There are Two Lanes for a Reason, Assbitches! (With a Bonus Merging Rant!)

The BBQ Pit
41

[QUOTE=Santo Rugger]
… If I was following two cars, I was leaving at least five times more space than the second car was leaving the first; it was almost always at least two full seconds. If that’s just what I think is plenty of space but it actually isn’t, feel free to correct me.
[/quote]

2 full seconds at 75 mph is 220 ft. Assuming that’s accurate, yes, I agree that’s probably sufficient.

So you don’t think it’s rude to break the law. Interesting.

(And this is just another reason why we should have legal limits on power-to-weight ratio, but that’s another debate…)

42

[QUOTE=RMutt]
Back in the old days (circa early 1980’s) when I was a young driver, people had no problem with a faster driver flashing them as a request to switch lanes. Now it seems like you’re asking them to give up a child or something. I never bother any more because I’m afraid one of these guys (it’s almost always a guy, I don’t know why…) will go all apeshit on me and make my next 20 miles an annoying and dangerous experience.

I don’t know why it’s insulting to ask to free a lane, but apparently it is.
[/QUOTE]

Maybe it’s because I learned to drive in MA, but I feel exactly the same way. Listen people, when we flash our headlights, we’re not insulting you. It’s just a little tap on the shoulder to move over and let us pass. You know, pull up ahead of the person in the right lane you are driving in parallel with, and let us through. Same thing to you folks reading the paper at the stop light. If I tap my horn, it’s because you’re not paying attention to the fact that the light is now green. CA drivers drive me nuts!!

43

[QUOTE=Santo Rugger]
Go fuck yourself. Seriously. I bet you think I made this story up, too? Like I said, I got a new car in April, and had quite a bit of fun driving fast. That’s one rule of the road that I consciously chose to break. I’m *not *a rude driver, and the reason I only got one ticket is because I only deserved one ticket.
[/QUOTE]

You’re certainly an excitable and angry little fella, aren’t you?

You bet I think you made that story up? Paranoid much?

I’m sure the cops all pulled you over the other seven times just to get a good look at your car? Probably not. They probably pulled you over because you were driving like an asshole. Eight times in one year is more than having “quite a bit of fun driving fast” like a teenage boy. That’s excessive and speaks of your driving abilities.

44

[QUOTE=Santo Rugger]
Like I said, I got a new car in April, and had quite a bit of fun driving fast. That’s one rule of the road that I consciously chose to break.
[/QUOTE]
Because it’s fun?

Great googly moogly.

45

[QUOTE=Santo Rugger]
No. I was actually paying attention to this last night. If I was following two cars, I was leaving at least five times more space than the second car was leaving the first; it was almost always at least two full seconds. If that’s just what I think is plenty of space but it actually isn’t, feel free to correct me.
[/quote]
A minimum of three seconds, preferably more.

Driving fast to the point you are pulled over eight times in 8 months is not rude at all. It’s seriously aggressive driving that should land you in jail and not a warning. It appears you will not change your behavior until you are involved in an accident where innocents are injured or killed. I just hope those innocent folks have a good lawyer or three, and somehow find out about your record and the lack of responsibility of the police to take you down.

46

[QUOTE=Sleeps With Butterflies]
You’re certainly an excitable and angry little fella, aren’t you?
[/QUOTE]

One word: overcompensation.

47

[QUOTE=Duckster]
A minimum of three seconds, preferably more.
[/QUOTE]

Three seconds preferably more? Are you kidding? Here we were taught (in drivers’ ed) two seconds in good conditions, four seconds in rain/snow/etc. I do my best to follow these rules, and I have to say, three seconds in good conditions is a HUGE amount of space. I mean, sure, if you got the room, nothing wrong with keeping it, but there’s no possible way you can keep a three second distance driving around here.

Anyhow, I do agree that getting pulled over 8 times in one year is pretty excessive. I haven’t been pulled over eight times in my life (16 years of driving).

48

[QUOTE=Duckster]
Driving fast to the point you are pulled over eight times in 8 months is not rude at all. It’s seriously aggressive driving that should land you in jail and not a warning.
[/QUOTE]

Right – I’ve been driving in the US for eight years, and the only time I’ve talked to a police officer was after a very minor collision, where said officer obviously decided that the other driver was in the wrong. (I was signalling a right turn at lights, and the other driver went off the road to my right in order to turn right: of course, we collided when the lights turned green.)

49

I’m more curious about the seven encounters where no ticket was given. Mistaken identity? Changed the cops’ minds with eloquent professions of innocence? Daddy’s the mayor? Well-worn pair of knee pads in the back seat?

50

[QUOTE=scr4]
<snip>So you don’t think it’s rude to break the law. Interesting.

(And this is just another reason why we should have legal limits on power-to-weight ratio, but that’s another debate…)
[/QUOTE]

There are a few select laws I have no qualms about breaking. I would argue that a majority of people feel the same.

Power-to-weight is another debate, but I’d be rather disappointed if motorcycles were no longer legal.

[QUOTE=Sleeps With Butterflies]
You’re certainly an excitable and angry little fella, aren’t you?

You bet I think you made that story up? Paranoid much?

I’m sure the cops all pulled you over the other seven times just to get a good look at your car? Probably not. They probably pulled you over because you were driving like an asshole. Eight times in one year is more than having “quite a bit of fun driving fast” like a teenage boy. That’s excessive and speaks of your driving abilities.
[/QUOTE]

No, I just think you’re a presumptuous cunt. Driving fast =! driving like an asshole.

