Women, SUV's, and Cell Phones. (1 Viewer)

[Micah Cohen]

Get out of my way.

(Very offensive.)

MC

 

[Todd Hochard]

I'm the same way. All that anger shortens your life- sure doesn't get you home any quicker. I'm not one for letting other people control my emotions, though.

I live in Northern VA, so I *dare* anyone to say I don't know what heavy traffic is about.

 

[Holadem]

Agreed.

[Deleted the rest of the post - pointless]

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H

 

[Shane Martin]

Only in this area I will admit. IN other areas of life, I do get frustrated over simple dumb stuff that I honestly shouldn't. I'm sure it will show itself in another thread down the road someplace.

 

[Scott L]

I delivered pizzas for 2.5 years, spent 6-8 hours a day on the road (I'm so ). Now I have a weird 6th sense to avoid crashes by putting myself out of harm's way, much of it involves staying way from Honda SUVs.

The only time I couldn't avoid a crash while on the job was the fault of a person whose description exactly matches the title of this thread. Go figure.

 

[ChrisHeflen]

Well I find it re-assuring that there is the huge number of 3 people so far that are able to overcome getting pissed off in traffic. I however and not ashamed.
I also don't mind people driving SUV's either. I DO mind when they act like they can just do whatever they want in them because they are bigger and higer up. Alot of users don't realize that with that bigger, less visibilty, comes bigger responsibilty. I mean Spidermans' uncle said it himself. "With great power come great responsibilty". And we all know he was talking the the lady (or guy) talking on the phone driving a giant SUV with a steering wheel thicker than the arms they are using to steer it! I asked my friends who drive SUV's why they drive them and 6 out of 8 of them said cause they like to be "high up". Not cause they need the space, or go off road on the weekends. Just that they wanna be high up. When buying my last car I ask the sales guy why he thought people are buying them and he answered. Cause they like to be "high up". I tend to believe him when on a saturday, the mall parking lot is filled with them.
I also find it amazing that in Europe they can manage with out a speed limit. I mean people just know to get outta the way. You just do it. It's not about rights, America, or who's in office, it's just awareness and common sense. People need to realize just stay the hell outta the left lane unless you are passing. Not, you might need to pass eventually, but you ARE passing another vehicle. If somebody wants to drive faster, let 'em. If you don't get upset and you have all the time in the world or don't like to hurry, then stay out of the left lane, or off the road from 7-9 am and 3-6pm. Let those of us who need to get to work or wanna get home, do so. Then the rest of the senior citizens, people going out shopping, etc.. can putz around all the rest of the day.

 

[Paul D G]

I used to live in LA and it got to the point where we could tell who was behind the wheel based on their driving and their car (and, yes, bigoted as it may sound, ethnicity plays a part here).

Once I stopped early when approaching a stop light with one car in each lane. I had to explain to my wife that I was trying to determine who to get behind - the newer pickup truck with an older guy driving, or a beat up pickup with a younger guy driving. I explained the pros and cons of each car and driver. She thought I was crazy but I settled on the beater.

Light turns green and the newer car takes off and my wife laughs at me. Then the newer car's speed levels off while the beater kept going faster. I change lanes and suddenly I'm way ahead.

-paul

 

[andrew markworthy]

To return to the original message - cell phone use while driving. You could always do what we've done in the UK and make it illegal (there is masses of evidence that driving while using a cell phone is more risky than driving while inebriated). In my experience, in reality it makes precious little difference (I still see plenty of people driving and using the phone) but there is the small warming consolation that someone somewhere is getting arrested each day for driving and phoning at the same time.

As regards SUVs - what better way to advertise you don't give a **** about the environment or other people?

 

[MikeH1]

My biggest piss off is when your going down a main residential road doing the speed limit (usually 60 Kph) and some asshole pulls out in front of you and you have to hammer on your brakes. Then I look into the review mirror and see no one behind me for blocks...

Can't people just wait another 3 seconds and let someone go by them without having to risk an accident?

 

[John Alvarez]

It doesn't bother me anymore. I was calmed one day back in 1984 when I got into an argument with a guy who pulled out in front of my wife and I. We pulled over to the side of the road and he calmly pulled out a shotgun and said "WHAT"? I got in my car and siad to myself it's just not worth it.

 

[Holadem]

Punk

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H

 

[MarkHastings]

To those who aren't bugged by traffic: It doesn't bother you that these morons are causing major accidents?

