You arrogant prick, you’re yelling at me?

(this was supposed to go in the pit, but upon re-reading it really didn’t seem to have the wrath I was going for, so I cleaned it up. Wherever mods want it I am fine with.)

Dubuque is not a good place to drive. With the unguarded five and three point stars, one way streets that begin and end for no apparent reason, apparent left-turns that have the right-of way over those going straight, and the majority of drivers being well over retirement age, people apparently don’t have a damn clue who is supposed to go when. The current theory of right of way is whoever has the largest vehicle and can go the fastest gets the right of way, because while all the blue hairs are sitting around wondering who is supposed to go, the asshole in the pickup is already halfway through the intersection. I’m not excusing the behavior—quite the opposite, it pisses me off—I’m just explaining the environment in which these drivers form.

So I’m driving to work this morning. I’m following the speed limit because a school is coming up and there are cars parked on either side of the street which would hide a kid trying to leap into the street. Up ahead at the three way intersection is a red light and two cars in line. I begin to slow up in anticipation of stopping a few car lengths ahead. Little do I know, the most important man in the world (AKA MFing Prick) is lurking in a hidden alleyway ahead. I have included a diagram for your benefit: ** Diagram 1 ** (I have left out the cars parked on the side of the street for my own ease of drawing. Just imagine there is no way for me to see MFing Prick lurking there)

Suddenly, and out of no where, MFing Prick decides “Screw this noise, I’m going!” He darts out in front of me and then stops, his progress impeded by another vehicle coming the opposite way. I slam my brakes and my thermos goes flying off the seat and crashes onto the dash board. I was slowing already, and have excellent brakes, but I still end up about an inch away from his driver side door. **Diagram 2 **. I slam on my horn to let the guy know that hey, he almost got himself killed! And what does that waste of oxygen have the nerve to do? He starts yelling at me, mouth a-frothing, neck veins a-pounding how he’s in a hurry and it’s impossible to pull out there and I’m a fucking bitch who should learn how to drive.

And then, as quickly a he had come into my life, he was gone.

So, here’s to you, you puerile waste of human flesh. Yeah, it’s hard to find a way out of a tiny alley that no one knows is there in the middle of a school zone two cars away from a red light. How god damn hard would it have been to keep on the main streets? Oh, right, I forgot. You’re the most important man in the world. Everyone stops for you and your ugly green SUV. I’m just shocked you weren’t on a cell phone at the time. Do you have any idea how close you came to being seriously injured or killed today? And that it was completely your fault? How dare you yell and scream at me? If I hadn’t been paying attention we would both be in the hospital right now!

The shit of it is, he’s probably in his office right now, yacking on about that bitch woman driver. Fucker.

Those are the best diagrams I have ever seen.

Nice drawings.

Next to the “Skidmarks of fear” you could add droplets of coffee leaking out of your door and perhaps flecks of mouth foam coming out of his SUV.

Actually, my thermos was closed and full of tea, so no spillage there. I think the flecks of foam idea is sound–maybe a new diagram is in order…hmmm…

Oh man, have I been there! (post 34 is my paint accident reinactment). At least he got out of the way, mine just sat their slack jawed as my car slammed into her honkin’ suv- sending me to the hospital and completely destroying my brand new car.

Well damn, the links in post 34 are now dead- so go ahead and disregard that :slight_smile: I assure you: they were hilarious.

The smaller size of your car in the drawing gives the illusion that the G-forces generated by your braking caused your vehicle to actually shorten itself up a bit.

As to the story, been there, done that. I wonder how many 16-ounce 7-11 coffees the MFing Prick had consumed before pulling this boneheaded move?

It’s situations like this that make me wonder:

How often do encounters such as this one, between two complete strangers, occur where both parties turn out to be dopers?

For example, in this thread, Little Bird is little bird, and I cf’75, turn out to be MFing Prick (no, I’m not. At least not the one in this discussion).

That would lead to some fun times in the Pit!

cf’75

I remember your thread fondly. It’s actually the reason I thought to post my own illustrations.

Oh, BTW–Here is an illustration of my POV in the incident: Diagram 3.

Actually, the other cars were mostly big sedans and SUVs and mine is a little Jetta, so it’s to all to scale and what not. :smiley:

…Dude.

:: bows ::

I’m not worthy! I’m not worthy!

:stuck_out_tongue:

:blushes:

You wouldn’t believe what happened to me this morning on my way to the coffee shop, where if I was a minute late I would have missed my favorite cashier who always gives me a nickel off my coffe. I’m trying to pull out of an allleyway, and I inch closer to the street to see if anyone is coming. There are cars parked on the street and it is difficult to see around them. So I pull out a little bit, and this complete tool almost hits me! So I’m freaking out and this idiot starts honking. So I did what any red-blooded American would do. I cursed them out and drove away. And wouldn’t you know it, I missed my bestest barrista. I really need that extra nickel. :mad:

So sorry, I couldn’t resist.

Naw Notorious Nik, it was probably more like:

I had just dropped the kid off at school because Marsha had some thing or other to do this morning and couldn’t do it. Who does that damn woman think she is? I don’t have time to get the kid dressed, fed and sent to school, I have to get to my job! She didn’t even have the decency to make the kid’s lunch, as if I ever fed anyone in my life. Anyway, I drive the kid to school, in a hurry because I have a client waiting for me at 8:00, drop him off (I hope he’s still in elementary school, I really don’t pay much attention) and to save time I duck into this little alley way. I figure I’m gonna scrape a few seconds off the drive with my short cut, but GOD DAMN there are all these cars going by! I can’t find a way out! Then I notice the stop light up the street turned red and the cars start stopping. Some bitch is slowing down to stop so I pull out figuring she’s gotta stop anyway, might as well be for me, right? I pull out in front of her, but then I gotta stop short because this other car is in the lane I was aiming for and the bitch in the black car has got the nerve to honk at me! For Christ’s sake, doesn’t she know I have things to do! I’m in a fucking hurry! I need to get to my job! I’m sure the shoe sale will wait for you another thirty seconds, bitch!

Yeah, I think I like your’s better.

(lousey dopers always have to be more creative than me. :smiley: )

Nothing to add, so I’ll just do a me-too on how excellent the diagrams are (the froth in Diagram 3 was particularly inspired) and testify that Dubuque is, indeed, an f’d up place to drive.

I hereby move tha**t all driving related posts must be accompanied by diagrams. Between this one, **DiosaBellissima’s and (who was it, Giraffe? GorillaMan? Astro? I can’t remember now0 with the bag-of-chips-throwing incident, I just think we have good proof that diagrams are just the thing.

Bruce_Daddy, that’s the one. And Hanover’s Jalapeno Pieces, it was.

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=6550938#post6550938

I’m going home now.