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usually, i only use this space to talk about art... or something related... but, since i lack another outlet (this is my only blog/journal), i am going to vent here... sorry...
anyway... there are three things that are near the top of my list of 'things i hate' and i have had to deal with two already today (by 10 am)... they are petty things, simple things... things that are of no real consequence... but i hate them all the same...
(1)... i hate it when i share the road with bicycles when the riders do not follow the 'rules of the road'... today, a man ran a stop sign and cut across lanes to drive on the wrong side of the road... i assume he did so to shorten his ride (although, since he was in riding/touring gear, that seems odd since he was obviously riding for exercise/fun)...
the irony is that i don't have problem with sharing the road... i take great care to give them room, to not crowd them... i will wait behind them till i can safely pass (instead of going trying to squeeze by while oncoming traffic zips past)... i treat them with the same regard i might a car... and i believe that is how they expect to be treated... in fact, that is exactly what the law provides for...
but, if you want to enjoy the status the law provides, it should follow that you obey those same laws... which is often not the case... i can't tell you how many times i have seen bicyclists 'run' red lights... or go the wrong way on a one way street...
essentially, you are either the same as a car or you're not... you can't enjoy the benefits of being treated the same as an auto without following the rules for autos...
(2)... i hate when delivery vans, like fedex and u.p.s., disregard laws because it is convenient... my neighbor received a package today... and to deliver it, the driver parked on the wrong side of the street (a local law)... and in the red zone of a fire hydrant (a state law)... the concession he/she made was to turn on their blinkers...
i understand that they want to be efficient... i understand that this saves a bit of times (and that those bits add up)... but those rules exist for a reason... and they flaunt them...
and, to make matters worse, it seems that have been given license to do so... i can't tell you how many times i have seen police pass by an illegally parked delivery van without stopping to ticket them... it is almost as if they have some quasi-official status (which they don't)... i mean, i might understand it if they were the postal service (even if i wouldn't agree)... at least then, they would be a governmental agency... and the decision to not ticket them could be seen as a courtesy from one public servant to the next... but that is not the case...
oh, but if you or i were to park that way, we'd be ticketed so fast it would make our head spin...
i just don't get it!...
(3)... i really hate it when i am driving on the freeway and i am 'buzzed' by a motorcycle straddling lanes... if you don't live in a metropolitan area, you might not have had this happen to you, so i'll explain...
large freeways can, at times, slow down considerably... it is not uncommon, despite there being as many as 7 or 8 lanes each direction, to be driving 10-30 mph for an extended time, at times going even slower or stopped... it isn't much fun, but there isn't much one can do...
that is, there isn't much one can do
unless one owns a motorcycle, then it is perfectly fine to ride in the middle of lanes at any speed you chose!... (in case it isn't obvious, that be read as very, very ironic/sarcastic)...
ok... i don't have an issue with motorcycles... not at all... hell, i would like to own one myself... and, in theory, i don't mind that they ride in between cars when traffic is stopped... but, to split lanes when traffic is going more than 25-30 mph is stupid... especially when you do so at 45-55 mph!...
it wouldn't take much for an accident... be it one involving the rider or one caused by the rider... in fact, i have flinched on more than one occasion, swerving a bit, as i have been surprised by a speeding motorcycle... granted, i didn't leave my lane, but i came close...
the point is, it is just 'bad math'... it doesn't add up... you risk so much, and you put others at risk, to perform a difficult maneuver (think of the space between cars and the width of a touring bike like a harley)... and for what?... the part of an hour than you gain?... at the cost, at the very least, of antagonizing auto drivers, who you need to share the road with every day?...
aaaaahhhhhh!...
ok... rant done... thanks...
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i just reread my 'rant'... and i noticed something... all three problems have something in common... they all describe situations in which people have overgrown/out-of-proportion senses of entitlement...
hhhhmmm... i hadn't thought of it that way...
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