Scenes From Rush Hour

Driving home in rush hour traffic, I managed to see this at a red light on one of the busiest non-highway streets in the county.

 

The lack of helmets, most especially for the child is notable.

So is the lack of a license plate.

The choice of footwear, though, is truly deserving of a chef's kiss.

Slippers.  Fargin slippers, on both of them.

Well, That Was A Fun Way To Start Off The Morning

 

A quick reminder for people on how to use roundabouts (traffic circles):

 

1.     When the way is clear, you enter the traffic circle.

 

2.     Once you enter a circle you proceed and you do not suddenly slam on your brakes for no damn reason (allegedly because you see a car coming from the other side of the roundabout that isn’t an actual factor), causing the car behind you that was following and had also entered the circle to slam on their brakes.

 

On the upside, speed in the traffic circle is low, and my brakes work really, really good, even with the surprise factor of the elderly lady deciding to lock up her brakes right in front of me in the circle as she apparently got confused as to roundabout operation.

 

Not even a scratch on either car, nor any injuries, which is nice.

 

Startle response and blood pressure increase to start the morning off, not so much.

No, Really Don't Do That During A Traffic Stop

A client of mine from out of town got a ticket.

He stated the police officer was a bit of a jerk at the time.

When asked for details it turns out he was pulled over for a driving offense that he clearly did do, but nothing major and a fully lawful stop by the officer, and I got the following story:

It was raining so he kindly thought he'd make the officer's life easier by getting out of his car and going up to talk to the officer and apologize for driving while dumb.

Yeah, don't do that.

The Officer immediately yelled at him through the car speaker to get back in his car.  Client thought that was rather unfriendly.

You do NOT get out of your car when pulled over unless the officer asks/tells you to do so - and then you do so in a carefully non-threatening manner.

Apparently, in the town/state he's in, it is considered friendly to do so, especially with you getting wet instead of the officer.  

Here, it is really not considered friendly, and is instead considered a potentially threatening move towards the officer.

Client is now suitably enlightened as to how to handle traffic stops properly in the future:

Pull all the way over to the side of the road, keep your hands in view and don't be flailing around the interior of your car, shut the car off, have the window down, and if at night your interior lights on.  

Much more likely to get a friendly result that way.

How To Jam Up Traffic At Rush Hour For No Particular Good Reason

So this morning on the way into work, traffic is for some reason really jammed up in my direction but flowing freely in the other.

Is it an accident?

Nope.

Some bit of pop-up construction to further immiserate drivers dealing with all the other construction blockages around the area?

Nah.

Instead, the township in the area decided at rush hour to pull a seat belt enforcement zone on a major street leading to the highway and some very major roads.

Sure enough, farther up beyond the sign they have an officer standing there peering in people's windows.

Nice way to mess with traffic during rush hour there guys.

Atlanta Operation MMNM Hits A Slow Spot

And we're stuck in traffic in Atlanta. Murph (the man) is going out of his mind. So is Murphy the dog for that matter.

We were delayed in north Georgia due to having to find a place that could print and fax, and finding one was not easy. This was due to some last minute real estate issues that had to be dealt with ASAP.

So now we are all sorts of stuck in Atlanta's stop n go traffic, mainly stop and less go.

The dogs are crying, Murph is losing it and other than that we can look forward to unloading thousands of pounds of stuff in the dark. Yipee.

Don't Greenlight Red Light Cameras In Michigan

Red Light Cameras are more about revenue than their claimed benefit of traffic safety.

Of course, in these revenue hungry times, even a Michigan Republican is pushing to allow communities to install them:

The Detroit News: Bill would let Michigan install red-light cameras

A measure recently introduced by Republican Rep. Wayne Schmidt of Traverse City would give local communities the power to put cameras in place.

I'm sad to see a Republican pushing for what is solely a revenue enhancing measure (that will likely decrease traffic safety at the expense of Michigan drivers. Shame on Wayne Schmidt for proposing such a stupid idea.

How do we know its simply a revenue grab? Well, under the details of the bill as reported:

Drivers wouldn't be penalized for citations that result from the camera on their driving record or toward their insurance.

Not about safety, just about increased revenue from fines. If passed, except communities that adopt them to start manipulating traffic light timing to catch more drivers going through red lights.

Michigan shouldn't succumb to such foolishness under the allure of some revenue from red-light fines.