Grrr...traffic.....and more

[javasaurus]

I am so sick of just about everybody today.

I'm sick of those who litter
When I was at a science conference in Salt Lake City, I was amazed at the amazing lack of litter. The streets were clean, the sidewalks were clean, the bathrooms in the mall were spotless. No holes in the stall walls, very little graffiti, clean seats. It was amazing. I saw one person throw down a wrapper, and then noticed they weren't native to SLC, but an attendee at the conference. I must change my statement. There was no litter except cigarrette butts and chewing gum splotches.

I'm sick of people who think cig butts and chewing gum don't matter as litter
The number one element of litter is cig butts, and I'm tired of scraping chewing gum off my shoes, or risking tracking it into my car, or onto carpet.

I'm sick of those who run red lights, stop signs, fail to yield or otherwise fail to obey right-of-way
When the light turns red, stop. What's so hard to understand? At multi-way stops, it's not just stop and go, it's stop, wait for others who were there before you, then go.

I'm sick of those who weave in and out of traffic, especially when traffic is stop-and-go, and all they gain is two car lengths

I'm sick of people who have no clue how to use a turn signal
I realize a lot of people think, "if I use my turn signal, they'll make sure I can't get over." That doesn't excuse surprising the drivers around you.

I'm sick of line jumpers at amusement parks, at coffee shops
I no longer care what the excuse is, cause I'm not going to believe it anyway. I've had people get violent when I wouldn't let them through, and I've seen other people in line say to me, "what's your problem, man, just let him through" and "if you don't like the line jumpers, you don't have to come here." I must really have lost my bag of clues when travelling through the woods to grandma's house.

I'm sick of politicians who are in it for the power, for the money, and not for the people
The problem here is that the system is corrupt, and the good guys get eaten alive. If you are not in it for the power and the money, then you won't get power or money, and you won't be in it at all. I don't know how to fix it, I don't know a better system. I'm still sick of it.

I'm sick of people who would rather sue than take responsibility for their actions
There are enough legit reasons to sue, filling the courts with nonsense just wastes taxes. It doesn't help that our society has become more about rights and less about responsibilities. I'm sick of people who sue because they might get money out of it

I'm sick of bad service at restaurants or other retail places
I've been overcharged and told "oh well, that's what's in the computer." Some places put sale items (2 cans for a dollar) on the same shelf with unpriced non-sale items, knowing that the customer will think the unpriced item is also on sale, and knowing that most customers will not notice, or not complain. If there is a buy one, get one free sale, then every other item should be free, not the bottom half.

The worst part is that it's not a universal pile of evil. It's this area, the DC/Baltimore area. It's other areas, too, I'm sure. But when I've gone to Denver, Toronto, West Virginia, Salt Lake City, I see better driving, or less litter, and certainly friendlier and more helpful service.

Comments

[xpioti.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on that one. What gets me are the people who won't let me move left a lane while in heavy traffic; letting me in doesn't slow them down at all, and it means I'm that much closer to getting off the road (I have a left turn off 270, and a left turn into the campus). If we are hardly moving and I turn on my blinker, I'm not saying "I want to cut you off and make you late", I'm saying "I'm going to come into that lane now, I thought you'd like to know. And btw, I don't recommend hitting me 'accidentally'."

*mutter*

I also hate people who cut out of traffic, into entrance (or exit) lanes, zip up several car lengths, and then cut back in to traffic. What did they gain? Nothing. And the people who wait until the last minute to get out of the entrance lane onto the main road. I tend to remain in the entrance lane until I can safely merge with traffic; matching speeds, aligning for a space, etc.

And then there are the people who won't let you get on to the highway at an entrance ramp. What's the point? You're going 5mph in a 55mph zone, letting me in is not going to slow you down any significant amount.

There is so much anger, incompetence, and arrogance, it can almost be cut with a knife.

[javasaurus.livejournal.com]

Actually, I wish everybody did wait until the last minute when merging from entrance lanes into main traffic, if the traffic is bumper-to-bumper, then merge together one-for-one.

Why, you ask?

Suppose person X is in main lane, and person A moves in front of X early in the entrance lane.
Usually, at the end of the entrance lane, the one-for-one thing happens anyway, even if people don't seem happy about it, so now person B moves in front of person A, and person C moves in front of X, so that X now has 3 cars that have moved in front of him.

If everybody in the main lane lets in one car early in the entrance lane, and everybody lets in a car at the end of the entrance lane, then you get the entrance car moving ahead 3 cars for each one in the main lane.

If people simply wait until the end of the entrance lane, they merge one-for-one, and the entrance lane stops moving faster than the main lane. This has the added benefit of preventing main lane traffic from darting into the entrance lane, since it's moving at the same speed as the main lane.

Yes, I waste a lot of thought and energy on this stuff.

[xpioti.livejournal.com]

Executive Summary: Alternating merges work.

Assuming the asswipes don't drive down the shoulder, leap in and out of the entrance/exit lane in an attempt to get into the line farther ahead, or otherwise display their general unfitness for reproductive rights. *bares fangs* Something else that burns me is when person X lets in person A, but not person C; let in just person C! For me, the entrance lane is where you align yourself and achieve an appropriate speed. The end of the entrance lane is where you execute the actual merge.

[blueeowyn.livejournal.com]

I think most of the parts of your rant can be summed up as Lack of Respect and Lack of Responsibility. If you drive like a maniac, someone is going to be hurt and in my opinion it is your responsibility.

When you get your license, you learn the rules of the road and it is your responsibility to obey them (or suffer the consequences). Tailgating, unsafe lane changes, running red lights, and running stop signs are HUGE problems. I support the idea of ticketing people who drive agressively. I much prefer that to ticketing people who are leaving a good following distance, moving with a pack of cars and going a little over the speed limit. *sigh*

Littering is again lack of respect (for where you are) and lack of responsibility (it is against the law). I would love to see it set up somehow so that people who throw their cig. butts out or drop them get them fed to them (in whatever state of out that they are in at point of discard). Do I care if it makes them sick? Not really. They have the ability to avoid the punishment by avoiding the crime.

As for line-jumping, Java can attest that I am becoming very stubborn (and would still have loved to have stilleto heels on ... I don't care how frantic he was about his kid, that does NOT give him the right to push me aside and push Java into other people.

If parents keep bailing kids out of trouble, the kids will not learn responsibility and the problem will get worse.

As for politicians ... they are usually scum. Our system needs major reform (including making it a lot easier for new parties to get funding for elections ... 5% of the popular vote is really difficult if you can't even get on the ballot in multiple states ... esp. when the race is perceived as fairly close and people who might want to vote for "New Party" to help them reach that level are afraid to since that means that they can't vote for "Old Not As Scary As The Other One Party".