Dear Fuckhead: a rant

[SeaCat]

Motorcycles. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I love bikes. I used to ride and will do so again. (Hell I used to race.)

I am always surprised at the absolute stupidity of some of the riders out there. I can't tell you the number of times I have seen some idiot on a speed bike dodging in and out of traffic. I have even been tempted to block them.

Not too long ago I was on I-95 doing 75 MPH and I was passed by some idiot on a bike. Idiot? Certainly! He was up on the highway doing at least 80 without a helmet. In fact he as dressed in a T-Shirt and shorts.

Now to give you an idea why I call him an idiot. (For those of you who haven't ridden before.) I have been hit in the leathers by something like a Bee at 80. It smarts, it leaves a bruise. This is through a heavy leather coat. Can you imagine what it would feel like wearing only a T-Shirt? How about something like a Palmetto Bug?

Cat

 

[cloudy]

Motorcycles. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I love bikes. I used to ride and will do so again. (Hell I used to race.)

I am always surprised at the absolute stupidity of some of the riders out there. I can't tell you the number of times I have seen some idiot on a speed bike dodging in and out of traffic. I have even been tempted to block them.

Not too long ago I was on I-95 doing 75 MPH and I was passed by some idiot on a bike. Idiot? Certainly! He was up on the highway doing at least 80 without a helmet. In fact he as dressed in a T-Shirt and shorts.

Now to give you an idea why I call him an idiot. (For those of you who haven't ridden before.) I have been hit in the leathers by something like a Bee at 80. It smarts, it leaves a bruise. This is through a heavy leather coat. Can you imagine what it would feel like wearing only a T-Shirt? How about something like a Palmetto Bug?

Cat

We have a bike - a Vulcan - and we never ride without leathers or helmets...never.

 

[SeaCat]

We have a bike - a Vulcan - and we never ride without leathers or helmets...never.

And you probably understand what I'm saying.

Cat

 

[Belegon]

Promised my mom no more motorcycles and that was before Dave's accident a couple years ago. We lost another friend of the family last week... he was drunk and decided to run from the cops...took an off ramp at over a 100 mph and misjudged the turn... *shakes head*

 

[S-Des]

And then you have the other end fo the spectrum. I drive a 2000 Firebird. Last night, in the rain on the highway at 75 mph in a 65 mph zone, I had a big rig railgaiting me. I didn't enjoy this in the least. I had to leave the middle lane for the slow lane to let him pass, because that thing was making me extremely nervous. I don't think he cared so much, because he knew he wouldn't be damaged in the slightest.

We get a lot of that here, semi drivers who are in a hurry and not afraid to "convince" you to drive faster or get out of their way. I've even seen the land trains (two trailers) weaving in and out of traffic. We had an illegal immigrant who obtained a license through a bribe (the thing that started the investigation that brought down Governor Ryan) who was driving recklessly on the highway. He had junk falling out of his truck, but ignored (or couldn't understand) the people waving and screaming at him. Finally, a large piece fell and hit the underside of a mini-van behind him. The van caught fire and 8 of the 9 children inside burned to death. The father was a minister and got 2nd & 3rd degree burns trying to save his kids.

I have a lot of respect for truckers and sympathize with the shit they have to put up with. However, don't assume that they're not just as idiotic as the guys weaving through traffic at high speed and cutting people off. If you've got one on your ass, let him go.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Not too long ago I was on I-95 doing 75 MPH and I was passed by some idiot on a bike. Idiot? Certainly! He was up on the highway doing at least 80 without a helmet. In fact he as dressed in a T-Shirt and shorts.

The SO and I have a semi-automatic reflex to this sight: "Organ donor!"

Several times now, I've seen someone on a motorcycle race up the six-lane main business street of the town and pull wheelies in traffic. It's times like that when I really am tempted to buy a mobile phone.

 

[Jubal_Harshaw]

The SO and I have a semi-automatic reflex to this sight: "Organ donor!"

