Got screamed at for the first time today

[Bernie]

Mike Miles wrote:

> --On Sunday, June 29, 2003 3:01 AM -0500 Kevan Smith <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > On 29 Jun 2003 07:13:43 GMT, [email protected] (Hunrobe) from AOL http://www.aol.com wrote:
> >
> >> You apparently have no clue that in large cities police officers are expected to write a
> >> certain number of parking tickets. It's one measure of job performance. Where exactly do *you*
> >> live?
> >
> > In my city, the regular patrol officers don't bother with parking tickets. The pigs have a
> > special parking ticket squad -- generally older women in three-wheeled vehicles -- that travels
> > around ticketing people parked illegally. Meter maids is what they used to be called, but now
> > they do more than ticket at meters.
> >
> > --
> > http://home.sport.rr.com/cuthulu/ human rights = peace I have a very good DENTAL PLAN.
> > Thank you.
> > 3:01:43 AM 29 June 2003
>
> At least your meter maids aren't armed with the latest technology. Santa Monica "Parking Meter
> Patrol" units, the three-wheelers, have electronic pads that alert them to meters about to expire
> near to them, so they can issue the ticket the moment the meter runs out. I've gotten a ticket
> that was time-stamped the exact minute the meter ran out. Sucks more than a chain on a bad crank.

A) That sucks, and speaks badly about the city of Santa Monica - intolerant a**holes!
B) It's says the best use for a parking meter is to lock your bike to one. Bernie

 

[Shaun Rimmer]

Corvus Corvax <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I had a really good one this morning. I'm grooving up Hudson St. in Manhattan on the fix, and some
> nut buzzes me real close. Whatever. He's got Jersey plates, which is par for the course. Hudson
> St. is where the Holland Tunnel lets out, so that's where all the clueless masses from New Jersey
> get dumped on their way into the city. Naturally, I pass the guy a few blocks later in slow
> traffic, and I make sure to fully take the lane in front of him this time, so he can't pull the
> buzz maneuver again. This completely enrages the fellow, and he starts leaning on his horn behind
> me. Never mind that I'm four feet from the back bumper of the cab in front of me, going exactly
> the speed of traffic. That's irrelevant. HOOOOONNNNNK! When there's room to do so, I pull into the
> bike lane on the left, and the irate driver pulls up beside me and rolls down his window. He's
> this musclebound guy with a jarhead haircut and a little thin moustache. Veins are popping out on
> the guy's forehead.
>
> "WHAT DO YOU THINK THE BIKE LANE IS FOR?" shouts the jarhead.
>
> He rages off before I can give the patently obvious reply, "Why, to double park delivery trucks
> in, of course!" I give a beaming grin and a cheerful wave. And why not? I havcen't had this much
> fun in a while. The jarhead is so busy scowling at me in his rearview mirror and flipping me the
> bird that he almost doesn't notice that traffic is at a dead stop a hundred feet in front of him.
> He slams on the brakes, and I glide smoothly by his driver-side window and give him a little
> fingers-only wave: buh-bye.
>
> He never catches me again.
>
> CC

Every day I get buzzed, and at stupid silly speeds. The road I commute on is a narrow country lane
(2 cars wide, no shoulder or pavement). Most of the road is at the national speed limit of 70 mph.
The drivers all think they have to be travelling at that speed the minute they see the sign, it's
utterly ridiculous that they can't slow down or move out when passing me, and having a car pass at
70+ mph no more than 1' from your elbow is _extremely_ unnerving.

Just a couple of weeks ago on the way up the hill, I heard a car coming up fast behind me. I looked
over my shoulder, and he's way out on the other side of the road. Cool, thinks me, I'm safe. Huh,
******* swerved towards me on purpose, hammering the engine and just missed me. Small rally styled
sports car, must've been doing 80 mph - the air blast as he passed knocked my front wheel into the
ditch. I screamed swear words (pointlessly I know) at him, stood on the pedals and gave every crude
hand gesture I knew, hoping he'd see and come back to give me ****, but he just kept on motoring up
the road. It took me the rest of the journey to work plus 2 hours to stop shaking.