For 10+ years, I travel 100 miles through some of the worst traffic in CT. I have to deal with accidents (sometimes several) EVERY DAY! They turn my 45 minute commute into and hour and a half- EVERY DAY!

So of COURSE it pisses me off! If these people drove like responsible people, I wouldn't have such a hard time getting into work.

 

[Tommy G]

I'm also one of those people who "have seen the light" and don't let people bother me. I still get bothered by being in the left lane and passing people yet someone decides to be behind me about an inch from my bumper flashing the lights at me. Yes, I know you are there but I will get out of the way when I am past the person I am passing. People need to learn a little more patience. Mark, I definitely hear you with regards to your commute. Mine is about 2 hours each way. I know CT as well and 95 used to be a decent road when I was a kid but now it just doesn't move. It does upset me to see people driving like idiots because it does increase the chances of an accident and thus longer commutes. It's at these times I have to focus on the radio show or something else to get my mind off the 2 miles/hr I'm going.

As for making a blanket statement about how we SUV drivers are doing horrible things to the environment, give me a break. I own a SUV so I can haul my horse maneur to the composting site each week because it is a law in my town to remove it from my property. I don't want a pickup truck which by the way gets less efficient mpg than my SUV. I can't afford to own a Yugo during the week and my SUV to only do my hauling duties on weekends. I suspect that a lot more people have SUV's than to just piss people off. People are boat owners, have to haul building materials and horse poop as well.

 

[Andrew Bunk]

Some of the comments make me laugh because I think the same exact thing, like Paul's assessment on who to get behind. I find myself doing that all the time.

On SUV's, I bought my Highlander because I just got my first house, and I'm tired of having to beg people to borrow their trucks so I can haul home the myriad of stuff I need from Home Depot, furniture stores, etc. Also, I play out every weekend in a cover band, and having that space really helps when transporting gear. Plus, my Highlander averages about 19MPG, which isn't that bad IMO, especially since the Toyota Sienna minivan has the exact same MPG spec as the Highlander LTD according to the sticker.

Micah, I love some of those stickers. But wouldn't they be more effective if they were backwards and you put them on the front of your car?

And on the hands-free phone stuff, I believe studies have shown they do not reduce accidents very much. It is the act of having a conversation on the phone that causes distraction, not whether you're holding the phone or not.

On the subject of why people know enough to get over in Europe without a speed limit, it's my firm belief things are different here because everyone needs to be FIRST. That's why people pull out in front of you when no one is behind you for two blocks. I personally don't care about being first myself, but it irks me to see others who obviously feel they should be first. And besides it usually doesn't make a difference.

Case in point, this morning I saw a guy weaving his way through the pretty tight traffic for about 3 miles. Every time I pulled up to a red light I was next to him, even though most of the time he was a good 2 blocks ahead of me.
The way I figure it, weaving and speeding and rushing like that might help you beat one or possibly two red lights in a normal commute, but what does that equal? A minute? 2 minutes? I find this helps to put things in perspective. I just get bent when people do stupid shit that directly endangers me.

Ahh, I look fondly on the days where I could walk 20 minutes to work.

 

[RobertR]

Exactly how does your rage make you or them better drivers?

 

[MichaelBA]

Please place the period INSIDE the quotation mark!

I have GRAMMAR RAGE!

 

[Shane Martin]

Nope. I have other things that are in my control to worry about. That is the secret to the zen.

 

[MarkHastings]

It doesn't - How does ANY anger solve a situation? It doesn't, yet people still get angry, it's natural to do so.

I'm not sure exactly how to explain this, but I am a 'nervous' (a better word would be "Wound up") person. I usually avoid horror films...not because of the violence, but because of the stuff that jumps out of you. When I jump, my chest tends to clench, my breathing gets "tight", and I usually get a head rush.

So of course I get upset when a car cuts me off and I have to slam on my brakes. They usually ruin my morning 'Zen'.

 

[RobertR]

It's "natural" to do a lot of things, but human beings also have the ability to reason, which helps us choose between a course of action that helps things and one that doesn't. Being pissed off makes you a worse, more dangerous driver.

 

[Shane Martin]

Anger is one thing but I think you take it a step further. I think the part about you being wound up is ultimately the issue. Perhaps you should find ways to release and be less wound up. Being wound up only means you are going to explode that much easier than others.