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stoney321While I obviously love getting audition calls (this morning) the one bad thing is driving to them. I live waaaaaay out of town, so I get to travel long distances on highways to get to the audition site, typically. Oh, I don't mind being in my car, what I do mind is all of the idiots on the road. If I may...
Dear Drivers Who Think This Isn't About Them:
It is. You're not as good of a driver as you think you are. No, you're not. No. Stop arguing with me, I know you're arguing after each sentence. Everyone else is a jerk, right? Well... I bet you've been the jerk at least once, too. Hell, I'll admit to the occasional cutting someone off, but I *do* try to let them see me wave an apology or mouth "I'm sorry!" to diffuse anger.
But here's the real problem. PUT YOUR FUCKING PHONE DOWN. Do not talk on the phone while you drive at high speeds. I know you think you're paying attention, but studies will back me up on this one: YOU AREN'T. A person talking on a cell phone (just talking, I've not even BEGUN to talk about the idiots who text while driving) is just as dangerous on the road as a person who's had 4 ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES. Read that again. You're just yappin' to the Bunko Group about who's going to bring the boxed wine to the t-shirt/candle party tonight, that's not - HOLY SHIT WHERE DID THAT CAR COME FROM@!?!
Yeah. You drift, you slow down (and you're in the fast lane, we'll talk about THAT, too) you don't pay attention to your side mirrors, and here's the thing. You think you ARE paying attention. But your brain isn't capable of processing multi-sources of data. You are not Neo. We are not in the Matrix. You cannot listen to something, hold something to your head, be behind the wheel of a fast moving object, and focus on all of the other fast-moving objects around you. YOU CANNOT. Not WELL. Read that again if you think you're disqualified for whatever asinine reason you tell yourself. YOU CANNOT. Blame God, blame Darwin, blame the Big Bang, whoever is behind making our brains the way they are. That's all there is to it.
And let me just remind everyone that the LEFT LANE IS THE FAST LANE. You do not cruise in that lane. You use that lane to PASS. Then you get OUT of that lane. That is not the speed limit lane. That is not the "oh, I want to make a call" lane. That is not the safety lane. That is for assholes that want to punch it and get around other assholes. Yes, I put myself in there, because if you only heard the things I say about you as you cruise in the fast lane going juuuust below the speed limit, blocking cars for a mile, and chit chatting with your bestest bud about absolutely nothing, you'd think I was an asshole.
But I'm not, you are. So sorry. Please. With a cherry on top. Get out of the fast lane when someone is going FASTER than you.
Now, I have a working theory on idiots in the fast lane being on their cell phones. I think they like being there because they only have to worry about one side of their car, visually. WOW THAT IS SO SELFISH. Augh!!
Now, about those jerk offs that text while driving: you are as bad as a person with EIGHT ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES in them. EIGHT. Think about that - can you drink 8 shots in an hour and be okay to drive? NO, YOU CAN'T. And if I catch any of you driving while drunk, I'll knock your block off. With love, true, but still. Texting means your brain is engaged in the alphabet, in spelling, in your fingers making those words, in the message sent, in the message you want to send, and see how none of that has anything to do with DRIVING A CAR?
When I was a kid (lol) we had a PSA that showed a teen boy killing a child because he was fiddling with the radio stations (back when we had twisty-dials. Made from dinosaurs.) That's a RADIO! And some of you are checking email/facebook/IMs?! Are you out of your cotton-picking minds? Why on earth do you think that's acceptable? It is so incredibly dangerous. You may not have had a massive wreck up to this point, but you're just playing Russian Roulette, and doing it with all of us under the gun.
Stop it. There is no email, no phone call worth a car accident that has the potential to kill you, not to mention anyone else. There is no text, no facebook update that is worth it. You're not that important. That conversation is not that important. It's not. Are you a pediatric cardiologist? No? Then you're not that important. Are you President Obama? Then you're not that important. And he has a driver so he can make those important calls while zipping about.