I started shaking again on the way home, and couldn't bring myself to cycle in to work for a couple
of days afterward and had to bum a lift. I'm still absolutely furious.

Shaun aRe

 

[Bernie]

Hunrobe wrote:

> >Bernie [email protected]
>
> wrote in part:
>
> >> At least your meter maids aren't armed with the latest technology. Santa Monica "Parking Meter
> >> Patrol" units, the three-wheelers, have electronic pads that alert them to meters about to
> >> expire near to them, so they can issue the ticket the moment the meter runs out. I've gotten a
> >> ticket that was time-stamped the exact minute the meter ran out. Sucks more than a chain on a
> >> bad crank.
> >
> >A) That sucks, and speaks badly about the city of Santa Monica - intolerant a**holes!
>
> I'd agree that a "one minute over" parking ticket sucks but "intolerant a**holes"? I stopped at
> the grocery today for a candy bar. The price tag said 59 cents so I asked how much it cost. The
> clerk told me it was 59 cents. That intolerant a**hole! ;-)
>
> Regards, Bob Hunt

My language may have been improper, but that meter maid thing sounds like a cash grab and damned
unfriendly. and just plain mean spirited. Bernie

 

[Jeremy Parker]

Jasper says:

> Although this is not the case in all countries. In .nl, there are two kinds of path, one marked
> with a rectangular sign "fietspad" (bike path), not unlike your one way road sign, in white on
> blue, which are typically the kind of paths that you seem to talk about, and bike paths marked
> with a round blue board containing in white a representation of a bicycle. Like all rectangular
> and round blue boards respectively, one is an announcement, not even a SHOULD, whereas the other
> represents something one MUST do, in RFC parlance.

Here in Britain the round, rather than rectangular, sign is found only at bike lanes, not paths. The
compulsion it represents is different, too. If the sign is round it is compulsory only for other
traffic to stay OUT of the lane, not for bikes to stay in. Some bike lanes are "mandataory", for
cars to stay out, with sign and continuous edge stripe. Other bike lanes are "advisory", with no
sign and a dashed edge stripe.

It is not compulsory for cars to stay out of an advisory lane. Advisory lanes are usually installed
where the road was too narrow to provide room for a lane, so trying to add one was a stupid idea.

Some lanes have cloured paving for extra emphasis. This is usually a sign that the scheme failed in
black-and-white.

If bikes are forbidden (they are occasionally, alas) there will be a round red bordered sign with a
bike on it.

Jeremy Parker

 

[Dave]

"Shaun Rimmer" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
<snip>
>The road I commute on is a narrow country lane (2 cars wide, no shoulder or pavement). Most of the
>road is at the national speed limit of 70 mph. The drivers all think they have to be travelling at
>that speed the minute they see the sign, it's utterly ridiculous that they can't slow down or move
>out when passing me, and having a car pass at 70+ mph no more than 1' from your elbow is
>_extremely_ unnerving.
>
<snip>

> Shaun aRe
>
Shaun, roads such as you describe don't have a speed limit of 70mph. I think you must be talking
about the black diagonal stripe on white circular background sign. This indicates the national
speed limit for the road type. This varies depending on the road type, i.e. single carriageway /
dual carriageway / street lighting etc. and can vary from 30- 70 mph. If they are doing those
speeds then they are merely acting in the traditional selfish manner of most car drivers and it
sounds like the one doing 80+ had probably recently been to see "2 Fast, 2 Furious" and now
believes he's in a movie!! The only thing you can do to influence matters is either make a note of
random reg nos. (preferably worst offenders) and report them to the police as having run you off
the road into a hedge / ditch / whatever...or (and this one takes balls of steel ;-), cycle far
enough from the edge of the road to force them to slow down / evaluate the situation / take evasive
action. Of course, the latter may lead to a genuine need to get in touch with the police / other
emergency services. HTH Dave.

 

[George Stutevil]

Sandy,

It just comes with the "turf." Most of my riding has been in the DC area and in Central Indiana. The
motorists here in the Capital are a lot more mouthier.

A few years ago, I would reply. I don't bother anymore. My riding is strictly for my health and
pleasure (maybe a little political statement, too).