I doubt that kind of moron has the foresight to be an organ donor. "Total waste of DNA" would be a better descrition.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Thank you. That was very helpful. Clearly I couldn't possibly have read the documentation that I read, signed, countersigned, stamped in blood, and filed in triplicate last week, so telling me in snippy-disguised-as-patient tones to review the documentation was an excellent way to answer a question which was not covered in any part of said documentation. That is, in fact, why I asked the question - certainly not because anything you have ever written, including this morning's missive directly contradicting the head office's memo that came out just 24 hours earlier, could possibly be construed as ambiguous or incomplete.

 

[Xelebes]

Holy three year thread bump!

 

[BlackShanglan]

Holy three year thread bump!

Sorry. I'm pretty sure there's a general-purpose rant thread out there, but this was the closest I could dig up.

Plus, I get to have Cloudy as the thread starter.

 

[CharleyH]

Thank you. That was very helpful. Clearly I couldn't possibly have read the documentation that I read, signed, countersigned, stamped in blood, and filed in triplicate last week, so telling me in snippy-disguised-as-patient tones to review the documentation was an excellent way to answer a question which was not covered in any part of said documentation. That is, in fact, why I asked the question - certainly not because anything you have ever written, including this morning's missive directly contradicting the head office's memo that came out just 24 hours earlier, could possibly be construed as ambiguous or incomplete.

lol - glad you got it off of your hairy chest!

 

[ThatSweetness]

Dear Fuckhead,

I know you can see me on the road. I'm the one driving the insanely large four-wheel-drive SUV. Yes, it's a monster, not efficient, and I hate it, but I'm driving it, just the same.

That distance between me and the car in front of me? That's for safety. You see, I cannot stop this behemoth on a dime, and I know I can't, so to be safe, I leave some distance between me and others. This does not mean that you can zip your tiny little Hyundai in there because I left that space for you.

My made-of-steel truck will not only knock your fiberglass go-mobile into the next county if I hit you, it will also crawl OVER yours, a la Monster Trucks. See those steel tow hooks on the front? Wanna see what they'll do to fiberglass like your little car is made of?

Do it again, and I won't slam on the breaks.

Dickhead.

I hate that even in my midsize car. Especially when people pull out in front of me when it is snowy or icy. Do people that live in snowy climates really not understand the concept of snow and ice being slippery?

 

[stephen55]

My truckin' days....

"You left out the scariest...old male drivers wearing hats."

Back in the days when the wife and I had all five kids at home, we had a GMC Suburban 4x4. We needed seven seat belts, a lot of carrying capacity and four wheel drive is handy in the Great White North. One fine winter day the family was out doing something and some idiot in a Corvette came ripping down the road which curved a bit to his right. He lost traction and went straight, which is to say right at me. I remember the look in his eyes as he hit me dead on. From his vantage point, I'm sure the last thing he saw before impact were the big letters "GMC" at about his eye level.

He was okay and the worst we suffered was that crunching sound as the front of his 'Vette disintegrated against the bush-bar that held my trusty winch. I was very upset to find out that the bush-bar had lost some paint.

PS: now that the wife and I are down to two kids at home, I drive a Honda Pilot.

PPS: on my way to or from fishing trips, I always wear my lucky hat.

 

[oggbashan]

I used to own a large late 1940s limousine. By British standards it was large and heavy but the braking systems had no power assistance. Stopping in a hurry needed a massive shove on the brake pedal with little actual result.

I was going down a hill when an idiot pulled out of a side road without looking. I couldn't steer out of his path because of pedestrians on the pavement (sidewalk) and on-coming traffic on the other side of the road.

I hit his car's side. The small car behind me that had been sitting next to my bumper didn't have time to react to my brake lights and hit the back bumper.

The car in front was a total wreck. The driver had seen me coming at the last second and had jumped across to the passenger seat. Only that had saved his life. The driver's door ended up in the centre of the car.

The car behind dropped its engine and gearbox on the road and the back axle went beyond the rear of the car.