PULL OVER if you have to answer the phone. Hand the phone to someone else in the car to answer/text/whatever. That's what I do: my daughter gets my phone when we get in the car. I won't talk on the phone in the car. Oh, I used to on occasion, and then I realized what an asshole I was being. Everyone in my house knows that Mom doesn't answer the phone in the car, but I will get back to them as soon as I can.
Remember how no one had car phones and civilization didn't fall apart?
Seriously. HANG UP AND DRIVE.
Thanks, most sincerely,
Stoney
There, I feel much better. Good lord, half of the morons I saw had kids in their cars, too. Won't someone think of the children? Or at least me? Ahaha.
Dear Drivers Who Think This Isn't About Them:
It is. You're not as good of a driver as you think you are. No, you're not. No. Stop arguing with me, I know you're arguing after each sentence. Everyone else is a jerk, right? Well... I bet you've been the jerk at least once, too. Hell, I'll admit to the occasional cutting someone off, but I *do* try to let them see me wave an apology or mouth "I'm sorry!" to diffuse anger.
But here's the real problem. PUT YOUR FUCKING PHONE DOWN. Do not talk on the phone while you drive at high speeds. I know you think you're paying attention, but studies will back me up on this one: YOU AREN'T. A person talking on a cell phone (just talking, I've not even BEGUN to talk about the idiots who text while driving) is just as dangerous on the road as a person who's had 4 ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES. Read that again. You're just yappin' to the Bunko Group about who's going to bring the boxed wine to the t-shirt/candle party tonight, that's not - HOLY SHIT WHERE DID THAT CAR COME FROM@!?!
Yeah. You drift, you slow down (and you're in the fast lane, we'll talk about THAT, too) you don't pay attention to your side mirrors, and here's the thing. You think you ARE paying attention. But your brain isn't capable of processing multi-sources of data. You are not Neo. We are not in the Matrix. You cannot listen to something, hold something to your head, be behind the wheel of a fast moving object, and focus on all of the other fast-moving objects around you. YOU CANNOT. Not WELL. Read that again if you think you're disqualified for whatever asinine reason you tell yourself. YOU CANNOT. Blame God, blame Darwin, blame the Big Bang, whoever is behind making our brains the way they are. That's all there is to it.
And let me just remind everyone that the LEFT LANE IS THE FAST LANE. You do not cruise in that lane. You use that lane to PASS. Then you get OUT of that lane. That is not the speed limit lane. That is not the "oh, I want to make a call" lane. That is not the safety lane. That is for assholes that want to punch it and get around other assholes. Yes, I put myself in there, because if you only heard the things I say about you as you cruise in the fast lane going juuuust below the speed limit, blocking cars for a mile, and chit chatting with your bestest bud about absolutely nothing, you'd think I was an asshole.
But I'm not, you are. So sorry. Please. With a cherry on top. Get out of the fast lane when someone is going FASTER than you.
Now, I have a working theory on idiots in the fast lane being on their cell phones. I think they like being there because they only have to worry about one side of their car, visually. WOW THAT IS SO SELFISH. Augh!!
Now, about those jerk offs that text while driving: you are as bad as a person with EIGHT ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES in them. EIGHT. Think about that - can you drink 8 shots in an hour and be okay to drive? NO, YOU CAN'T. And if I catch any of you driving while drunk, I'll knock your block off. With love, true, but still. Texting means your brain is engaged in the alphabet, in spelling, in your fingers making those words, in the message sent, in the message you want to send, and see how none of that has anything to do with DRIVING A CAR?
When I was a kid (lol) we had a PSA that showed a teen boy killing a child because he was fiddling with the radio stations (back when we had twisty-dials. Made from dinosaurs.) That's a RADIO! And some of you are checking email/facebook/IMs?! Are you out of your cotton-picking minds? Why on earth do you think that's acceptable? It is so incredibly dangerous. You may not have had a massive wreck up to this point, but you're just playing Russian Roulette, and doing it with all of us under the gun.
