Now that summer is officially here, the kids are off from school and I'm spending more time away from my computer (stop laughing...it CAN happen!)
A few days ago, walking my daughter and her friend down the block I passed one of these:
Have you seen one? Does it say "optional stop" on it?
Funny, the signs in my neighborhood don't. And I was under the impression that even if your english was limited - you could still figure out what to do when faced with such a sign - I mean you had to prove this in a driving test, right? Most of us didn't get our driving license in a crackerjack box.
Now with my daughter and her friend on one side of the street and myself on the other - a man in a black suv blows the stop sign - doesn't even slow down. Being the big-mouth that I am, I yelled out to him, "you missed the stop sign!"
He stops and backs up. A conversation ensues (I'm being polite - it was really a screaming match 
) - Here is the condensed version...
LAWBREAKER: "I saw it"
ME: "And you didn't think to stop?"
LAWBREAKER: "No one cares. I didn't hurt anyone"
ME: "Um, first, it's the law! Second, this is a residential neighborhood with lots of kids - see them? (I point to my daughter and her friend trying to walk away and pretend they don't know me.) It's says STOP for a reason!"
LAWBREAKER: "I don't have to stop if no one is around"
ME: "What about me? What about those kids?"
LAWBREAKER: "Haven't you ever made a mistake? And stop signs don't really matter!"
ME: "I've made mistakes, difference here is you obviously don't give a shit."
At this point I step to the back of his vehicle to memorize his license plate so that when I see him again, I can make sure I point out the lawbreaker to anyone who cares! (Anyone want it - let me know...I wrote it down when I got home.)
I think I need some kind of badge to flash at people like this - something to scare the pants of them (not literally cause he was old and honestly, I wouldn't want to see THAT with no pants!)
So tell me, do you think stop signs are optional? Or maybe just conditional on if you might get caught or not? What about morals? According to this ass you only need to worry about getting caught - as long as no one sees you breaking a law - it's okay? Is it? I'm seeing red, and it's not the stop sign.
Angelika Devlyn (1)
David Bridger (1)
Debora (1)
George Allwynn (1)
Kissa Starling (1)
How telling of our times that we assume that laws/rules are optional and don’t apply to us.
It really bugs me when people do things like that. The donut shop I frequent has a firelane outfront instead of curbside parking (the parking lot is only about 20 feet further). People park in the firelane all the time so they can just walk in and save 20 seconds of walking. How lazy do you have to be??? Ronnica(Quote)
silly you. lawbreaker was “special!” laws don’t apply to HIM. Just the rest of us! thatgirlblogs(Quote)
I’d have gone
on him too. Good job sticking up for yourself, the law, and most important your daughter and the other kids in the neighborhood. r.m.gilbert(Quote)
I used to have phony tickets I could give out to people–they were long and yellow, just like real tickets and had all the pertinent info on the top: Make, model of car, license plate #, etc. But under the infractions park it had stuff like, “Did you have to park this way or are you just a selfish pr**k?” and “Since I don’t see a handicapped tag on your car, I’m guessing your disability is illiteracy.” I’m pretty sure they had something for blowing stop signs, for speeding, and a host of other optional laws. They looked something like these: http://thepayback.com/tickets.htm
Something to think about, huh? Gina Ardito(Quote)
Thanks for the support ladies! My kids are convinced I’m a little nuts – but I was right and he was wrong ’nuff said.
Debora(Quote)
Clearly you don’t understand.
He owns the road. He bought it with the car.
We had (had, since I don’t live there anymore) a nasty problem in Germany. Drivers thought it was okay to pass a horseback rider with inches to spare.
— and please note I have to lean over to reach… wouldn’t you say he was a bit close?”
After all, what could possibly happen? Hm?
Well.
One of them, a Mercedes driver, passed me and almost took my saddle bags off.
I reached out and slammed my fist on his roof.
He screeched to a halt about 20 meters down the road, got out and started to yell at me for denting his roof. (And a nice dent it was, too.)
Cop car comes heading down the road, so he flagged the cop down.
Cop gets out, listens to irate Mercedes driver, looks at me and asks if what he says is true.
“Yes, officer. I absolutely admit that I hit his roof with my fist. You can see the dent right there.” *points to roof*
The cop checks the roof and turns back to me, clearly preparing to read me the riot act.
“Oh btw,” I said, “let me get back on my horse and show you something.”
On I get and make the horse stand next to the car. I reach out and put my fist in the dent, the saddlebags are barely an inch from the car.
“Now you tell me, if I can reach his roof while riding down the road, with my arms (I’m 5’2″
The driver got booked for dangerous driving.
I’m not kidding. There was an inch between the car and my saddle bags. If my horse hadn’t been bomb proof, he’d have had a hood ornament.
It’s not just horses, either.
There are scores of car doors I’ve kicked (with steel toed boots) when some dimwit decided to overtake my motorbike almost pushing me into a ditch.
I don’t get mad.
I get even.
I’ve landed in too many ditches over the years, because some driver couldn’t be bothered to pass with proper distance.
So yeah, I totally support you on the stopsign issue.
And what you need isn’t a badge.
It’s one of those bollards that pop out of the road.
And the remote control to operate it… Silke(Quote)
Your blog is outstanding I will have to read it all, thank you for the diversion from my workload! Donn Uptegrove(Quote)