This is a stop sign. It is a red octagon with the words STOP in white letters in the center. It signals to a driver that they need to come to a stop (usually at an intersection) make sure all is clear and then they can proceed.
For those of you who are thinking to yourselves "Silly snarky self, I know what a stop sign is - everybody does" - clearly you don't live in *my* town. In my town there's a pretty large population of people who apparently think they are optional.
Day in and day out I am simply flabbergasted at how many people ignore stop signs - whether a straight up blow through or a pause so slight, I just can't count it. And I'm not talking about early morning or late at night when I'm one of five cars on the road. This shit is happening on beautiful Saturday spring afternoons when there are a ton of cars (and kids) about. I would like to blame it all on teenagers (and they are pretty guilty as charged) but it cuts across age and gender lines (sadly with a pretty high ratio of Moms - which is what most of the women my age in my town are).
Alas, if it were only limited to blowing stop signs it might be manageable. But there are a few other things that people in my town seem to be confused about when it comes to driving.
- Right on red means that you come to a stop at the red light and then make the turn if all is clear. When I rode my bike to the train station over the summer I can't tell you how many times I was almost picked off by some moron who just cruised through that turn without even pausing. Hey, don't worry about me; I'm sure me and my bike will hold up just fine against your truck.
- When you are at an intersection with a green turning arrow and it then turns red, that doesn't mean any car that was within a 1/4 mile of the light before it turned red can still go through. Every morning when I need to cross the highway to get to my daughter's daycare, about 6 cars get through on the green arrow and then like another 6 go through after it turns red. I'll spot maybe the first one but after that you're all just greedy. And if I am just a few cars back I'll probably miss my light cause my lane can't go until you all stop turning.
- Your car should go in between the parking space lines in the parking lot - your whole car from front to back. I understand, you're in a hurry, you pull in quickly, you pop out to run for the train, the movie, your cappuccino - you simply have no time to notice that half of your car (front or back, doesn't matter) is in the next spot. Don't worry about it, I'll go find another spot. I'm not in a hurry - unlike you I apparently have all the time in the world to find a spot next to someone who pulled in straight.
- Speaking of parking, when the parking lot is really full, you can't just make up a new spot closest to the store you need to go to (and blocking the part of the lot the cars actually need to drive). I sometimes want to just wait at that car for the person to show up so I can find out from them exactly why they are so special as to be able to park wherever they want.
Seriously people, it's time to brush up on your knowledge of traffic rules. If you aren't sure go ahead and google it or text a friend - most of you are already looking at the phone in your hand anyways.
No comments:
Post a Comment