Stop it. There is no email, no phone call worth a car accident that has the potential to kill you, not to mention anyone else. There is no text, no facebook update that is worth it. You're not that important. That conversation is not that important. It's not. Are you a pediatric cardiologist? No? Then you're not that important. Are you President Obama? Then you're not that important. And he has a driver so he can make those important calls while zipping about.
PULL OVER if you have to answer the phone. Hand the phone to someone else in the car to answer/text/whatever. That's what I do: my daughter gets my phone when we get in the car. I won't talk on the phone in the car. Oh, I used to on occasion, and then I realized what an asshole I was being. Everyone in my house knows that Mom doesn't answer the phone in the car, but I will get back to them as soon as I can.
Remember how no one had car phones and civilization didn't fall apart?
Seriously. HANG UP AND DRIVE.
Thanks, most sincerely,
Stoney
There, I feel much better. Good lord, half of the morons I saw had kids in their cars, too. Won't someone think of the children? Or at least me? Ahaha.
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no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 07:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 07:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 07:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 07:59 pm (UTC)Drivers...
Date: 2010-02-03 07:57 pm (UTC)On my way to work, at 7am, people are zipping about, swerving in and out of traffic, not MOVING THE FRAK OVER to let people merge from the on-ramps, because they're talking on the phone. And I want to know, who the bloody hell do all these people need to talk to at 7 o'clock in the morning?
Or the people that are driving with a cup of coffee in one hand and mascara/lipstick/blush-brush/whatever in their other hand, putting on makeup!
Or the people who have the newspaper/magazine/kindle propped up on their steering wheel! I mean, I love to read, I really do, but that's just a zillion times dumb!
The people who don't use turn signals, who almost hit your front bumper when they jump in line in front of you, then have the gall to flip you the bird in their rear view mirror as if YOU were the one at fault for not reading their mind that they wanted to get over.
The people who slam on their breaks to make a turn, again, without using their turn signals.
The people who honk at you when you slow down on the off-ramp (like you're supposed to, because it drops from 50mph to 35mph) because they're already speeding like maniacs and OMGOMGOMG HAVE to get to where-ever their destination is that whole 30seconds sooner they saved by speeding.
The people who get impatient as you come to a complete stop at all stop signs, even when there's one at the end of every block, so again you get the HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK!!!! and a flippin' bird.
And then there's the people, like one of my bosses, who have no distraction whatsoever other than their brain, who waver over the lines (both on the sides of the roads and the middle line), slow down, speed up, swerve, and slam on their brakes, all without rhyme or reason whatsoever.
Re: Drivers...
Date: 2010-02-03 08:01 pm (UTC)I saw someone READING A BOOK on the highway a while back. WHAT THE HELL. I get onto my husband ALL THE TIME about the turn signal use - use it, it's there for a reason, people!
And man, I'm totally that person that cannot have an in-depth conversation while driving because I can't multitask. I just can't. SO I let others talk in the car, or I put on music and we all shut up so mom gets us somewhere in one piece.
Re: Drivers...
Date: 2010-02-03 09:53 pm (UTC)Re: Drivers...
Date: 2010-02-03 09:57 pm (UTC)I hate people who don't signal - I wish upon them a karmic retribution of flashing lights in their eyes obscuring their ability to see anything ever again. People who tailgate me as if that's going to make me go faster, or at least intimidate me. Don't like my following the speed limit exactly? Suck it up. It's a LIMIT. Not a STARTING POINT.
Grr. RAGE.
I know I'm a learner. But I follow the rules as best I can, stay in the slow lane until I need to be elsewhere, plan my routes, stay out of congested areas, don't take the freeway unless I have to (because it's so stressful), and don't drive during rush hour(s).
People who can't obey school/playground speed limits as well IRK ME GREATLY. Okay, sweetie, would you like me to run over YOUR child just so you can get to the Starbucks faster?