Don't quit.

 

[Notaknob]

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] says...
>
> I had a really good one this morning. I'm grooving up Hudson St. in Manhattan on the fix, and some
> nut buzzes me real close. Whatever. He's got Jersey plates, which is par for the course. Hudson
> St. is where the Holland Tunnel lets out, so that's where all the clueless masses from New Jersey
> get dumped on their way into the city. Naturally, I pass the guy a few blocks later in slow
> traffic, and I make sure to fully take the lane in front of him this time, so he can't pull the
> buzz maneuver again. This completely enrages the fellow, and he starts leaning on his horn behind
> me. Never mind that I'm four feet from the back bumper of the cab in front of me, going exactly
> the speed of traffic. That's irrelevant. HOOOOONNNNNK! When there's room to do so, I pull into the
> bike lane on the left, and the irate driver pulls up beside me and rolls down his window. He's
> this musclebound guy with a jarhead haircut and a little thin moustache. Veins are popping out on
> the guy's forehead.
>
> "WHAT DO YOU THINK THE BIKE LANE IS FOR?" shouts the jarhead.
>
> He rages off before I can give the patently obvious reply, "Why, to double park delivery trucks
> in, of course!" I give a beaming grin and a cheerful wave. And why not? I havcen't had this much
> fun in a while. The jarhead is so busy scowling at me in his rearview mirror and flipping me the
> bird that he almost doesn't notice that traffic is at a dead stop a hundred feet in front of him.
> He slams on the brakes, and I glide smoothly by his driver-side window and give him a little
> fingers-only wave: buh-bye.
>
> He never catches me again.
>
I miss commuting more and more everyday. Most of my daily hassles come from either the drive to or
from work.

nk

 

[Bernie]

Hunrobe wrote:

> >Bernie [email protected]
>
> wrote:
>
> >My language may have been improper, but that meter maid thing sounds like a cash grab and damned
> >unfriendly. and just plain mean spirited. Bernie
>
> My intent wasn't to criticize your language but simply to point out that parking meters are
> intended to: 1- allow more people access to a parking space (since most parking meters are in
> areas with at least some retail businesses, the higher the turnover on those spaces the more
> profits there are for the merchants) and 2- generate revenue for the municipality.
>
> IOW, it's about money. Aggravating as a "one minute over" parking ticket would be, expecting the
> ticket to remain unwritten is essentially the same as expecting a discount at the grocery store
> because your purchase is such a small part of the store's overall profit margin.
>
> Regards, Bob Hunt

What bugs me about this business is
1) population pressure, there ain't no slack
2) automobile culture
3) eager tax collectors All of the above are irritating to me. Right or wrong, that's how it is.
I've driven cars, buses, etc. (and bicycles) for decades. Still prefer to use parking meters as
something to lock up to. It feels like a loss of freedom to me when one can't stop at the side of
the public roadway with paying. Bernie

 

[Barry Gaudet]

Hunrobe <[email protected]> wrote:
:>Bernie [email protected]
: wrote:
:>My language may have been improper, but that meter maid thing sounds like a cash grab and damned
:>unfriendly. and just plain mean spirited.
[...]

: IOW, it's about money. Aggravating as a "one minute over" parking ticket would be, expecting the
: ticket to remain unwritten is essentially the same as expecting a discount at the grocery store
: because your purchase is such a small part of the store's overall profit margin.

Guelph had a grace program when I first moved here [for all I know it still does]. If you're meter
was expired for less than... 5 minutes IIRC, the meter guy would leave a 'courtesy' note saying
that your meter had run out. Of course Guelph is a small city with a small metered area downtown.

Wasn't there a guy who got into trouble a few years back for committing random acts of kindess by
putting money in expired meters?

