PSA: Safe driving, it's not just for breakfast anymore!

The BBQ Pit
1

I’m leaving a candle party tonight, like one of those tupperware group things except they gave us some variety by having the event at the local community center instead of my girlfriend’s crowded living room. Lotsa estrogen, quarter bidding on discontinued items, munchies were consumed and candles bought, everyone’s happy.

I invite my passengers to stay in the warmth of the building as I venture out into the storm to clear off my vehicle. The foyer is full of folks doing the same, since the community swimming pool and ice rink closed near the same time as our gig and there’re gaggles of kids running about.

I’m carefully negotiating the frozen tundra of the parking lot when a vehicle starts backing out totally snow-covered, I couldn’t see reverse or brake lights and I was an arm’s length away! Two kids are five feet behind me so I holler, hoping both they and the blinded driver stop. The kids do, likely wondering who the strange lady in the parking lot is and why she’s yelling, but the car continues backing out blindly.

So, I rap on the trunk loudly, figuring it might be one of the old bingo ladies and I’ll just clear her windows and lights off for her. Didn’t want to cause a cardiac by banging on the trunk, but this is seriously unsafe!

The window comes down as I come around the driver’s side saying “If you’ll just hold on a moment I’ll clear the car off so you can see, ma’am…” which was dumb, I had no business assuming it was an elderly driver much less a woman, but it was the first thing out of my mouth.

Imagine my shock to see my 3 year old neighbor/former classmate/FOAF who was leaving the same candle party!

What the flying holy fuck is wrong with you?! It’s not even a van or truck that’s problematic to reach, it’s a tiny little Camaro I swiped clean with one hand and you’re not even old or infirm or anything I can muster a tiny drop of sympathy for, you’re just that fucking lazy? When there’s horrific visibility to begin with and kids running about?!

I can’t stand this woman! She’s been stuck on stupid since we were fourfuckingteen years old and I wish to all that’s holy that my very good friend would stop being friends with this person so I can drop the thin pretense of manners I’ve felt obliged to extend for twenty everloving years!!

It’s Michigan, it snows here, this isn’t anything new and she doesn’t even have the seasonal pass of forgetting since the last snow was less than ten days ago, gah! I’m berating her in the middle of the parking lot and she’s staring at me with mouth agape and looking utterly confused! Two seconds to clear your back window, I’ll give ya the brake lights as a bonus, and you thought it wasn’t necessary?! Is backing out with no sightline acceptable if you just do it slowly?

No, you idiotic cow, it’s not! There’s six inches of icy slush on the ground, the snow’s still falling and it’s a crowded parking lot, fertheloveofpete! Basic Driving101, look where you’re pointing the vehicle! :mad:
Gah, I hate that dumbass and I hate that I’ll be hearing from at least five of the other party attendees about how I made the poor cow piss herself in the parking lot. :smack:

2

I think I see the crux of the problem here . . .

Seriously, people who can’t be bothered to clear the snow off ALL their windows and lights ought to get a snow brush up the ass.

3

I don’t know how anyone could drive like that. For the two winters I lived in MI, the only way I could drive was if I cleared not only the windows and lights, but the trunk, top, and hood of my car. Otherwise, I couldn’t see due to snow blowing from my hood or roof onto my windows and sticking.

Some people are stupid.

4

Perhaps she acts like a three year old but aye, she’s thirty-four. :smack:

Just woke up to find out that yes, indeedy, it’s a snow day today with no school for the kids and wouldn’tcha know, I see lovely blue and red lights reflecting across the ceiling. I look out to see a police car stopped about 3 houses down, just where the dumbass lives!

In snow emergencies, one must remove all cars from the street to allow the plows access, right? Apparently she or her husband thought those policies were optional too and our friendly neighborhood cruiser stopped by to wake them up and show them the error of their ways. :smiley:

Ok, well it might be another neighbor but if anyone’s getting ticketed or towed, I hope it’s her, I hope it’s her, I hope it’s her!

5

I see this all the time, too. A little patch cleared in front of the driver, and the rest obscured. Makes me feel reeeal safe driving around these numbnuts, knowing how most people drive when they can see out all their windows on dry pavement.

Don’t forget about the obscured license plates, either. The truck that hit-and-runned my car on the street New Year’s Day had snow covering his license, so we couldn’t get the number. I wish I wish I wish the police would crack down on shit like this.

6

First, let me say:

“Thank you Og for allowing me to live in the land of no ice and snow!”

Now, lil’ ol’ south GA USA me has enough sense, even, to know to clear the snow off of a car before backing out. I occasionally get this joy as work sometimes takes me to the land of ice and snow during winter. No one had to tell me. I figured out that the little brush and scraper thingy laying in the back seat of the rental car have a purpose. They brush and scrape all weird white stuff off the car so I can see. How thoughtful of them to provide such useful tools.

Queen Tonya please tell me it was Princess Clueless that got ticketed/towed. I really, really, really want it to be her.

7

There’s your problem.