I really am glad we have the no cellphones while driving law here now. Maybe a fine & some points will convince a few of these jackasses to stop.
Part of this as well is that cars generally have too much horsepower for the average consumer, and car commercials are all about speeding around closed courses, ooooooh, look how sexy I am that I can drive so fast. I can't think of very many reasons why someone needs to be able to go 2-3 times the speed limit. Emergency vehicles, sure, but regular people? No way.
Drivers fill me with incoherent rage. This is why I put off learning for so long.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 08:04 pm (UTC)FUCK YES THIS OMFG!
I do not answer the phone in my car unless i'm parked. I do not make calls on my phone in my car unless i'm parked. My daughter deals with the phone if she's with me and i'm driving. It's *standard*, she knows it.
My brother in law likes to drive and *text*. While driving my SO! OMFG. Asshole. If you crash and kill my husband, you're paying our bills for the rest of our lives.
Jayzus. CHRIST.
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Date: 2010-02-03 08:05 pm (UTC)I also REALLY hate when people pass at 1/2 a mile an hour. If you're going to pass, at least go 5 mph faster!
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Date: 2010-02-03 08:58 pm (UTC)!
Date: 2010-02-03 09:09 pm (UTC)*mad face*
Re: !
Date: 2010-02-03 11:15 pm (UTC)Re: !
Date: 2010-02-03 11:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 09:13 pm (UTC)Practice safe driving, kids. Always have a designated texter.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 09:19 pm (UTC)I can now sleep with a clear mind, as that was the only fault in his driving.
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Date: 2010-02-03 09:21 pm (UTC)I just...no. I have a lead foot, and I drive hella fast. I do not want my concentration split between phone, driving and radio. NO way. This is an awesome post. Can you get an amen? Hellz yeah.
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Date: 2010-02-03 09:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 09:46 pm (UTC)However, I'll make sure my dad gets the message. :)
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Date: 2010-02-03 10:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 10:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 09:49 pm (UTC)I know myself well enough to know that I can't talk on the phone while driving. I get distracted enough just listening to the radio. Occasionally I've missed exits, taken the wrong road, and I'm sure that I've been inconsiderate about merging, all because a radio show is sucking up 80% of my attention.
What's funny is that my husband, who can't multitask to save his life (I mean, he can't even clear the dinner table if he's having a conversation because he forgets to walk while talking), can actually drive and listen to the radio at the same time. Granted, usually just back and forth to work, a familiar route, but when I think of how *bad* he is at doing two things at once I wonder how he's survived so far.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 10:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 11:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-04 12:54 am (UTC)The other thing that's making me crazy is that the Legislature seems unable to take any action concerning elderly drivers. We had a spate of terrible accidents last year where older drivers killed or injured several people. Many states require yearly testing of drivers over a certain age. More than one bill has been introduced in the Legislature that would require something like this here, but they can't get any traction. I guess some legislators are worried about losing the senior citizen vote.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 10:17 pm (UTC)I'm sorry everyone was a jerkwad to you today, including me indirectly. I hate the phone in general, so throwing that on top of a car ride is just redonk.
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Date: 2010-02-04 01:28 am (UTC)I don't know what it is about that stretch by the Outlet Malls - someone was READING A BOOK today. While driving.
I mean, are you kidding me?! Also, I know that I can be easily distracted while driving *cough* so I try to not call/answer unless I'm at a light.
One day we will have a post-LOST lunch, dude.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-04 01:30 am (UTC)ZOMG DUN DYE BECUZ OF FB UPDATES IM JUST GETTIN TO NO U.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 10:51 pm (UTC)One of the girls in my son's class was texting while driving about this time last year. Out on a country road, no other traffic. She spent a month in the hospital, wore a thigh to toe cast on one leg for most of the rest of the year as it was broken in three places when she lost control of her car and it rolled. And rolled. She's lucky to be alive, let alone still walking.
