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  •  Justifiably Lack Confidence in Driving Skills (none / 0)

    Perhaps I see a bad sample, but they got that one right.

    Had enough yet?

    by phillies on Thu Sep 29, 2005 at 06:01:22 AM PDT

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    •  Sad (4.00 / 2)

      It's sad that people with the least confidence driving drive the most destructive vehicles in accidents. I remember reading somewhere (newspaper, Harpers? I forgot where) where some plebian with a SUV mentioned that they drove it because if they got in an accident, they wouldn't get hurt. Too bad about that poor schmuck who's now a greasy stain on the pavement though...

      And yes, the worst drivers I see on my short commute to work usually drive SUVs. Second worse: them damn "sports car" drivers.

      War is young men killing other young men they do not know on the orders of old men who know one another too well.
      - Erwin Kowalke

      by jrm78 on Thu Sep 29, 2005 at 06:44:59 AM PDT

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      •  Drive an SUV, go to jail. (none / 0)

        I wonder if this could be used in a push against the damn things - after all, IIRC you're 4 times as likely to kill another driver in an accident if you're in an SUV and something like 12 times as likely to kill a pedestrian. Sure, you'll survive, but shouldn't this be resulting in more prosecutions for dangerous driving fatalities?

        SUVs seem to be amongst the hardest vehicles on the road to drive because of their size, lack of visibility (sure, you can see well out the front), etc. It's absolutely criminal that people who can barely drive a compact are allowed to get in one of them.

        Street Prophets Livejournal Feed

        by Expat Briton on Thu Sep 29, 2005 at 08:18:54 AM PDT

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      •  National Geographic last year (none / 1)

        They had an article about the end of cheap oil. In it, a two-page photo of a couple of kids playing around the family Hummer in suburban Atlanta. The mother's comment, which I'm typing here from memory, so I'm paraphrasing at best, was, 'whatever I bump into, I win'.

        Let's parse this out, shall we? Actually, I did this once before many months ago, but its a fun exercise in rhetoric and logic.

        'Whatever I bump into, I win.'

        'Whatever I bump into', excuses this woman of any responsibility for her lack of driving skills. Hey, bitch, how about not bumping into things? I-285 isn't your personal fucking bumper car rink.

        'Whatever I bump into', as if a 10,000 pound vehicle with bumpers higher off the ground than any other stock production vehicle simply bumps into objects. Of course, that's all you'll feel, so maybe that's what you meant.

        'Whatever I bump into, I win'; win what? certainly not in small-claims court, or traffic court. Notice use of the word 'win'; winning implies someone loses. She wins, what does she care if someone loses? Why should she give a shit that someone lost a limb, a child, a spouse? She won. Its all about her. She and her spawn are protected from any inconvenience at the expense of whatever she bumps into. Nevermind whether or not she's at fault; she ensures her own survival at all costs.

        It boils down to the ugliest example of an arrogant lack of personal responsibility for one's own driving habits, and a lack of any consideration for anybody else. Apparently, killing someone's son or daughter, husband or wife, doesn't weigh too heavily on her mind. And in a large SUV, in an offset-frontal crash, you are 4 times as likely to kill the other person than if you are in a mid-size car. In a side-impact crash, that number jumps to 27 times as likely.

        If this woman's horribly flawed logic holds water, then we all need to go out and buy bigger SUVs to rpotect ourselves from her, all in a futile game of endless escalation.

        only fools are enslaved by time and space

        by PanzerMensch on Thu Sep 29, 2005 at 10:30:54 AM PDT

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      •  It is Ironic (none / 0)

        You can drive like shit and still but a 2 ton vehicle. Meanwhile everyone I know drives little civics and such and we weave and bob like a lil Mack vs Mike Tyson cause it's our ass if they hit us. But if they hit us, we're dead and they're fine. Sounds fair.

        Meanwhile, my wallet's fatter cause I get better gas mileage and gues what... you have 300 HP, so what? You weight 5 times as much as me.
        Weave and bob.

        by jammin90mph on Thu Sep 29, 2005 at 11:23:17 AM PDT

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    •  Heh. (none / 0)

      Nope I see it all the time on the DC-Herndon commute (only one more week!).

      Actually, though it doesn't make me look good, I had a nice run in with a Hummer on Fri. Going down the twisty 4 lane George Washington Parkway on the way home to DC, I got stuck behind two iiots in a Hummer pretty obviously doing an intentional parallel to a slow car. If the slow boy on the right sped up or slowed down to allow the increasing backup to pass through, the Hummer weenies matched.

      So, having a nice nimble Miata, I was able to slip through...and flipped off the Hummer. The idiots proceeded for five miles to try and run me off the road (all the way onto the Roosevelt Bridge). Then they almost rammed the concrete center divider and had to give up.

      Luckilly, I was a much better driver than them with a faster and more nimble car. No contest. Plus, they had to give up the little "rolling roadblock" game they were playing to do it.

      by ElitistJohn on Thu Sep 29, 2005 at 09:32:20 AM PDT

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      •  All Nimbly Bimbly (none / 0)

        Like I said, weave and bob.

        Call me what you may, but I always flick off Hummers.

        Sometimes you'll catch me yelling at them as if they could hear me.

        I wonder how I'm still alive at 5,10 130 pounds with the mouth of a gangsta outa Compton but really outta the subburbs.

        Ohh me.

        by jammin90mph on Thu Sep 29, 2005 at 11:35:47 AM PDT

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