start a victory garden and ration your IRRATIONALLY ANGRY feelings, part 3

yeah, i signal the heck out of everything and only rarely get the sense that someone has tried to crowd me out of a signaled lane change. it happened the other day, fwiw, but i can't remember the last time before that. and it hardly matters. if you wanna be pushy, make the change anyway (i did). otherwise, just brake a little and take your next shot.

then again, i don't live in an automotive purgatory like florida or wash, dc. maine drivers tend to be pretty chill.

also i hate the construction site across from my house

"what's the most beeping we can do at 6am"
"no, let's find the oldest shittiest loudest concrete mixer"
"BEEPING WE NEED MORE BEEPING"

I found out about 9/11 from the loud construction workers outside my building.

#humblebrag

My new IA is people who don't know how a 4-way stop intersection works. Yes, you still have to stop at the Stop sign, even if you already came to a complete stop behind the guy in front of you. No, you can't piggy-back off the car in front of you as though you are being towed. No, if the car opposite you is turning left you can't go straight through at the same time. Also, if it's your turn to go, then you must go. Don't sit there and wave people through while you have cars piling up behind you.

And if someone honks at you for going out of turn, please don't act shocked and offended. Please flip them off like the asshole you are.

otm. 4-way stop is the quickest & most accurate IQ test devised by science

• Those people think 4-ways work by time waited, rather than order of appearance.

• Also, stop at the 4-way. If you're still coasting and I've come to a complete stop, it's my turn next since I have fulfilled my civic duty.

• People at a red light, sitting in the inside lane, who turn their left signal on after you've pulled up behind them.

so otm. There is a stoplight near my house that is notorious for going out every time it rains, leading to an inevitable clusterfuck during rush hour. Maybe 10% of the people passing through seem to know how to properly handle a 4-way stop, if I'm being generous. All of the accidents I've seen at this intersection, somewhere between 10-15, have been during outages.

Australia has these weird stop signs at selected traffic lights. My first thought was, Do they really need a sign for common sense? But as you point out, jon, yes. Yes, they do, and probably not just Australia either.

http://i.imgur.com/fIL8fcS.png

(Also leave it to Australia where you can't grab a quick screenshot without capturing some frightening animal wild in flight.)

Honestly, I don't know if I know how to handle a four way stop anymore.

Getting angry at this is not irrational at all.

― Οὖτις Δαυ & τηε Κνιγητσ (Phil D.), Wednesday, February 25, 2015 6:26 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the I in the IA left the barn way back on the first thread. the opening post about "where's george" on dollar bills is still the ultimate archetypal IA thing, just inexplicable rage at something so ultimately innocuous

True. Separate threads for IA and RA would be good, but I'm not going to be the one to try it.

Honestly, I don't know if I know how to handle a four way stop anymore.

I drive about once a week and every time I try to remember how to handle a left turn at a 4-way stop. I looked it up once but the IL Rules of the Road were worded in a confusing way, so I just do the best I can or avoid left turns at 4-way stops.

• Also, stop at the 4-way. If you're still coasting and I've come to a complete stop, it's my turn next since I have fulfilled my civic duty.

*salutes pplains*

Haha this blog isn't helping

Four-way stops become even more confusing when you consider that Michigan law does not actually define the word "stop" or require motorists to stop before signs.

four way stop junction is obv the most stupid system devised anywhere for anything by anyone

what % of posts ITT deal with rational irritation imma say all of them btw

There was that post by rrrrrobyn about getting angry when people have matching dogs.

I get pretty IA when people say they don't really notice song lyrics.

what's hard about a 4-way stop? you stop, you wait for your turn in the rotation, then go. i have become irrationally angry about this feigned confusion thing.

Ive seen 4 way give ways but 4 way stop sounds confusing. Who goes first? #spotthenondriver

A give way? What is that?

I'm fine with most aspects of 4-way stops except left-turn protocol. I used to be the king of 4-way stops but I haven't owned a car in over 10 years and I forgot that fine point.

