Modern Buddy

The holidays are here and once again it's rutting season for shoppers. Whether you're driving, scooting, cycling, or just walking, pleeease be careful, most especially in parking lots.

I put my ride up for the winter, but in the last two weeks alone my car's front end was raked by a pickup driver backing out of a space, and my daughter's car was heavily damaged when the driver in front of her backed up without looking. The spare on their Wrangler "accordioned" the hood on my daughter's Mazda and wiped out one headlight. Their hitch also punched in the bumper and grille.

People seem to have visions of sugarplums in their heads and not much else.

Annnnnd I can’t believe how cranky people have gotten, does everyone suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder?????

KABarash wrote:Annnnnd I can’t believe how cranky people have gotten, does everyone suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder?????

It seems so, lately!
But you know what they say. "Tis the season..."

I was driving through a McDonalds 3 weeks ago & a guy quickly backs out without looking. I slam on the brakes & miss him by inches. Then I back up to give him room to get out. He THEN sees me in his mirror, turns & yells at me. I drive around him & get in line. Then I hear yelling, turn to my right & it's him. He pulled next to me & he's yelling insults because I was in his way. I slowly raise one middle finger & he loses his mind. I thought he would stroke out he was so mad. I turn away to look at the menu which ticks him off more & he finally pulls away cursing at the top of his lungs & red faced. I thought this guy is so close to the edge I may see his picture in the newspaper soon. He is the main reason I believe in having a concealed carry license. I think road ragers are more dangerous than the common thief lurking in the dark. I didn't drive straight home in case he followed me from a distance to see where I live.

New2Scoots wrote:I was driving through a McDonalds 3 weeks ago & a guy quickly backs out without looking. I slam on the brakes & miss him by inches. Then I back up to give him room to get out. He THEN sees me in his mirror, turns & yells at me. I drive around him & get in line. Then I hear yelling, turn to my right & it's him. He pulled next to me & he's yelling insults because I was in his way. I slowly raise one middle finger & he loses his mind. I thought he would stroke out he was so mad. I turn away to look at the menu which ticks him off more & he finally pulls away cursing at the top of his lungs & red faced. I thought this guy is so close to the edge I may see his picture in the newspaper soon. He is the main reason I believe in having a concealed carry license. I think road ragers are more dangerous than the common thief lurking in the dark. I didn't drive straight home in case he followed me from a distance to see where I live.

this is exactly why i sold my motorcycle...too dangerous to commute on the highway...too many jackasses and distracted drivers up here...knowing that a cage will win every time if they are that hot headed...i have my class A firearms license as well but i rarely have it on me...commuting into another state all work week where it's almost impossible to get an out of state license in takes away 5/7ths of my week...which basically leaves holidays, weekends and vacation days...and in the summer it's much tougher for me to conceal easily

I have to agree. Our community has had some horrific accidents lately: a semi blowing through a stop sign and hitting and killing a pregnant woman in her car. A pickup ramming into a buggy carriage in broad daylight killing the husband and wife and the horse. I've driven those roads, on my scooter no less. Are people just not calm and stable and attentive anymore? Not to mention drivers who are visibly texting while driving. I actually honked at a guy trying to get his attention to hopefully remind him to stop texting and drive. He didn't even look up.

ucandoit wrote:I have to agree. Our community has had some horrific accidents lately: a semi blowing through a stop sign and hitting and killing a pregnant woman in her car. A pickup ramming into a buggy carriage in broad daylight killing the husband and wife and the horse. I've driven those roads, on my scooter no less. Are people just not calm and stable and attentive anymore? Not to mention drivers who are visibly texting while driving. I actually honked at a guy trying to get his attention to hopefully remind him to stop texting and drive. He didn't even look up.

it's scary...my daily commute is 86 miles a day and i drive through providence to get to work...i've learned to anticipate what drivers are going to do...but seeing swerving while at speed or inconsistent speeds/braking from a car i know they are on their phone or distracted somehow...in traffic you can see in your rear view mirror the drivers eyes behind you looking down you know they are on their phone...i've set up my car so i can press a couple buttons and make a call with bluetooth so i can pay attention to driving...none of this matters cause other people are careless and take for granted that they are driving a deadly weapon...this is why i don't commute on a bike...i want riding to be fun

There was a young woman yesterday in an oncoming car that drifted completely into my lane while she was texting. It was a curvy 2 lane highway with steep hills on both sides, so there was no way to avoid the oncoming car. At the very last second she noticed she was in my lane, so she jerked her steering wheel over in the nick of time.

But, she never took her eyes off her phone and continued to text as she blew by me.

She almost killed me in a head-on with her on the wrong side of the road, and she couldn't care less. Her text was more important than someone else's life.

Point37 wrote: it's scary...my daily commute is 86 miles a day and i drive through providence to get to work...

Point37, do you remember Javaspeed scooter and coffee shop? I only made it there once (work got me to RI) and it was near the end, so the staff wasn't the cheeriest.

Every year, it seems like the rage cranks up with the start of Football season, and it gets worse through the end of the year.

I've even considered going down to 1 car and taking the light rail.

Not just driving, but in public, people are just jackasses lately.

I don't advocate solving things with fists, but I've been feeling like slapping people lately.

Syd wrote:

Point37 wrote: it's scary...my daily commute is 86 miles a day and i drive through providence to get to work...

Point37, do you remember Javaspeed scooter and coffee shop? I only made it there once (work got me to RI) and it was near the end, so the staff wasn't the cheeriest.

nope...sorry...i live in MA but work in RI...providence is mostly just a pass through for me...when i was younger i used to go there to bars...but i just got into scooters this year...before that it was motorcycles...before that a moped...before that i mountain biked a lot

My Stella has the JavaSpeed emblem on the front. Bought it off a guy from there.