🚀 go-pugleaf

dontspamhere@please.nu wrote:

> On 1998-07-18 rally2xs@csi.com said:
>
>    >> A motorist was tailgating other motorists, and flashing his
>    >>lights, to  bulldoze them out of the way.  Witnesses saw no sign
>    >of any emergency.
>
>    >They coulda missed a child in the back seat, choking due to asthma..
>    >.  but it would still be OK to block up the left (PASSING) lane
>    >because they didn't see it...
>
>    And if they were driving along an interstate highway instead of
>    calling 911 as one should in a case that would *warrant*  reckless
>    driving, or using a cellphone and requesting an emergency escort,
>    or simply didn't panic, they wouldn't have this problem, would they?

Of course not.  The kid would just die wating for the VFD
firefighters/paramendics to get from their job, start up the squad, roll out the
door, drive at their customary 55 mph, with lights and siren blaring like its
some big deal while they obey the speed limit, and arrive 7 minutes after brain
damage sets in.


>    >> Another motorist was in the left lane of a six-lane (3 each way)
>    >> expressway, passing a line of cars, going at or just above the
>    >>speed  limit, according to witnesses.
>
>    >With flashing lights, etc. he should got the hell out of the way....
>
>    Not necessarily.  If it's not an emergency vehicle, or a vehicle that
>    is incapacitated, one is not required to get out of the way of
>    somebody flashing their lights.

Yep, most places you are.  You are supposed to give way to a faster vehicle most
everywhere.  It doesn't make any difference whether you're doing 130 mph, if
someone is approaching at 140 mph and wants to pass, you're supposed to get out
of an Interstate highway's passing lane and let him go.

>  In fact, if they're flashing their
>    brights, it could mean anything - I'm trying to blind you, your
>    headlights are off, your brights are on, I'm an idiot,

There's a possibility <G>

> you're going
>    too slow, or any combination of the above.  Generally, it's the last
>    two, as these two seem to infallibly go hand in hand.
>
>    >> Very tragic, the motorist's impatience and reckless driving
>    >The left lane blocker's obstinate compulsion to "CONTROL THE ROAD"..
>
>    Somehow, I get the feeling that I should not be anywhere near you
>    when driving or riding my bicycle.

I personally don't ride on open highway or county roads any more.  It's just
asking to be a quadraplegic.

>    >Well, excuse the hell outa me, but I'm tired of this scenario
>    >popping up on my computer all the time, to try to put the blame
>    >ONLY on the guy that got fed up and couldn't/wouldn't/didn't take
>    >it any more.  THEY WERE B - O - T - H    W - R - O - N - G !!!!!
>
>    No, the guy driving recklessly was wrong.   I don't know where you
>    learned to drive, but when I took drivers' ed in high school, I was
>    informed that we were *legally required* to drive defensively.

That would include getting the hell out of the road.  So drive defensively, and
do it.  If you are blocking up the left lane and I have a medical emergency
concerning someone I care about, you're going to feel one hell of a sharp jolt
on your rear bumper as my front bumper contacts it repeatedly, at greater and
greater velocity differentials until you get the hell out of the way or end up
in the ditch, and it won't matter a whit to me which way it goes down.  My
people are more important than your desire to control the road.


>    I should note that, had there  been an actual emergency and the
>    passengers and drivers survived, the insurance company, let alone the
>    local constabulary, isn't going to buy an "It was an emergency" argument.

They don't have to, as long as the victim survives.  That is the highest
priority.  Everyone else can just go piss up a rope after the victim survives,
as far as I am concerned.DPH