People are stupid!!!

[mstang67chic]

husband's niece called me earlier this evening. She and her boyfriend were out running errands (fortunately without the baby) and boyfriend's car died. I went to where they were and parked behind them with my flashers on and the car still running so we could keep warm. (boyfriend's car doesn't have heat) The car died sitting at a light and more or less in the right turn lane. I pulled up behind it as the flashers on it weren't working and I didn't want anyone smacking into it until it could be moved. I sat there for probably 20 minutes or so and I can't begin to tell you how many people pulled up and stopped behind me and then honked when I didn't move when the light turned green. I HAD MY FLASHERS ON! The heat didn't do us much good since I was constantly rolling my window down to wave people around us. I HAD MY FLASHERS ON and a good 70% of the people had no clue. It's a good thing it was winter and people's car windows were up because I was in a not so great mood anyway and the stupidity of people always irks me...so....I um...mentioned that Frog Uncle's family just a teeensy bit. (they are all morons, just for the record )

boyfriend had called his cousin to come help him either start the car or get it moved so when he got there, I drove around the block and came back. This time though when I parked behind them, I was a bit farther back and OFF THE ROAD! Seriously....the white line was to my left. I no sooner stopped the car and turned my FLASHERS ON (again) when someone stopped behind me.


OFF THE ROAD.


Granted, it was dark, the weather wasn't the greatest but still....the white line in that area is very visible and I HAD MY FLASHERS ON!!! I know this because I got out of the car TWICE to make sure they were both working. At first I thought that maybe the left one was burnt out since I was in the right turn lane but no. Everything was working just fine.

Do people not know what flashers are anymore? Or are they just that incredibly stupid???? I would have understood a bit better if everyone had been teenagers and maybe didn't make the connection but nope...I watched as they (finally) drove around me. The ages ran across the board from teens to the elderly and everything in between.


People just scare me sometimes with their brilliance.

 

[muttmeister]

Did you tell them, "Here's your sign"?

I've been hearing the Christmas version of that song and although it's kinda funny, I know so many people like that that it sort of loses its humor.

 

[mstang67chic]

I didn't have that many signs.

 

[susiestar]

I am not sure why they were so ignorant. I could see if they were stopping to HELP, but just to wait for you to do something, I would be tempted to just stay in the car and see how long they would sit there, and how many cars would line up behind them.

But the honking would disturb the baby, I suppose.

At least everyone stayed safe and got home that way.

 

[GoingNorth]

On my way back from Milwaukee recently, I had my hood latch pop and jam a few inches open while on an entrance ramp to HWY 39.

I couldn't get the dratted hood lever up all the way to open it, and I couldn't get the hood reseated either.

I turned on my flashers and went to dig out my AAA card to call for roadside. Within a minute there were flashers right behind me.

County Trooper--one Cpl Smith by name. He was very polite and helpful but did (as he should've) take my driver's license to run it. We both were completely on the shoulder.

As he walked back to his squad car, a huge SUV came hurtling past. It came within inches of hitting this trooper. He had to dive between the two cars to avoid being killed.

I freaked and jumped out of the car to run back and see if he was OK. Luckily he was other than a scraped hand and a really dirty uniform.

You think not having people see flashers is bad? Imagine someone too dumb/inattentive to notice a marked patrol car with every single light it owned flashing.

 

[flutterby]

Exact same thing happened a couple of weeks ago when easy child's DF's car broke down. I couldn't believe it.

Even when a cruiser pulled up behind their car with HIS lights flashing, people were still pulling into the turn lane behind him.

I think people take out their brain when they get in the car. Probably, though, they were on their cell phone and not paying attention. Another pet peeve of mine....

 

[Marguerite]

In Australia people do tend to pay attention to flashers (aka "hazard lights" here). But I do get narky with people who have bad road manners. With Christmas coming up plus hotter weather, parking in the mall is getting really tricky. Most people are still courteous, but sometimes (increasingly) people will steal a parking spot on someone. You see someone lined up waiting, indicator going, and someone else zips in to the space.

We usually rely on using disabled parking spaces. I have a permit, so does mother in law. I walk with crutches (usually only one, but the way my hips are at the moment I think I'll have two tomorrow).
The other day mother in law & I headed to my doctor's appointment, mother in law came to do some shopping. The disabled spot in the shopping centre was free, it's right over the road from the doctor. It's also right before the pedestrian crossing in the main street.

I had my appointment and came back out. mother in law came riht over as soon as I opened up the car - she had been sitting in the nearby cafe. I put my diary in the car then said, "I'll just go and do that little bit of shopping," when I was interrupted by a car horn - a woman was stopped in front of us (I thought she had been stopped at the lights) and shouted, "Are you going or not? I'm in a wheelchair, you know, I can't wait around all day, you could at least be considerate and let me know if you're going or not, and not leave me waiting here until you deign to pay attention."

I barely got out, "We're staying but I'll be only about ten minutes," when she drove off in disgust. We were both (me and mother in law) a bit taken aback - the woman couldn't have been waiting more than a few seconds.

The follow-up was a bit better - I was just getting back with the bits I'd bought, about to leave, when the same woman wheeled up in her wheelchair. I thought she was about to have another go at us (we were legitimate, even though we weren't in wheelchairs ourselves) but she was apologising, said it is really difficult to get the wheely spots when people park there on preference because they are close to the shops or in the shade. I do know the problems of needing the wider spaces, I've been in a wheelchair myself. I gather the woman had been having a bad day and, like me, often counted on this space being available.

At least she apologised. mother in law was still a bit sniffy about it as we drove off, but I felt a bit better about it.

I do think it's the time of the year. Add in it being our summer and some of our days being nastily hot, and tempers get short.

Marg

 

[mstang67chic]

OMG Marg...I never thought of that. Around here tempers are high because of the stress of the holiday. I couldn't imagine adding high temps in that formula. Ugh!