[ale] [OT rant] selfishness

Fri Jan 11 13:48:52 EST 2013

Having driven to all 49 continental US states and 8 Canadian provinces I can tell you that driving is NOT universally better above the Mason-Dixon line.  In fact it seems to vary state by state or province by province.   In NJ/NY on I 95 you’ll see traffic as bad if not worse than anything you’ll see in Atlanta.   What you do see is that usually in and around large metro areas traffic is worse both in volume and in manners than in other areas.

One big exception is that in most of Indiana it seems that ALL drivers go out of their way to be in your way.  Indiana has annoyed me because none of the states around it seem to have the same issues.  Even Chicago drivers seem more courteous than those buffoons.

From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of Jim Kinney
Sent: Friday, January 11, 2013 1:19 PM
To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
Subject: Re: [ale] [OT rant] selfishness

I have noticed on my jaunts to Boulder that above the Mason-Dixon line, driving changes radically for the better. If I'm approaching someone in the left lane, they pull over to the right. If I use my turn signal to indicate I'm changing lanes, the car I'm about to pull in front of will either make a bit more room for me of flash lights to let me know I'm clear when it's really close. No one guns it to cut me off from changing lanes.
On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 1:09 PM, Jerald Sheets <questy at gmail.com<mailto:questy at gmail.com>> wrote:
I am so glad I moved to North Carolina right now.  I believe I saw two cows and a squirrel on my way in this morning...

--jer

On Jan 11, 2013, at 10:51 AM, Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com<mailto:jim.kinney at gmail.com>> wrote:

There was a wreck on I-285 that required fire trucks, ambulance and closing down 3 lanes next to the center divider. Of course traffic is backed up for a few miles. As the emergency vehicles are approaching, people were, in general, making NO APPARENT EFFORT to clear a path for the emergency access. I could see the approaching lights and hear the sirens a full 2 minutes before they were finally adjacent to my car. Finally, as they were nearly adjacent, traffic began to ignore the lane markers and spread apart to allow an envelope of open road to appear just ahead of the emergency trucks.

And then the most blatant example of selfishness I've ever seen occurred. The car behind me had not made a single move to clear the way for the ambulance. From my view, the cell phone call was far more important than the road conditions. So when I was finally able to squeeze left, along with the cars in front and the right side traffic squeezing right, the car behind me took the new hole as an opportunity to jump in front of the traffic that was making room for the ambulance and fire rescue trucks.

The driver actually impeded the flow of the emergency crew as she finally tried to merge back into traffic but there was no room. So she stopped moving, laid on the horn and looked like she was about to ram a car out of they way when finally some serious other car packing allowed her to clear the way.

As a species, we are doomed if that mentality continues. I hope the fire truck got her tag and she loses her license. We need to have urban transportation that is not propelled by individual interest. The roads are simply too crowded and people are too distracted to always be safe drivers. We can't force people to be safe but we can remove opportunities for people to be stupid and selfish. I like the idea of being able to get to work/pub/friends/food without needing to sweat the details of driving and still make it in less than 2 hours. I ESPECIALLY want to hit my fav pubs and then get home without endangering anything but my own liver.

We are close to having the capability but we are light-years from having the social will to make the leap.

</rant>

um. duh. The auto2 should have a hardened, real-time Linux system brain.

--
--
James P. Kinney III

Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain at one end you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog on his own tail. It won't fatten the dog.
- Speech 11/23/1900 Mark Twain

http://electjimkinney.org<http://electjimkinney.org/>
http://heretothereideas.blogspot.com/

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--
James P. Kinney III

Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain at one end you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog on his own tail. It won't fatten the dog.
- Speech 11/23/1900 Mark Twain

http://electjimkinney.org
http://heretothereideas.blogspot.com/

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