My ancient limousine had a couple of scratches on its rusty bumpers. They didn't believe in crumple zones in the 1940s, just bumpers that would accept bumps without damage. I drove away. The driver who had pulled out in front of me was charged and convicted of careless driving, and his insurance had to pay out for his car and the car that hit me in the back. I didn't have to claim, nor did I have to repair any damage. There wasn't any.

Og

 

[cloudy]

I no longer drive Moby - we sold it, thank god. I still have an SUV, since I'm often carting around three or more kids, but it's a small SUV: a Mitsubishi Montero. It handles beautifully, gets good gas mileage, still has four-wheel drive when I need it, and has all-the-time all wheel drive, which means when everyone else is slipping and sliding, I have great traction. I've had it just over a year, and I haven't regretted buying it in the least.

It looks like this (same color, even):

http://vlane.com/img/chrome/1649.jpg

 

[O2]

I know this is late but I do know what you're talking about. I drove a dump truck for six months, it's all I could handle. It was a step up at work and luckily another step came along so I got out of that truck.

People don't seem to realize it takes time to stop those things. I never did run over anyone and since driving one I'm MUCH more respectful to large trucks.

Too bad Commercial Driving isn't a requirement for getting a regular license. People might be a bit safer.....

 

[lisa123414]

.....

 

[Handley_Page]

The SO and I have a semi-automatic reflex to this sight: "Organ donor!"

Several times now, I've seen someone on a motorcycle race up the six-lane main business street of the town and pull wheelies in traffic. It's times like that when I really am tempted to buy a mobile phone.

How about "Darwin Award Candidate" ?


There is absolutely nothing quite like an over-engineered 'little tank':-

I used to own a large late 1940s limousine. By British standards it was large and heavy but the braking systems had no power assistance. Stopping in a hurry needed a massive shove on the brake pedal with little actual result.

I was going down a hill when an idiot pulled out of a side road without looking. I couldn't steer out of his path because of pedestrians on the pavement (sidewalk) and on-coming traffic on the other side of the road.

I hit his car's side. The small car behind me that had been sitting next to my bumper didn't have time to react to my brake lights and hit the back bumper.

The car in front was a total wreck. The driver had seen me coming at the last second and had jumped across to the passenger seat. Only that had saved his life. The driver's door ended up in the centre of the car.

The car behind dropped its engine and gearbox on the road and the back axle went beyond the rear of the car.

My ancient limousine had a couple of scratches on its rusty bumpers. They didn't believe in crumple zones in the 1940s, just bumpers that would accept bumps without damage. I drove away. The driver who had pulled out in front of me was charged and convicted of careless driving, and his insurance had to pay out for his car and the car that hit me in the back. I didn't have to claim, nor did I have to repair any damage. There wasn't any.

Og

Love it!

 

[stephen55]

Does speed kill?

Actually, speed is harmless. Like a very long fall, it's never hurt anyone. It's that very sudden stop at the end that gets you.

 

[Calaban]

I drive Mack trucks, and sometimes it's so tempting to just drive over them anyway but so far I have always been able to stop.
It was a huge adjustment coming out of the Army driving in tactical convoys. I learned to keep 75 meters between vehicles (keeps everybody from bunching up into good targets). Civilian world that's an invitation for about three people to jump in front of you

 

[MagicaPractica]

Closely related to this subject is the people in the North here who say, "I never have any trouble plowing through the snow on the highway at 65 mph." They look rather confused when I ask, "But what happens if you have to stop?" Maybe I should have taken a picture of the pick-up that rolled over on the highway a couple weeks ago to show them what I mean.

 

[OnlyByMoonlight]

I drive a huge ford truck and whenever they do that I tailgate their asses until they turn off the road. If there's a wreck, we know who snuck into that little spot. I love driving a big truck. My friend says I'm a road bully. I say 'I'm only bullying the assholes that are stupid enough to mess with me first.'

Like my bumper sticker says:

Horn broke, watch for finger