[QUOTE=Vinyl Turnip]
I’m more curious about the seven encounters where no ticket was given. Mistaken identity? Changed the cops’ minds with eloquent professions of innocence? Daddy’s the mayor? Well-worn pair of knee pads in the back seat?
[/QUOTE]

Since you asked:

Exhibition of power, when I accidentally squealed my tires downtown.

Unreadable license plate, when the plastic frame was loose and covered a tiny bit of the registration sticker.

Once on the way back from Durango, on a long stretch of highway with no other cars in sight. I slowly inched up to 90 in a 60, and got a warning because the cop said, “This is a nice car, you better be careful, and take care of it.”

Once in Colorado, when I didn’t realize the speed limit changed when the highway went into town. We spent more time talking about my car then about what I did wrong.

Twice on Indian land, where I was driving less than 5 over and it didn’t really warrant a ticket.

I can’t remember the last one right now.

51

Do you have any kids that you know? I’m only asking because as a potential Darwin Award nominee, the rest of us might want to know of any spawn of yours that might follow in your footsteps.

52

[QUOTE=Santo Rugger]
Exhibition of power, when I accidentally squealed my tires downtown.
[/quote]

From the cop’s POV, he had no way to know if it was “accidental” or not. Possibly deseved ticket.

[QUOTE=Santo Rugger]
Unreadable license plate, when the plastic frame was loose and covered a tiny bit of the registration sticker.
[/quote]

Improperly displayed plate. Deserved ticket.

[QUOTE=Santo Rugger]
Once on the way back from Durango, on a long stretch of highway with no other cars in sight. I slowly inched up to 90 in a 60, and got a warning because the cop said, “This is a nice car, you better be careful, and take care of it.”
[/quote]

Deserved ticket.

[QUOTE=Santo Rugger]
Once in Colorado, when I didn’t realize the speed limit changed when the highway went into town. We spent more time talking about my car then about what I did wrong.
[/quote]

Ignornace of the law is no defense. Deserved ticket.

[QUOTE=Santo Rugger]
Twice on Indian land, where I was driving less than 5 over and it didn’t really warrant a ticket.
[/QUOTE]

Agree no ticket deserved.

At least half of them you did deserve, though. So, you’re a liar.

53

[QUOTE=Duckster]
Do you have any kids that you know? I’m only asking because as a potential Darwin Award nominee, the rest of us might want to know of any spawn of yours that might follow in your footsteps.
[/QUOTE]

:dubious:

Because I leave two seconds between me and other cars instead of three? This would cause one to drive slower than the flow of traffic, which is just as dangerous as driving faster.

[QUOTE=Q.E.D.]
<snip>At least half of them you did deserve, though. So, you’re a liar.
[/QUOTE]

I do not lie. The truth is hard enough to keep track of.

54

[QUOTE=Santo Rugger]
I do not lie.
[/QUOTE]
FWIW, your [post=9405838]lame bukaki backpedaling[/post] struck me as a lie.

55

[QUOTE=the PC apeman]
FWIW, your [post=9405838]lame bukaki backpedaling[/post] struck me as a lie.
[/QUOTE]

Ok, you caught me. I have extreme issues with homosexuality. :rolleyes:

You never did answer my question when I asked if you were one of the asshats that cruise along at 10 under. This thread isn’t about liking or disliking same gender sexual play. It’s about morons who don’t show the common courtesy of not holding up traffic.

Others have flamed me because they think I’m fast and “dangerous”. I have much less of a problem with that than of being accused of being a homophobe because I used “sucking each others cocks” as an insult. How naive of me to the “PC” in your name stood for Personal Computer.

56

[QUOTE=Santo Rugger]
You never did answer my question when I asked if you were one of the asshats that cruise along at 10 under.
[/quote]
You didn’t really think that could have been me, did you? Don’t lie now.

57

[QUOTE=the PC apeman]
You didn’t really think that could have been me, did you? Don’t lie now.
[/QUOTE]

Don’t act dumber than you are. It was obvious to anybody of any reasonable intelligence (i.e. knows how to read) that even when I asked if you were driving next to your wife’s sancho ALL FUCKING MORNING that I was referring to the general case. Go be politically correct with somebody who gives a shit.

58

[QUOTE=Santo Rugger]
Don’t act dumber than you are. It was obvious to anybody of any reasonable intelligence (i.e. knows how to read) that even when I asked if you were driving next to your wife’s sancho ALL FUCKING MORNING that I was referring to the general case. Go be politically correct with somebody who gives a shit.
[/QUOTE]
I see. No. I drive much more like you seem to. It’s just not something I’m proud of.

59

[QUOTE=the PC apeman]
I see. No. I drive much more like you seem to. It’s just not something I’m proud of.
[/QUOTE]

The only thing I’m “proud” of is that I don’t tailgate, and that I give other drivers plenty of space. In return, I feel that drivers shouldn’t drive along side each other for miles on end below the speed limit. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.

60

[QUOTE=Q.E.D.]
Ignornace of the law is no defense. Deserved ticket.
[/QUOTE]

Jumping to conclusions a bit, aren’t we?

How do you know the reduced speed limit was signposted appropriately?