybe it was 65. Anyway, sometimes, at an exit, a yellow sign will recommend 45 miles per hour down the off ramp.
So she asks, "So, if you're driving on the highway and you're going 55, when do you actually start going 45? Do you put on your blinker and then slow down before you get off the highway so you're going 45 when you get on the off ramp? Or do you keep going 55 until you get off the highway and then put on your brakes and immediately slow down to 45?"
Seriously? She's really asking this?
Thank goodness, our instructor said, "Well, you have to use a little common sense on that one."
No kidding?
I think she's putting a little too much thought into that. Just get off the highway and slow down. If someone's behind you, don't slam on your brakes before you exit. If no one's behind you it doesn't really matter. If someone's in front of you, do what they do or you'll hit them.
And this woman is on the road. She's probably causing accidents every time she has to make a decision. Like when she wants to make a right turn, she's driving along, trying to decide at exactly which point she should put on her blinker, and exactly which point she should slow down to make the turn and exactly how many degrees to turn her steering wheel at exactly which interval. By the time she's got this all figured out she has missed her turn, so she slams on her brakes and reverses back to the turn so she can correctly execute it.
She even saved her photo radar ticket so she could show her daughter how good she looked when she was driving.
Wait til you read about the next lady. Tomorrow's post.
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