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Yup : Drivers on the freeway - 9/6/2006 8:07:46 AM

Termyn8or

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I told you it was coming. Gee, I wonder what the body to brain ratio is at rush hour.

If you live in a place with a real traffic problems, sorry about your luck. You are there for a reason and it is just one of those things you have to put up with. However, I live in Cleveland. No I am not afraid to say where I live on the net because I am not an 11 year old girl. Come on down.

Now if you're familiar with the area, we've lost more jobs than almost anyone. White flight was really rampant here as well. We have where the people moved out AND the industry moved out. Even when the Ford plant was here it wasn't in Cleveland proper, it was in a suburb.

Downtown empty office space is all over the place. Even BP and now the banks are moving out.

So why the fuck are there traffic jams ? I have a theory and this is a good one. Not a conspiracy theory but more of a theory on human dynamics. Yesterday I was in two traffic jams, and I don't leave work until six. In each I expected to see a disabled car or an accident, but no, there were none.

Now I can understand a slowdown where another major artery merges INTO the road on which you are traveling, but why the traffic jam before a splitoff. In this case a splitoff means where like two or three lanes go to other highways, not just an exit ramp. The question is, why the FUCK is there a traffic jam before the splitoff ?

I think I know. It is because stoopid people wait until the last minute to change lanes. Think about this for a minute. This is a splitoff, no traffic is coming in, the only problem can be that people have to change lanes.

Let's review a bit of driving history shall we ? If you hit the car in front of you, you pay. Now, to change lanes you must find an opening in that lane. To find an opening to merge into a lane you may speed up or slow down. But then there's this car in front of you so speeding up is not an option, you must slow down. Meanwhile the idiot next to you needs to get into your lane so he, also unable to speed up, must slow down.

So what happens ? Everybody slows down, because all the people behind you, as well as the people behind the other guy must slow down.

There are two reasons for this, one is the absent minded people who really shouldn't drive, especially with a cellphone in their ear, then there are the real assholes who will risk 10 lives for 10 seconds of their precious time.

I saw a guy peel tires to get ahead on the highway in rush hour. He was driving very agressively to say the least. In the end, when he had to get to the off ramp he slowed the whole line down, one lane at a time. How many others were doing the same thing ? He actually wound up behind where he should've been if he just stayed put. I see people get into the fast (left) lane to go two exits. Two exits !

See that's what I'm talking about, if you think of yourself as part of this society, why not just get into the lane you need to be in and stay there ? And yes I practice what I preach, I get into my lane five fucking miles in advance. I am not part of the problem.

There should be no traffic problem in this city. It is not even considered a major market anymore. Greater Cleveland might be, but going through downtown shouldn't be like this. I could go live in a major market and expect traffic jams, but they are not caused by the sheer volume of traffic here, like in a major city. They are caused here by idiots.

Whether of the one type or the other, idiots just the same.

T

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RE: Yup : Drivers on the freeway - 9/6/2006 8:23:48 AM

LadyEllen

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From: Stourport-England
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How nice to know you have them in the US too - people who are so damned appalling behind the wheel that I think they have to be either drunk or incompetent - meaning they shouldnt be there in the first place!

We get the same scenario you mentioned on the motorways here, but here's one which I think at least you dont get, as I'm not sure you have too many roundabouts?

Roundabouts are junctions where several roads (not motorways/freeways mind!) meet. As the name suggests, one travels around the roundabout and exits into the road along which one wishes to go. Generally, the exits are at 9, 12 and 3 o'clock as one approaches the roundabout, and its dreadfully simple as to what one has to do.

To take the 9 o'clock, one moves to the left and signals left. To take the 3 o'clock, one moves to the right and signals right. To go straight over to the 12 o'clock, one can take left or right and one doesn't signal. The number of people who nearly (and actually do) cause accidents by going left and then taking the 3 o'clock exit, or signalling right or left all the way and then doing the opposite.

I blame Kelloggs, for giving out driving licenses as free gifts in cereal packs. There can be no other explanation for how some of the idiots we have here got on the road!

And BTW, no its not just women doing these things OK!?
E (who drives 25,000 miles a year)

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RE: Yup : Drivers on the freeway - 9/6/2006 8:58:12 AM

Termyn8or

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Ummmm, I didn't mention Women at all.

I have heard about the roundabouts. In my field I have beeen exposed to more than the usual number of European immigrants. One of them said 80% of us would wreck right away.

I could go and find out how to negotiate those roads from hell, but I have no intention of going to Europe. My ancestors came here and left their homeland. I am not making the same mistake.

I think the major problem is the "feelgood" attitude that makes one think his time and his life is more important than anyone else's. World over there is alot of that going around.

People cut you short and then collect the insurance because you hit them. People won't let you get over into the lane WHY ? I have always been one to look for the cause of a problem, rather than to treat it's symptoms, but in this case I don't think it'll go anywhere. When people get this hubris, the only solution is a repressive society with a million laws.

That is not even a solution, but that has been the response. In a way we caused it.

Is there a fix ? Can we go back ? I don't know. But something needs to be done.

T

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RE: Yup : Drivers on the freeway - 9/6/2006 9:18:33 AM

sub4hire

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quote:

ORIGINAL: LadyEllen

I blame Kelloggs, for giving out driving licenses as free gifts in cereal packs. There can be no other explanation for how some of the idiots we have here got on the road!

Depending on the part of the country here we have many roundabouts as well.