--

'Ooh I will make you a believer'

- Sass Jordan

 

[Shaun Rimmer]

Dave <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>
> "Shaun Rimmer" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> >
> <snip>
> >The road I commute on is a narrow country lane (2 cars wide, no shoulder or pavement). Most of
the
> > road is at the national speed limit of 70 mph. The drivers all think
they
> > have to be travelling at that speed the minute they see the sign, it's utterly ridiculous that
> > they can't slow down or move out when passing
me,
> > and having a car pass at 70+ mph no more than 1' from your elbow is _extremely_ unnerving.
> >
> <snip>
>
> > Shaun aRe
> >
> Shaun, roads such as you describe don't have a speed limit of 70mph. I think you must be talking
> about the black diagonal stripe on white circular
background
> sign. This indicates the national speed limit for the road type. This
varies
> depending on the road type, i.e. single carriageway / dual carriageway / street lighting etc. and
> can vary from 30- 70 mph.

I'm pretty sure the limit on this road is 70 mph.

> If they are doing those speeds then they are merely acting in the traditional selfish manner of
> most car drivers and it sounds like the one doing 80+ had probably recently been to see "2 Fast, 2
> Furious" and now believes he's in a movie!!

I would have personally disembowelled that stupid little pecker with my bare hands had he stopped
and got out the car.

> The only thing you can do to influence matters is either make a note of random reg nos.
> (preferably worst offenders) and report them to the police as having run you off the road into a
> hedge / ditch / whatever...

It's a bit too difficult trying to read those numbers or I'd have done it before now.

> or (and this one takes balls of steel ;-),

Hey, if I stand up too quickly, the resulting 'clang' can be heard for miles around ',;~}~

> cycle far enough from the edge of the road to force them to slow down / evaluate the situation /
> take evasive action. Of course, the latter may lead to a genuine need to get in touch with the
> police / other emergency services.

This is exactly what I do on most roads, this one is a bit different. To do that on this road would
be to invite disaster.

There is one particular guy passes me both morning and evening, in an old beaten up brown Astra
estate - he _always_ manages to slow right down and pass me wide with little to no effort. If he can
do it so can the rest. This guy is going to get a Christmas card off me, heheheh........

> HTH Dave.

Cheers Dave - I have been using a bike of one sort or another as my sole transport since I was a
'smaller' child (I'm 34 now), and I'm very traffic aware (been called 'owl neck' more than a few
times) - I rarely have problems elsewhere, but this road is bad, especially considering I'm
travelling on it during both morning and evening rush hours.

Shaun aRe - I'll figure something out.

 

[Jasper Janssen]

On 2 Jul 2003 07:36:46 GMT, Barry Gaudet <[email protected]> wrote:

> Wasn't there a guy who got into trouble a few years back for committing random acts of kindess by
> putting money in expired meters?

I think that was an episode of "Suddenly Susan" or some similarly brainless sitcom.

Jasper

 

[Scott Lindstrom]

Jasper Janssen wrote:
> On 2 Jul 2003 07:36:46 GMT, Barry Gaudet <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>>Wasn't there a guy who got into trouble a few years back for committing random acts of kindess by
>>putting money in expired meters?
>
>
> I think that was an episode of "Suddenly Susan" or some similarly brainless sitcom.

It happened in real life also.

<http://dailybeacon.utk.edu/issues/v73/n63/kind.63v.html>

Google (kindness+parking+meter+arrested+feeding) is your friend

Scott

 

[Jasper Janssen]

On Tue, 01 Jul 2003 06:33:35 +0000, Jeremy Parker <[email protected]> wrote:

>Here in Britain the round, rather than rectangular, sign is found only at bike lanes, not paths.
>The compulsion it represents is different, too. If the sign is round it is compulsory only for
>other traffic to stay OUT of the lane, not for bikes to stay in. Some bike lanes are "mandataory",
>for cars to stay out, with sign and continuous edge stripe. Other bike lanes are "advisory", with
>no sign and a dashed edge stripe.

Oh, weird. We never have either sign at bike lanes (that is, where the tarmac is continuous, but
often colorcoded in red for the bikelane), and we indicate cars allowed or not by just the
continuous or dotted line. Many places, we have bike paths running between the line of parked cars
and the sidewalk, and those generally do get the round sign indicating that bikes going that
direction are required to follow these. I'm not sure if bike lanes with continuous lines are
required for the bikes to go in, actually. Hmm.

>If bikes are forbidden (they are occasionally, alas) there will be a round red bordered sign with a
>bike on it.