And the 3 sites I looked at today were definitely not instructive about left turns. (That one about Michigan threatened to leave me worse off than I was, with its whole "nobody really knows what 'arrive' or 'stop' mean.")

don't think there's any special left (or right) turn protocol. cars simply go in the order they arrived at the stop line.

yes, that means you may cross the path of another car entering the intersection after you, but as you have priority and were signaling your turn, no problem. just turn & go.

I'd never thought of the logic of yielding to the right, but it really makes sense

yield to the right because the car on the right will clear the intersection faster than if the one on the left goes first. (This is because we drive on the right half of the road. When the car on the right goes first, it travels only half way across the road before it is out of your way. If the car on the left moves first, it will have to travel across the entire intersection before being out of the way.

OK I think my confusion is cured. I was way overthinking it.

BTW this is totally OTM.

• If you are situated on the left, start moving when the car is out of your way (hesitate only if the car is turning left). You do not have to watch the driver disappear over the horizon before you start moving. Be assertive so that cars arriving after you will not be confused. This means taking your foot off the brake and letting your car begin to roll when you know it is your turn. Other drivers will then know you are getting ready to turn. If you hesitate, your four-way stop can quickly turn into a confusing staring contest.

xp otm. "yield to the right" applies not to turns made while passing through the intersection, but rather the order of priority when cars arrive at the stop line (or w/e) at the same time.

I know, that was just a side-topic (yield to the right, I mean).

sorry for pedantic. do get worked up over 4-way stops though. at least it's the thread for it.

Sorry give way is what we call what I think you guys call yeild? (pause but dont have to full stop)

Yield is mostly a theoretical concept in FL. There is talk that it exists, but evidence has yet to manifest

yep trayce xpost

Wow at yield-to-right logic. My mind is an open window with knowledge shining in.

Are y'all adverse to traffic lights or something? =)

Sometimes I think we're averse to any traffic control. My work building management started a petition to our alderman to put up stop signs on the arterial 3-lane street in front of the building. His staff said they had to commission a dept. of transportation traffic study before they could authorize its installation. It still took a year and a stern letter about the numerous crashes over that year before they got installed.

everybody over here sees "STOP HERE ON RED" signs and thinks that means "no turn on red", fucking infuriating.

yet they see "NO TURN ON RED" and it's like the sign said "I DOUBLE DAWG DARE YEWWWWWW" to them

WTF did I type "adverse" for. jesus.

Thing that tripped me out in AUS was (almost} no stop signs at small intersections.

Sunny's all "Well that's what the white line's for," and I'm like "Oh, the one I just drove over?"

(Figuratively. I wasn't allowed to drive down there for some reason.)

heh.

if you want to see the stop sign system really break down, wait until you come to an intersection where the lights are out or broken and they're all flashing red

Non-traffic related irrational anger - when I go out to eat or to a bar that isn't necessarily beer-specific but I know they have at least a couple of decent beers on tap and ask what's available and get "what kind of beer do you like?" or "what are you looking for?" as a reply. I like all kinds of beers and would rather try something new or unusual depending on what is available, just give me the damn list.

Agree

other drivers' behavior at 4-way blinking red lights has caused me so much anguish

I notice that the drivers on the busier street always treat the blinking red as a "slow down" light

this may actually be irrational-- but I hate sports terminology in political news stories so much. Right now Huffpost has a headline "House Prepares to Punt on DHS." What the hell does punt mean in the context of that headline? "Punting" is kicking a football through some metal rods held aloft by another metal rod, right?

Look it up, nerd.

;) Punting = giving up in this context.

lol yeah that word has multiple definitions and they are not even using the football one there

yeah they are, unless you think they are preparing to propel a small boat

1.
FOOTBALL
kick (the ball) after it is dropped from the hands and before it reaches the ground.
"he used to be able to punt a football farther than anyone"
(of an offensive team) turn possession over to the defensive team by punting the ball after failing to make a first down.
"the Raiders could get nowhere with their possession, and had to punt"
(of a player) act as the punter.
2.
delay in answering or taking action; equivocate.
"he would continue to punt on questions of Medicare"

you're looking at the noun definitions, it has multiple defs as a noun AND a verb