As far as the US goes...well not even the US but California in general. Just in my life span thus far.
When I was in high school we had drivers ed. We took it for a semester. The ultimate goal was to learn enough to get your driver's permit.
So, for I believe 2 week's out of that semester we had drive time in an actual car with about 3 other people our age. We'd all take turns driving a few hours a day after school to gain experience.
Doug is a few year's older than myself. When he was in school they had simulator's. We had them as well but I never saw one.
It just so happened I had custody of my nephews while they were in high school. Anymore, it really depend's on the school district. Though many do not even offer driver's ed. Those who do don't have simulators or actual driving.
Perhap's it also depends on where you sit in the city or country on what you have?
In any event my nephew got his permit by taking the test. After having zero drive time experience and not even knowing he had to check his mirrors to change lanes. Let alone look behind him.
My other nephew got his drivers license without ever sitting behind the wheel of a car.
Do we really need to wonder why drivers are so bad? To go to a professional driving school it costs 450 for about 3 hours. At least that is the price where I live. Different areas may cost different.

I think the only solution is to go to the video game makers and tell them to create a simulator that everyone can use. One that can teach you how to drive and learn the rules of the road. At that point we may have some excellent drivers on the road once more.

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RE: Yup : Drivers on the freeway - 9/6/2006 9:26:16 AM

LadyEllen

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T - totally with you on that one. Do not come here - its awful and most of the natives want to leave, and for goodness' sake dont get on the road unless you have at least ten years' experience as a pedestrian or cyclist and have thus sharpened your instincts around British traffic! Plus which it costs nearly GBP 5-00 a gallon to fuel a car here.....

I dont think we can go back to a more polite system on the roads unless we remove around 75% of the vehicles from it. Its overcrowding that is one cause for bad temper and ignorance on the roads.

Equally though, its our good friend the ego which is another. People who wouldnt dare make eye contact with me if they walked past me in the street, suddenly become tremendously brave and arrogant when behind the wheel. I should be careful about saying this, what with the US love of SUVs and 4x4s, but it seems that the degree of bravery and arrogance which people acquire, in in direct proportion to the size of their vehicle as a ratio with the size of others. I guess its the invulnerable feeling of armour, when one climbs into one's car, that says do what you like, you cant get me.

And then, there is the feeling of power and control which driving elicits. Our slightest movement produces instant effects in an almost magical way. Combine arrogance with a feeling of total power and any of us can become jerks.

And then again, some people are just jerks to start with!
E

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RE: Yup : Drivers on the freeway - 9/6/2006 10:40:33 AM

Termyn8or

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E;

I'll get back to you in a second.

sub..;

"I think the only solution is to go to the video game makers and tell them to create a simulator that everyone can use. One that can teach you how to drive and learn the rules of the road. At that point we may have some excellent drivers on the road once more. "

Not a bad idea with the sophisticated games out there. Complete with tickets and fines. I'm not a gamer, but from what I've seen it should be easy to turn a game into a driving lesson. While it cannot provide a substitute for actual driving, why not have it help one make better decisions ? Actually if someone comes along who can design video games I would be very interested in collaberating on it.Every fiber of my being is concentrated on not being a part of the problem when I drive. I have had my car wrecks and they taught me. But then how do we get that across in a video game ?

Lady Ellen;

I will look you straight in the eye, as I am not a sub, I am a switch. Lemme tellya, when two switches get together there are no questions of fidelity, each has what the other needs. But I guess you are a Domme, which is fine and good.

I agree with you that people feel invincable in their car, and in fact it has been purported that men think of their cars as a phallic extension. OK, I drive a full size American car, a Buick LeSabre. It's a 1987 and hasn't hit 100,000 miles yet. It is not a small car, I detest small cars. I also can't stand a car in which I cannot see the hood.

When I was young the American dream was to own a home and have a fast car. Not necessarily big, but fast. When I was young, things were different.

What a young Man's first car does to him is a trip, or at least it was.

Thing is I have grown up. That means that I have lost a few battles. That means I have been in a really bad car wreck. That means I have had my ass kicked by three dudes, and then shot in the same night. Rough time. It's over but I remember it. When you hit a car and walk up to the window you never know what you might see. I saw that they were alright, but my car outeighed theirs at least double. It may have not been so. There were three kids in that car.

Realising the utter importance, indeed the gravity of one's actions on the highway is maturity. It seems we are driving around with alot of kids.

T

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RE: Yup : Drivers on the freeway - 9/6/2006 10:45:05 AM

LadyEllen

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absolutely. That a car is in effect a deadly weapon as well as a vehicle, is something that everyone ought to keep in mind. If one behaved with a gun, the way some people behave in their car, one would likely have had it confiscated years ago.
E

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RE: Yup : Drivers on the freeway - 9/6/2006 6:16:56 PM

CreoleCook

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Fuck it all! Let's do like the Japanese do! Make all the damned cars, and sell them to someone else, while we ride bicycles to and from work... to the grocery... to bingo.

CC

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RE: Yup : Drivers on the freeway - 9/6/2006 6:20:57 PM

CreoleCook

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Termyn8or

Downtown empty office space is all over the place. Even BP and now the banks are moving out.

T

I bet I know one way to make damned sure the traffic slows down even further... Rent out a couple of those office spaces downtown, on the ground floor, with window fronts... and open the largest public view BDSM social club, complete with a bondage slut on a Saint Andrew's Cross, with a leather chaps wearing Dominant warming up with a bullwhip. The hell with traffic... I know where I'm headed after work....

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RE: Yup : Drivers on the freeway - 9/6/2006 6:26:18 PM

subinside

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Hell.. i'm proud to say that at 36... i've never even owned a car.. so there..

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