Yeah. Mostly you get that here on roads that are almost-but-not-quite highways (where bikes are
always forbidden), usually but not always with a parallel roadway for tractors and bikes to follow.
THere's pretty much always at least a road one block over, anyway, which is much prettier.

Jasper

 

[Ryan Cousineau]

In article <[email protected]>, Bernie <[email protected]> wrote:

> Hunrobe wrote:

> > IOW, it's about money. Aggravating as a "one minute over" parking ticket would be, expecting the
> > ticket to remain unwritten is essentially the same as expecting a discount at the grocery store
> > because your purchase is such a small part of the store's overall profit margin.
> >
> > Regards, Bob Hunt
>
> What bugs me about this business is
> 1) population pressure, there ain't no slack

You're feeling population pressure because you live in bloody well-populated Vancouver. Almost as
funny as if you stood 20 miles outside of Prince Rupert and declared that you were the only person
on the planet.

> 2) automobile culture
> 3) eager tax collectors

At least parking fees are a user fee and not a tax.

> All of the above are irritating to me. Right or wrong, that's how it is. I've driven cars, buses,
> etc. (and bicycles) for decades. Still prefer to use parking meters as something to lock up to. It
> feels like a loss of freedom to me when one can't stop at the side of the public roadway with
> paying. Bernie

Your choice of vehicle is important. PS: don't move to London, they'll charge you a couple quid just
to bring your car into town, never mind the parking.

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email protected] http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

 

[Jasper Janssen]

On Wed, 02 Jul 2003 07:27:35 -0500, Scott Lindstrom <[email protected]> wrote:
>Jasper Janssen wrote:
>> On 2 Jul 2003 07:36:46 GMT, Barry Gaudet <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>>Wasn't there a guy who got into trouble a few years back for committing random acts of kindess by
>>>putting money in expired meters?
>>
>> I think that was an episode of "Suddenly Susan" or some similarly brainless sitcom.
>
>It happened in real life also.

Yeah, it sounded like a plot line 'inspired' (read: the writers were so frigging pathetic they
couldn't come up with anything original) by real life.

Jasper

 

[Bernie]

Jasper Janssen wrote:

> On Tue, 01 Jul 2003 06:33:35 +0000, Jeremy Parker <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >Here in Britain the round, rather than rectangular, sign is found only at bike lanes, not paths.
> >The compulsion it represents is different, too. If the sign is round it is compulsory only for
> >other traffic to stay OUT of the lane, not for bikes to stay in. Some bike lanes are
> >"mandataory", for cars to stay out, with sign and continuous edge stripe. Other bike lanes are
> >"advisory", with no sign and a dashed edge stripe.
>
> Oh, weird. We never have either sign at bike lanes (that is, where the tarmac is continuous, but
> often colorcoded in red for the bikelane), and we indicate cars allowed or not by just the
> continuous or dotted line. Many places, we have bike paths running between the line of parked cars
> and the sidewalk, and those generally do get the round sign indicating that bikes going that
> direction are required to follow these. I'm not sure if bike lanes with continuous lines are
> required for the bikes to go in, actually. Hmm.
>
> >If bikes are forbidden (they are occasionally, alas) there will be a round red bordered sign with
> >a bike on it.
>
> Yeah. Mostly you get that here on roads that are almost-but-not-quite highways (where bikes are
> always forbidden), usually but not always with a parallel roadway for tractors and bikes to
> follow. THere's pretty much always at least a road one block over, anyway, which is much prettier.
>
> Jasper

Way back umpteen years ago, the city of Toronto used to ticket parked cars (all parked cars) in
neighbourhoods like Cabbagetown that had lots of rooming houses and no parking except the street.
Those neighbourhoods did not have permit street parking. The tickets were considered to be the
parking fee. I think they were $12 at the time (early '70s). No one was happy with it. Streets with
2 hour parking had residents parking at all hours for as long as they liked. One neighbour began his
civil disobedience protest by taking every ticket on his block off the parked cars and mailing the
bundle back to city hall. This meant the car owners didn't know they had been ticketed, and city
hall had a dilemna to deal with. The mystery mailer's actions fast tracked permit parking in that
neighbourhood. Does anyone here remember that event? Bernie

 

[Raptor]

I was chilling under a shade tree, cleaning the sweat off my sunglasses in the middle of my road
ride, and I heard two loud honks. This high school commuter car with three young blondes drives by
screaming, smiling and waving.

