Random Thoughts Thread

[USUC]

I saw this story yesterday and I can't get it out of my head. It breaks my heart for these poor kids and the widowed wife. The whole thing is so senseless it's difficult to comprehend.

https://ksltv.com/652004/man-knocked...ge-fight-dies/

I've driven around a few places over the past few years (Vegas, Charlotte, SoCal, and Philadelphia) and I think the Wasatch Front has a bigger problem with road rage than we admit. I experience angry people here much more than I did/do at these other places. Granted my sample size is small (outside of Vegas) but we are impatient and uoswt easily here. I honked at a guy that was too busy looking at his phone instead of going at a green light and he lost it at me. I had my 10 year old with me.

[BigPiney]

I've driven around a few places over the past few years (Vegas, Charlotte, SoCal, and Philadelphia) and I think the Wasatch Front has a bigger problem with road rage than we admit. I experience angry people here much more than I did/do at these other places. Granted my sample size is small (outside of Vegas) but we are impatient and uoswt easily here. I honked at a guy that was too busy looking at his phone instead of going at a green light and he lost it at me. I had my 10 year old with me.

I was talking with a co-worker yesterday that had two kids attend utah. He told me that Utah has the worst drivers he has ever experienced. This was all completely unsolicited.

[USUC]

I was talking with a co-worker yesterday that had two kids attend utah. He told me that Utah has the worst drivers he has ever experienced. This was all completely unsolicited.

It depends on how you define worst drivers. We don't speed and aren't especially aggressive like LA and many other big cities. But we are incredibly inpatient and emotional drivers. I got fairly upset this morning by a truck that should have merged into the single lane two cars behind me but drove on the shoulder past us to cut me off. It was a dick move but not worth me being upset and throwing my hands in the air. I'm definitely guilty of being an emotional driver. The truck had California plates and I'm sure they would say I'm the bad guy in the situation.

[Donuthole]

A couple months ago, after a Saturday morning round of golf with my son, I was driving up one of the larger surface streets here in my fair town. Traffic was a little heavy for a Saturday afternoon, but nothing outrageous. In my rear view mirror, I saw a large sprinter van going quite a bit faster than the rest of traffic, and it was weaving in and out of the three lanes of northbound traffic. The van was not using its signal when it changed lanes, and a few times changed lanes only to see more traffic in its new lane and immediately change back. I was in the middle of the three lanes, and I changed to the left lane to try to get out of its way as it approached, as he was in the far right lane and seemed to be working the middle and right lanes to "get ahead." He was driving like an a-hole, but I wanted no part of it. Move on and go be a dick to other people who actually have to engage with you.

Well, as I changed lanes to the left, the van happened to change two lanes to the far left as well. I'm sure to him it probably seemed like I changed lanes to cut him off. I hadn't, but that didn't stop him from laying on his horn. I could see in my RVM that he was yelling expletives at me. Ok, now we have a problem. I was going to let you be a dick and move on out of my life, but I changed my mind. There is enough traffic here, I think i'll just make you wait. My car is faster and more agile than your sprinter van, so there aint s*** you can do about it. I changed back to the middle lane and just stayed about the exact same speed as the cars to my left and my right, preventing this guy from getting ahead. He got right behind me and just kept blasting his horn.

My son says "what the heck is that guy's problem?" I say "dunno, but if his wife is in labor, he should've been nicer. " We eventually hit a stop light, and the guy moves two lanes to the left to get into the left turn lane, where he stops in the lane (several car lengths back from the light, with no cars in front of him) and rolls down his window. His van has an instagram handle decaled on the side and when he rolls down his window, a small dog wearing a sports jersey climbs up to the open window and pokes his head out. The driver proceeds to motion to me to roll my window down, while people behind him wanting to actually turn left begin honking at him. I smile at him and wave but I don't roll my window down. He keeps at it, and I finally roll my window down because i'm curious to see what he says. "Nice example for your kid" he says. I reply "I just wanted to show him how an Instagram wannabe acts when the camera isn't rolling. But please record this and show it to your 400 followers if you want." He left me with a "fuck you" as I rolled up my window. He was in the left turn lane, but when the light turned green, he darted in front of the northbound traffic to his light to get back to the through lanes headed north. Eventually I saw him turn into a discount tire. Must have been getting ready for a big road trip! #vanlife

Was I an asshole for not letting him through? Absolutely. Did he have a chance to not have me be an asshole to him and waste it? Indeed he did. What's the lesson? Dog people are the absolute effing worst.

