Go through your shit when you're not operating a two-ton death machine, thanks.
this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2023
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You jest, but I suffer from depression and I could not drive while having a bad episode even if I wanted to. You cannot think straight if things in your head go south and you're too pre-occupied to even make it around the block.
That's fair. I unfortunately know people who just bottle all of their suffering and they're just slowly fuming so they're always angry. And being angry on the road is very dangerous for the people around them.
See, I'm the opposite. I suffer from depression and riding/driving really helps with that.
Only I don't get all that angry when I do. If someone annoys me, I just go for a simple under-my-breath "you twat".
The bike works best for it. The big vroom helps quieten the sadness. Kinda hard to be sad when you're sat on top of an explosive fuel and thousands of explosings happening between your legs. It's kinda calming. To me, at least.
Before anyone asks, no I haven't fucked my exhaust. It's still the stock one.
What scares me the most is not the two-tons, it's the twenty-tons. There's something primally scary about a small house on wheels cutting you off in the left lane trying to pass another house on wheels, fully boxing you in between two metals walls while a pickup trying to go 30 over the limit gets all up in your 6.
The worst (for me) isnt when they don't use signals at all, but when they use the signal right when they literally turn the steering wheel. This tells me they've never taken a minute to think what a turn signal is even actually for.
Fucking assholes that use their blinker when going into a roundabout instead of when getting out. Ugh.
Blinking for going in is actually mandatory in some countries, but yeah. Some people
It makes much more sense to signal when you are leaving, so waiting cars can enter. Blinking when going in is redundant, where else are you gonna go?
Would only make sense to signal that you want to take the first exit right after entering. But because some use it to signal just entering, you cannot trust that, so yeah, just don't do it
Oh, I don't see the use in it either, but it is the law in some places anyway
Then they get mad cause you didn't let them in with their imaginary turn signal.
Hit me mother fucker, I dare you.
I had this exact situation at a god awful highway interchange in Minneapolis (94 to 35w). I was just driving in the middle lane and some entitled asshole thought it was my responsibility to make sure they got in, and let me know by matching my speed and never using a turn signal. When they had to slow down slightly to make the second exit for 35w, they went full on road rage and started tailgating me, then raced ahead, swerved at me, and tried to brakecheck me. I saw it coming immediately and gave them roughly the full bridge length of space, so they just wasted time
I remember someone telling me to look at the driver to be reminded it's a person and not a machine. Honestly, that makes it several orders of magnitude worse. It's not a car going 20 under in the passing lane during rush hour, it's a flesh and blood human being causing the car to go 20 under in the passing lane. It's a choice being made by a human. That's so, so much worse.
You always have to look at the face of the bad driver. You gotta see if they look as dumb as they drive.
They're wearing headphones
They're playing their PSP using their knees to turn the wheel.
I saw a deaf woman use sign language with her friend on a video call while driving. She used both hands.
Grandma white knuckling it at 45 on the interstate again.
You had me in the first half, appealing to my desire to have empathy. You had me in the second half, on the floor laughing.
Remember, kids:
- Check your mirrors
- Set your blinker
- Turn your damn head and look
- Change lanes / Turn
Also, if you're turning:
Set your blinker to let others know what you plan on doing before you brake.
You should go in tour in the South giving seminars. In NY you will guaruntee get pulled for not signaling a turn or a lane change. In Mississippi, where I am now, the only blinkers are the ones that got hit by accident at the last turn, in a car that's been going straight for the last 10 miles, with a driver going 15mph under the speed limit getting visibly frustrated trying to figure out what that dadgum ticking noise is. I had a cop almost hit me the other day changing lanes with no blinker.
I got so used to using my turn signals when I used to drive truck that I tend to still flip them on subconsciously even if there's no other vehicles within miles of me.
Not a bad habit to get into though, I have much worse ones.
Doesn't even have to be vehicles. It's useful for pedestrians too. I absolutely hate when they don't use turn signals.
Wait what? Is this a hot take? Do most drivers in America not bother when they think nobody is around?
Yeah nah, safety first on the road. Fuck their emotions.
I'll be honest here
The only reason bad drivers drive is because their alternatives are either underfunded and explicitly inferior or they literally don’t exist.
If we had higher standards of public transit, the standards required to get a driver’s license would increase as well.
Even without raising standards for a driver's license, people might have a license but not necessarily buy a car. A license is easy to get, but a car is pricey and has so many constant costs associated with it.
Many people would just prefer to use public transportation if it wasn't a nightmare to use. It costs less and it requires much less attention and focus from them. I usually snooze on my bus to work.
God Indian roads are the biggest culprits for this.
There's some countries I visit where I don't even think about attempting to rent a car, the traffic is just too chaotic and stress inducing. I'd rather pay twice as much for taxis or just walk.
Another slanted hyphen...
I hate it! I hate it! I hate it!
cars bring out the worst in everyone
no human face to mediate relations, so we're all just faceless cars beeping and honking at other faceless cars. Makes it easy to get angry
Blind spots are a pain in the ass though. When the movement of another vehicle syncs with your pillar...
Blind spots are an issue. It's why you must turn your head.
Though this was about turn signals. Which should be used 100% of the time. Even alone on the road, just to build the muscle memory. I don't even have to think about it.
I guess my thoughts drifted a bit into accident causes, and I Immediately thought about blind spots.
I agree with the turn signals, although I tend to not trust too much in what people signal until I see their path.