Damn motorheads.

--
--
Lynn Wallace http://www.xmission.com/~lawall "I'm not proud. We really haven't done everything we
could to protect our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security." --Microsoft VP in
charge of Windows OS Development, Brian Valentine.

 

[David Kerber]

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] says...
> I was chilling under a shade tree, cleaning the sweat off my sunglasses in the middle of my road
> ride, and I heard two loud honks. This high school commuter car with three young blondes drives by
> screaming, smiling and waving.

Male or female?

> Damn motorheads.

--
Dave Kerber Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return address before replying!

REAL programmers write self-modifying code.

 

[Raptor]

David Kerber wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] says...
>
>>I was chilling under a shade tree, cleaning the sweat off my sunglasses in the middle of my road
>>ride, and I heard two loud honks. This high school commuter car with three young blondes drives by
>>screaming, smiling and waving.
>
>
> Male or female?

--
--
Lynn Wallace http://www.xmission.com/~lawall "I'm not proud. We really haven't done everything we
could to protect our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security." --Microsoft VP in
charge of Windows OS Development, Brian Valentine.

 

[Gyp]

Shaun Rimmer wrote:
> Every day I get buzzed, and at stupid silly speeds. The road I commute on is a narrow country lane
> (2 cars wide, no shoulder or pavement). Most of the road is at the national speed limit of 70 mph.
> The drivers all think they have to be travelling at that speed the minute they see the sign, it's
> utterly ridiculous that they can't slow down or move out when passing me, and having a car pass at
> 70+ mph no more than 1' from your elbow is _extremely_ unnerving

70 does make you wobble doesn't it <Wince>, Saying that I got blasted onto the curb the other day
when a jam sandwich came blasting past at some crazy speed. Sad thing was about 5 mins later it came
blasting back the other way. I guess the local cop-shops chips where getting cold.. <Chuckle>

> Just a couple of weeks ago on the way up the hill, I heard a car coming up fast behind me. I
> looked over my shoulder, and he's way out on the other side of the road. Cool, thinks me, I'm
> safe. Huh, ******* swerved towards me on purpose, hammering the engine and just missed me. Small
> rally styled sports car, must've been doing 80 mph - the air blast as he passed knocked my front
> wheel into the ditch. I screamed swear words (pointlessly I know) at him, stood on the pedals and
> gave every crude hand gesture I knew, hoping he'd see and come back to give me ****, but he just
> kept on motoring up the road. It took me the rest of the journey to work plus 2 hours to stop
> shaking.

Nasty... Those boy racers are not cool when it comes to pedestrians and cyclists.. A couple of
times around here I looked behind me (No cars within sight) and then signaled right.. Only to find
that in the mean time a frightingly fast boy-racer has managed to "Appear" has made me very jumpy
on right turns.

Mind you I've had a couple of woman driver decide to horn me doing right turns (I assume because I
blocking their progress). In the standard english tradition I normal return the favour by shouting
"Learn to F**King drive" and presenting them with the accident 2 fingered salute which is perfect
for these occasions..

> I started shaking again on the way home, and couldn't bring myself to cycle in to work for a
> couple of days afterward and had to bum a lift. I'm still absolutely furious.

Saying that Shaun, I've had similar in the car, after a couple of close calls and accualy hitting
somebody. I am convinced that anyone wanting to doa right turn ont he road I'm driving on is going
to attempt to drive into me.

The last time it happened I was so CROSS I accualy followed the chap (who had basicly tried to drive
into me) flashing my headlights and sounding my horn..

Then again the Jeep takes very little damage from impacts, obviously I don't feel quite so secure
when riding the bike..

Basicly I think that UK roads are being driving by more and more complete buck eejits...than
ever before..

Gyp

(I do not drive a small, trvial car, nor am I a small or trvial MTB rider)...
(http://anoraks.uk.net/gallery/Gyp)