Click It or Suck It

Why does the government care if we wear seat belts or not? Isn't it my choice to hurtle my body through the windshield of my car if I want to? Why should I get a ticket for that? I thought this was a free country.

I actually prefer to wear my seat belt, but I don't think it's fair to force those less enlightened to buckle up if they don't want to. We have to give Darwin a chance, don't we? Otherwise, the gene pool just gets more shallow every day.

I see the stupid signs all over the Bay Area - enough. Bring back the travel or traffic info - something useful.

Also more useful - ticketing drivers who can't drive, belted or not. There are far more of those to pick off and they're much more dangerous, though they can serve a purpose. Bad drivers + unbelted drivers = culling of the herd.

Stupid in a Can

There was some serious stupid on the roads today. A jackass in Napa, upset that he ended up behind a truck on a two-lane road, felt it necessary to flip off the truck driver once he managed to get around it. Nice.

Later, I was cruising down Highway 12 when a TOTAL dumbshit turned onto the highway directly in front of me. It wasn't a blind turn - it was a wide open side road joining the highway.

He drifted right into the lane of traffic, totally unaware that he was merging onto a major thoroughfare, though "merging" isn't the best word - it was more like a giant dump thrown onto the road.

In that moment I clearly understood the rage of the road. Not only was it incredibly rude and inconsiderate, it was dangerous. Someone with slower reflexes (or bad brakes) would have slammed right into his lame ass and sent him and his equally blind passenger to the ER.

Then, THEN - at the ONLY passing lane there is on that stretch of road, he friggin camped in the left lane and made it impossible to pass him - because a capable driver in front of him had already moved into the right lane, leaving no space to maneuver around him on the right. AND HE WASN'T PASSING ANYONE!!!

Omigod, if only I'd had a rotten egg-shooting bazooka, that Hyundai would have been slathered in stinky egg carcasses. Seriously - someone please make me a rotten egg-shooting bazooka.

PriusAss

What is with the PriAss no-turn-signal-using drivers who cannot find the gas pedal while driving (sorry, coasting) in the fast lane?

Swear to brad, every time there's a car camped out in the fast lane passing nothing but gas, it's a PriAss. And nine times outta ten, when I'm behind one making a turn, there's no signal.

Are turn signals and standard-sized gas pedals expensive options on this car?

Is it that PriAss drivers have never driven a car before owning one of these go-karts, or once in these cars whatever driving skills they may have had are deactivated by the hybrid technology?

On 101 in San Rafael yesterday a woman in a PriAss drifted slowly onto the freeway from the onramp into the far left lane. She never turned her head to look, she never signaled and she was going about 50mph - much slower than traffic.

This isn't the first time I've seen the "PriAss drift," where drivers seem to think they can wander wherever they want and the rest of us will just skeedaddle out of the way and applaud as they drive by.

Toyota doesn't advertise the forcefield that comes with this car, but it must be well worth whatever it costs. Buyers must be choosing that option over turn signals and gas pedals.

This powerful option seems capable of protecting drivers from being slammed by a Hummer already occupying a freeway lane a PriAss drifts into without looking.

I would love to have a hybrid car, but it's gonna be a big one that can drive over a PriAss.