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November 23, 2005
Making profits from incivility on the roads
Sometimes you read someone else's blog post and it's the same rant that you've been having for years. Trust me Dianne can attest to this, this is the very topic of great concern for me. Basically there are many places around the I-95 corridor that provide opportunities for the most worthless (yes they usually have W stickers, but they aren't alone) in society to try to gain an advantage over the dutiful and law abiding members of society. It's not uncommon to see them jump into a lane that is marked to be ending to drive two additional car links to get back into gridlock. What exactly do you freaking morons think you're gaining by doing something like that? As I watch the Republican stream past as I wait patiently in line I always ask myself why the hell isn't there a law against this kind of traffic disruption. If they weren't forcing their way into traffic in front of everyone the traffic would flow smoothly and we would all get home faster. But because they are so ignorant and selfish that they can't be troubled to follow the rules we all have to suffer. Evidently in Chicago they do have a law against this kind of standard Republican behavior. And they give people tickets for it. I don't know what it will take to get this kind of law passed in Maryland, but I'm going to do it! I want the cops to focus on these worthless scum and fine them into good behavior so that we are all better off and not just them. I think a hundred dollar fine is way too cheap, two hundred and fifty is more to my liking. They are not only a danger to public safety, but they are disrupting the flow of traffic in the entire region. Maybe we could get them as terrorists the way the Republicans screwed up the definition so badly. I'll have to look into that, but something has to be done! I agree with the Steve, it's good for the State to collect money for something like this because it's a win-win for everyone.
Read more over at Freakonomics.
Posted by ManDrake at November 23, 2005 12:55 PM
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Comments
We got to suffer through about 30 minutes of this aggregious behavior on our drive back from MI on Saturday night. Almost the entire distance from Hagerstown to Frederick was bumper to bumper, slowed by people using the slow traffic lanes intended for trucks going uphill to pass on the right. Then, to add insult to injury (or perhaps it should be injury to insult), as we were waiting patiently in the stopped line of traffic for the cars ahead of us to complete their merge at the 70-270-355 interchange in Frederick we got rear-ended because either the car behind us didn't see traffic was stopped in time or because the car behind that one didn't. The odd thing was--we were the only people who actually pulled over to assess the damage (of which there appears to be none, due to the fact that this is the third time my car has been rear-ended at low speed so there's not many more ways for damage to show up).
Posted by: cjmr at November 27, 2005 3:40 PM
Sorry to hear you kids had problems on your trip. I hope the rest of the trip was uneventful.
Posted by: ManDrake at November 28, 2005 9:21 AM
They have this law in Michigan as well; they had to pass it a couple years ago when they got a HUGE pile of highway pork money and tore up every major road in the state. Big fines and points ($75 first offense, $300 afterwards, or something like that), along with reworded signs saying "merge NOW".
The problem in Maryland, like all the other traffic problems, is the large transient population. There are other states (NJ?) that the law is "zipper merge" where you are supposed to merge at the last possible minute.
I don't know of any state that mandates the Ayn Rand method of pulling out into the lane that is going away only to merge again later. Stupid stupid stupid.
Posted by: reno at November 28, 2005 9:44 AM