In retrospect, the guy could have had a gun or decided to rear end me out of frustration. It was stupid of me to engage him, even though it wasn't my original intent at all.

[Bo Diddley]

I've driven around a few places over the past few years (Vegas, Charlotte, SoCal, and Philadelphia) and I think the Wasatch Front has a bigger problem with road rage than we admit. I experience angry people here much more than I did/do at these other places. Granted my sample size is small (outside of Vegas) but we are impatient and uoswt easily here. I honked at a guy that was too busy looking at his phone instead of going at a green light and he lost it at me. I had my 10 year old with me.

There are metrics you can objectively track and compare including how often it is reported to the police. Utah is in the middle. I often hear how "Utah has the worst drivers" or "Utah County has the worst drivers in Utah". It's simply not true when compared to everyone else. We're fairly middle of the road every time I see a ranked list.

And if you drive around enough in different parts of the country, you will find the same thing is happening everywhere. I remember a similar discussion in one of my military courses, and everyone was identifying a different state as the worst one BY FAR.

[Bo Diddley]

What's the lesson? Dog people are the absolute effing worst.

I can't fault your logic.

[BigPiney]

Was I an asshole for not letting him through? Absolutely. Did he have a chance to not have me be an asshole to him and waste it? Indeed he did. What's the lesson? Dog people are the absolute effing worst.

Preach!

[Bo Diddley]

Preach!

[Copelius]

What's the lesson? Dog people are the absolute effing worst.

[Pelado]

Dog people are the absolute effing worst.

Truer words have never been uttered.

[YOhio]

In retrospect, the guy could have had a gun or decided to rear end me out of frustration. It was stupid of me to engage him, even though it wasn't my original intent at all.

I think that's what scares me the most about that story in Lehi. I don't think I'd ever get out of the car to fight, but I've certainly contributed to conditions that *could* have led to that.

[PaloAltoCougar]

I think that's what scares me the most about that story in Lehi. I don't think I'd ever get out of the car to fight, but I've certainly contributed to conditions that *could* have led to that.

It reminds me of.a story shared on Utefans.net twenty or more years ago by BloodSimplex, a macho, weird, but often amusing stereotypical Ute fan. He wrote of the time during the holiday season that he got in a road rage fight in or near Lehi (what is it about that place?) with a guy dressed as Santa Claus. Per BloodSimplex, he was pounding the guy fairly severely but eventually backed off as he recognized that kids in passing cars might be a tad traumatized by what they saw. BloodSimplex died just a few years after relating that incident from, I presume, unrelated causes.

[Jeff Lebowski]

That's a funny story, DH. You are a lunatic for engaging him, but it was fun to read!

[Northwestcoug]

That dog was probably the one thing that stopped the asshole driver from escalating the situation further. He was like a service dog!

[falafel]

It reminds me of.a story shared on Utefans.net twenty or more years ago by BloodSimplex, a macho, weird, but often amusing stereotypical Ute fan. He wrote of the time during the holiday season that he got in a road rage fight in or near Lehi (what is it about that place?) with a guy dressed as Santa Claus. Per BloodSimplex, he was pounding the guy fairly severely but eventually backed off as he recognized that kids in passing cars might be a tad traumatized by what they saw. BloodSimplex died just a few years after relating that incident from, I presume, unrelated causes.

They weren't allowed to sexy-dance as teenagers.