I didn’t know that, since mine puts me in front of the house.
MeanOldLady’s summary seems pretty accurate to me, actually.
Fear Itself, I think you’re impeding this thread. Would you mind pulling over?
No, they’re not. There is a huge difference between slowing down modestly for some brief period and driving 10mph in a 35mph zone for extended periods while traffic is piling up behind you.
Again, that is not what people here are saying, and you know it.
It is indeed silly. That is precisely why nobody here has claimed that merely slowing down is illegal. What makes it illegal is slowing down drastically and in such a manner as to impede the normal flow of traffic. I suspect that you will continue to ignore this distinction though, since acknowledging it would severely weaken your case.
From the very first post I made, the only thing I have argued for is the right to slow down to look for street addresses. I have never claimed I want to drive for miles and miles at ten miles an hour, and any one who has tried to portray my posts in that light is just provoking a confrontation.
I have never proposed that drastically slowing down was safe or legal. It is legal to slow down to look for a street address however. Again, any attempt to portray my posts as anything other than that is deliberately misleading.
That is a falsehood. In an earlier posting, for example, you said,
“Not if I am moving. There is no law against driving 10 miles an hour in the right lane in a 35mph zone.”
Others have pointed out that your characterization is inaccurate at best. When driving at 10 mph impedes traffic (which is the only scenario that’s relevant to this discussion), then it can indeed be against the law – and it’s inappropriate driving behavior besides.
Again, you’re moving the goalposts. What you “want” is irrelevant. You claimed that you have every right to drive at 10 mph if you so choose, and that is simply incorrect.
Dropping from 35 mph to 10 mph is a pretty drastic change by any reasonable definition.
True but irrelevant, for reasons that have been pointed out to you numerous times now.
I just tuned into this awesome pit thread to add a solution that was so liberating. In line at the grocery store at 7pm, the socially inept putz in front of me argues with the cashier over an expired $.50 coupon on a total bill of twelve dollars. He has a $20 bill in his hand. Me, impatient and a confirmed asshole, handed a single $1 bill to the cashier and told them ‘PROBLEM SOLVED.’
A trifecta of assholery. The shopper for not leaving the item or paying the extra fifty cents, the cashier for not accepting the expired coupon, and me for essentially saying fuck both of you. That was probably the best use of a single dollar bill in my entire life.
Impossible. I work with digital map data used in GPS systems. The address data is not complete enough to put you in front of the house in every situation. In most situations, the data consists of a house number range for the block, and the system interpolates to get the destination location. Hence it is often off by a little bit.
Because of course he was just denying the guy to be a douche about it, not because he’ll get written up over 50 cents.
Then you deliberately misunderstood me. I was responding to a previous post, and that statement was in the context of slowing down to look for an address. It is entirely legal to slow from 35 to 10mph to look for an address.
I have actually done this before - that is, warned the person behind me if I think there will be a problem with my transaction, if I am buying for a number of people or some other such time consuming thing.
I have also stood aside at the ATM to let the chap behind me go first if I am making multiple, non urgent transactions (like topping up the smart card)
It’s not impossible, because every time I’ve used to find a house address it’s done it. On the other hand, I’ve only used it 5-6 times to do so.
You’re welcome to that opinion.
IMO there’s a significant difference between people who are repeatedly self absorbed and unconcerned about the other people they share a space with, and those , because of circumstances we aren’t aware of, or just a momentary preoccupation, impede others.
If you walk up to someone who’s cart is in your way and wait for them to notice instead of saying “excuse me” then that time is your own dam fault because instead of trying to politely mitigate the time lost by a little non hostile assertiveness , *you decided * to wait while thinking about how rude and clueless the other person is.
The idea that the cart should never ever be in your way and people should never ever be preoccupied is a ridiculous extreme. The excuse that some crazy lady was mean to me, and “excuse me” doesn’t always work is also ridiculous. It may not work so I shouldn’t even be socially required to make the effort. It’s this other person’s responsibility to make sure I never have to risk a negative response. I’d rather wait and think about how rude and clueless this other person is.
I’ve been the guy who has a schedule to keep and mumbles a curse at someone driving slow only to see it’s some elderly person. It occurred to me that while an elderly driver and is obvious to see there might be other circumstances I can’t see and my animosity and harsh judgment isn’t helping the situation at all. In fact its seems like I’m being a bit of a dick to be so eager to judge others harshly.
Consideration during social interaction is a two way street. I agree that we should try to be aware of others and that translates into trying not to impede their progress. I think consideration also translates well into patience and a refraining from judging others too harshly.
Going by my own experience most of the people who are taking extra time in line or driving slow are strangers and I have no idea what their circumstances are. If it’s obvious they are aware and don’t give a shit that’s one judgment. Other than that I try to be patient so that my own schedule doesn’t turn me into a judge mental dick. I also advocate polite assertiveness as a means of mitigating delays. We seem reluctant to communicate in situations where we’re not sure what reaction we’ll get. Cashiers seem reluctant to say “I don’t mean to rush you but there are others in line” People in line reluctant to say something similar. There will be a % of people who don’t respond well to that but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make the effort. It’s all part of the magic of social interaction.
If all of that is too much to grasp, so be it. Let the snide comments and the stomping of feet continue.
I like it. It may be that you and the cashier were not assholes, but it’s a great story.
Under certain conditions that’s true but people seem to want to argue without acknowledging those differences. If you’re looking for an address and several cars are behind you, you’re impeding traffic, pull over for a second. If one car comes up behind you and has to drive 10mph for 10 seconds while blowing their horn, they are the impatient asshole saying, “get out of my way I’m more important than you”
It’s perfectly reasonable to expect the cart to not be in the way in the first place. All you have to do is be just a little bit observant that there are other people around you, and move it to the side. I also think people should not impede traffic. That is, after all, why we have laws against the practice.
I would agree that blowing one’s horn for ten seconds straight would indeed be an excessive reaction, except in situations of dire emergency. Having said that, I’m only arguing against Fear Itself’s line of argumentation. I do agree that responding in an overly aggressive way is not proper behavior either, and that the severity of the response should match the severity of the offense.
Bolding mine.
Such a simple concept, yet so many people cannot grasp the idea. Whether it is the moron who blocks the entire aisle in the grocery store, the jerk saving the world one gallon at a time by driving his Prius at 55mph in the fast lane, or the dolt who digs out the checkbook after the cashier tells the total.
All of these inconsiderate sloths can eat a dick.
This is a perfect example of the goalposts moving that others have complained about. They point out that it’s illegal to impede traffic, and you respond by retorting that it’s perfectly legal to slow down or to stop before making a left turn. It is simply mindboggling that you would consider such a response to be relevant to the situation under discussion.