One of my less (or more, depending on the situation) endearing traits is that I refuse to put up false pretenses. If one is a dumbass (as is anyone who does not properly clear off their vehicle in the snow, including all lights), I will let one know one is a dumbass, at such time your dumbassnitude intersects with me (too many dumbasses for me to point it out to all of them; I’d never get anything done). I’ll burn the bridge regarding whose friend one might be when I cross it. And I’ve crossed it more than once.

Now you know. All you need to do is stop behind her reversing car on a snowy day (“I didn’t want to hit that squirrel!”) and let her hit you. Find a camera to document the obscured view, and have a field day with her insurance company.

8

Let’s not forget the minivan and SUV drivers who feel that cleaning the top of their car is optional. So if you drive behind them, you either get your own mini blizzard that fucks with your visibility, or the danger of having great icy chunks come sailing off and hit your car.

BTW, I have leaned out of the passenger window and cleaned off other people’s cars. Mrs. Dante isn’t so keen on my doing this, but it’s a public service. Or I’ll hold up the scraper and point at their car as if to say “Want me to clean that for you?” for which I invariably receive obscene finger gestures. Which confuses me, because if I went up to their car in the summer and started covering the windows with garbage bags, I think they might be just as upset.

9

Yes, and let’s add headlights to the mix. I ventured out a few days ago to drive to work. It’s snowing–that light, fluffy, dry Rocky Mountain stuff–and the wind is blowing it all over the place. There’s enough cloud cover that we don’t have a whole lot of light, and every car on the road is kicking up a huge cloud of snow. I passed three cars in a row coming the other direction with no headlights on. Isn’t it rather obvious that your headlights make it easier for people to see you coming?

I could see a car with headlights a good half-mile off. The car in front of me was only a couple of hundred yards ahead and I couldn’t see it at all because it had no lights on.

10

You know, that’s one of those obvious things that I think people really don’t get. It involves thinking about someone else, and that does not seem to be something people do.

(As an aside, driving with your lights and therefore your taillights on helps visibility during the “driving straight into the rising/setting sun” times, too. You can see the backside of the black blob in front of you much better when the taillights are on.)

11

I had a statie turn on his lights to pass this morning; I guess I wasn’t tailgating the vehicle in fornt of me enough, because all he did was close with the traffic I had been following. Which is rather frightening, as I was driving over 70mph as it was.

I really don’t understand why people out here have a hard time adapting to winter driving. This is New England, it snows here every year, it’s not like it’s that hard to learn to drive on snow or ice.

Sheesh.

12

California finally passed a law requiring headlights to be on when windshield wipers are on. On Monday, during a reasonably heavy rain, half the cars did not have lights on, and were really hard to see.

I wish it would snow around here - probably wipe out a good percentage of the idiot drivers. (Also make me glad I kept my snow shovels when we moved from New Jersey. :slight_smile: )

13

That is my problem, you’re right. I didn’t have to interact with her often, at least until she bought a house right down the road from me. They appear to be hermits, though, which is helpful in my quest to not have to deal with her.

What do I do about the Very Good Friend, though?
Shall I start refusing to attend all social functions of the VG Friend since the dumbass is bound to be there? That sucks, we really enjoy spending time together and our kids are pals as well.
Do I start loudly pointing out the dumbassedness constantly? See, that’d be sorta fun, but incredibly rude and uncomfortable for everyone else. Not that they don’t see the dumbassedness themselves, the other assorted friends just aren’t bothered by it the way I am, they’re amused.
It’d make game night rather awkward if I sat there continually making fun of her, and of course I can’t act that way in front of the kids either. So that leaves me with, I either disassociate myself from VG friend and the rest of the group to avoid dumbass, or suck it up and feign politeness as I’ve been doing forever. Ugh.

Swampy I don’t know whether she was ticketed or not, but I really hope so too!

14

How 'bout the people who don’t even clear off their front windshields, just run the wipers back and forth?

15

I was taught years ago by a really great rep at my insurance company to always carry a disposable camera in my glove compartment. That way, if you have a fender-bender – or less – and the other party claims mega-damage when you know there was zero visible, you have documented evidence. I’ve not needed to use it for an accident, thank heaven, but have used it to get out of a no-temporary-registration-sticker-on-the-car ticket (when the sticker was clearly visible in the window, but the other end of the car where it properly belonged, so the ticket-writer would have had to walk five whole feet to look for it!).

16

I’m good at honest rudeness (such as a simple “I don’t like you.” to dumbass), and often choose to handle the fallout as it happens. It mortifies Ms. D_Odds who, like most, has problems with open rudeness when confronted with dumbassedness. Still, she loves to call on me when the JWs are walking the streets. M-i-L is even worse. She can’t even hang up on a telemarketer because that would be “rude”. Good thing she has no credit cards.

I would probably point out dumbassedness when it directly intersected with me, such as the car incident. With the car incident, I would not have hesitated to dress her down in front of her kids. I wouldn’t point out random dumbassedness; as I said, too many dumbasses, too little time.