And just a week ago I was sitting at a traffic light (one of the few) here in town, one town cop beside me and another across the street. Both in city police cars. Both on their cell phones.
*facepalm*
no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 11:08 pm (UTC)AND, off topic: I have thought of you TWICE this week while watching American Idol. SRSLY. Why? Ahem: "It's well chavvy, innit?"
First, the TWOP recapper noted that Katy Perry is "an American chav." Which? SHE TOTALLY IS. I can't believe I missed that.
And then, last night? Posh? With the Croydon Facelift? Bloody Brilliant, that.
Made me want to put on some knockoff Burberry and drink some cheap cider. But, then...what doesn't?
no subject
Date: 2010-02-04 01:31 am (UTC)YOU ARE WELL COOL WIF YOUR BURBERRY, WHAT?
no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 11:17 pm (UTC)Love you.
*grinning, ducking, and running*
no subject
Date: 2010-02-04 01:32 am (UTC)We can't help it if y'all don't know how to take a shoulder to let someone pass... (LOL.)
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Date: 2010-02-04 01:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 11:24 pm (UTC)People are stupid.
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Date: 2010-02-04 01:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-04 01:52 am (UTC)-- c.
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Date: 2010-02-04 01:00 pm (UTC)Yeah, I'm right. ;)
no subject
Date: 2010-02-04 01:01 pm (UTC)Oh. Oh!
I see what you did there.
-- c.
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Date: 2010-02-04 03:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-04 04:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-04 05:01 am (UTC)Now a story:
My mom has her blue tooth hooked up through the radio in her car. Yes, she drives a Cadillac, thanks for asking. So when she gets a call in the car the phone rings and picks up through the speakers in the car. I cannot tell you have annoying this is. The only good part is that it's like speakerphone so everyone in the car can participate in the convo. This usually leads to lulz as we're all "turn the phone off!" and mom is all "srs bznz on this call!" as it's mostly work since she works 24/7. I am never in the car with her unless it's a weekend or at night and she's still getting work calls. I don't want her job.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-05 09:57 am (UTC)I have such road rage, it's awesome. Not that, you know, I ACT on it beyond yelling at the cars around me. The pure absurdity of my yelling at college kids is hilarious to me, too... since I'm one of them. Kinda like my grandma telling me about how much senior citizens annoy her.
Still, the freeway thing is kinda nice, here--I don't know if this is a general US law or not, but in this state, when a freeway only has two lanes, the left lane reverts to a passing lane. As such, if you camp out there and get in the way, tickets are in your future. It's especially nice here because in Kittitas Co, our cops like to make sure people pay attention to said laws, which means less people to get in our ways when we are commuting city-to-city.
Unfortunately, I live in a small town in the middle of nowhere in Washington. I very much like this small town, expect for the fact that it's a college town and college students, by and large, CANNOT DRIVE.
The whole disregard for the safety of others doesn't apply only to drivers. Pedestrians also routinely wander into the street without bothering to look or get off their freakin' cell phones because O HAI I HAS RITE OF WAI FUK U CARPERSON. I think a big part of it, though, is that they are so insanely self-absorbed that they can't imagine anyone NOT seeing them immidiately and stopping.
Infuriatingly enough, bicyclists do pretty much the same thing, blowing through stop signs without stopping or even looking both ways when I'm already in the middle of the intersection making my LEFT TURN SO I CAN GET TO CLASS ON TIME and OMG IT DRIVES ME INSANE.
The best thing I ever saw when walking to school one day was a cyclist getting pulled over by a cop who was waiting his turn at the four way stop (that is the bane of my existence). It was awesome, because the cyclist was so PISSED, but I guess no one told him that in Washington, if you bike on the road, you have to follow the same laws as cars. (http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/bike/laws.htm)
In short, as much as I hate big city driving, I hate college town driving more x.x
no subject
Date: 2010-02-06 12:40 pm (UTC)