On Thursday, 18 April 2013 at 21:30:06 UTC, Walter Bright wrote:
On 4/18/2013 11:44 AM, H. S. Teoh wrote:
Since then, I no longer assume that red lights, pedestrian
walk signs,
or crosswalk flashing lights mean anything to drivers. You
might pay for
that assumption with your life. *shudder*
The phrase is you don't want to be right - dead right.
The bikers and pedestrians that resolutely expect me to dodge
them amaze me. They never even look. There'll be 4 abreast
walking, sticking out into the lane. To pass them, the driver
is forced into the left lane. Of course they never look to see
if the drivers actually will.
I drove around a blind corner once (on a fairly major road) and
there's a guy on a bike in the middle, stopped, towing his baby
behind the bike. I couldn't believe it! I stopped and yelled at
him I was so upset - he was shocked that there was anything
stupid about what he was doing.
Another time, a woman is pushing her baby carriage down the
center of the lane. She didn't even look back as I drove up
behind her. I stopped and yelled at her. She said "well, if my
number is up, my number is up."
Unbelievable.
My dad used to irritate the heck out of me by driving down
residential streets at about 10 mph. I understand now why he
did that.
I agree with your sentiment. People are nightmarishly illogical.
Maybe they feel more like Achilles, whose destiny was greatness,
followed by death, than, say, Socrates, who got killed because he
made too much sense. If *I* have to go down, I hope will be more
like Socrates than Achilles.
