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I thought bike lanes were ‘DEI.’ Then an SUV killed my father
(www.washingtonexaminer.com)
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this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2026
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There's something about being in a car that makes people fucking nuts.
I was walking home from public transit yesterday and the street I was crossing (admittedly, jaywalking) was in a red light and the car I was crossing in front of was slowing down, coming into a stop behind another stopped car.
The motherfucker still rolled his window down and yelled: "Use the crosswalk!"
All I did was slow him up for one second, going into a stop, behind another car, at a red light.
Probably stupid, but I stopped, turned, and thanked him profusely and politely (though sarcastically too) for thirty seconds and the cowardly little prick didn't even have the balls to keep his window down.
Always remember that prior to cars, the street was a public place designed for pedestrians. They took that away from us with the "jaywalking" PR campaign.
Absolutely.
Just didn't get why the guy gave a damn under the circumstances. It didn't (and doesn't) make any sense, though I sincerely hope he thought he was going to get shot when I turned around and pissed himself.
I once saw somebody literally red in the face, slamming their hands against the steering wheel, while driving a car, just because they were in bumper to bumper traffic.
Then they revved the car, sped forward like a yard, and slammed on the brakes.
Clearly this person was more inconvenienced than the one who had to slow down for you, but i think it illustrates how frustrated and helpless car drivers can feel when affected by "traffic", all without realizing that they are themselves the traffic.
When you're walking or biking, I think you are much less affected by traffic, hence bicycle messengers.
I've also read somewhere that public transit bus drivers have some of the worst stress of all jobs, because they have so much pressure on them, but so much of their job is outside of their direct control (traffic, passengers, etc.)
It's such a well-known phenomenon that Disney was making cartoons about it 76 fucking years ago!
I held someone up for about 10 seconds the other day while getting out of a parking spot. I couldn't see him for all the other cars until I was about 1m out of the spot. I was reversing carefully so people could react to me coming out, and so I could spot someone if they didn't. This dude comes speeding up, honking his horn, waving his arms around giving me the finger as if I'd just tried to kill him. His honking surprised me, so I block the brakes in case I'm about to cause an accident. If this dumb fucking cunt, who I wasn't even close to hitting, and who had plenty time and opportunity to see me hadn't honked, and instead just slowed slightly down, I would've been out of his way in half the time.
People in my area have become a lot less patient in trafic, and have become a lot more agressive about any slight inconvenience.
I've always tried to make plenty of room for other drivers, letting them get out of their parking spot with plenty of space, since they can't see me nearly as well as I can see them, but seems I'm the only one trying to make driving easier for other people.
That is legit scary.
It's hard for me to understand what it is about those micro-seconds of inconvenience that flips people's switches so intensely. In my mind, anything that takes a few seconds to rectify isn't worth freaking out over.
And if you're wondering why someone would do this, the sequence of crossing signals makes going to that other side of the street faster for my walk home.
The driver might have been angry that you were being unsafe and he didn’t want to see you hurt or be the one to hurt you.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been driving down a unlit road and had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting someone who was jaywalking and wearing dark clothes. Or seeing kids driving on the road on bikes/e-bikes and being unsafe in traffic.
Some of us just don’t want to see you hurt or be the one to hurt you.
LOL
I'm sure that was it.
Did you actually read what I wrote?