It’s kind of amazing to me that anyone would drive their car, and choose not to signal whatever it is they’re about to do in their two ton plus vehicle. Why anyone would not avail themselves of any, and all, protective edge they can get against some idiot smashing into their kidneys is waaaaay beyond my way of thinking. To take it a bit further, I’ll go as far as to say I think we should all wave huge fucking banners that say things like “I’m turning here so please don’t crash into me and destroy my liver.” That’s how far I’ll go on the signaling issue, that far.
Of course when one hand is on the wheel and the other is hanging out the window, or dialing a cell phone, or holding a cigarette, or draped over the back of the passenger seat, or fondling someone’s hand (or any other body part) how could anyone be just so darned bothered as to go to the terrific effort to move that other hand that’s connected to that other arm – just to do a sissy thing like signaling…sheeesh. It’s just so darn inconvenient. There are two things that really piss me off as a driver, and I drive a lot. (Where I live walking is practically a criminal offense, and the only people who do walk are hookers.) One of these piss-me-off things is the aforementioned not signaling, and the other is having to drive behind a huge fucking SUV which is like following a moving wall, and which blocks one’s what’s-up-ahead vision quite effectively, and quite often contains just one person – sometimes a very small person – but that’s another story. And if I’m behind a huge fucking SUV and, to boot, they don’t signal, I can, and have, become apoplectic, and I tell you – it is not an attractive look.
Is this another indication that people’s common sense has deserted them? Why – and I’ve seen this time and time again – with your children in your car wouldn’t you want to flash a signal letting all and sundry know you are going to make that left into oncoming traffic? Does it require too much effort? Is it uncool? Does your car not have signals? Do you wish to gamble…play Honda roulette? I will admit I am a very fast driver. I admit that I sometimes do things that make my friends in the car…nervous – shall we say. But I always signal my intentions, and I never get upset at people who drive in the same manner – because they are signalling and telling me, in effect, “hey pal, I’m goin’ here, so don’t you go here because there ain’t enough room in that there “here” there”for the both of us.” I understand this, and I respect someone who drives this way. It’s the idiots who drive as if there’s no one else on the road but them, and they can go any which way they care to, and you don’t have to know where it is they’re goin’ because it’s none of your business. So there!
And the real galling thing about these kinds of inconsiderate fools is that they usually cause the accident that almost kills you, and they continue on their merry way blissfully ignorant of the whole thing while you try to push your heart back down out of your throat. And yes – I’m that crazy guy you cut in front of – without signaling – who yells out his car window “hey asshole, did you ever hear of a signal?”- Which almost always gets me the finger – which I also find interesting in a sociological study-of-the-brain-of-a-moron kind of way. That’s how I feel about it. How do you feel about it?
© tony powers and Barking in the Dark, 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to tony powers and Barking in the Dark with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Barking In The Dark 
My driving bug-bear is tailgaters.
My response is a churlish but satisfying one – to quietly take my foot off the gas-pedal then as said tailgating driver decides they really ought now to over-take me whilst cursing all and sundry at me to then develop the straight-ahead-in-deep-concentration stare until they have passed on their not-so-merry way!
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Posted by Sam Flowers | December 12, 2011, 2:42 pmfunny, re tailgating- i live on a small, narrow, one-way rd and when a car speeds up behind me and tailgates impatiently i also slow down to zip like a real dick-head just to aggravate the shit out of them…VERY satisfying – and i don’t think it’s churlish at all. they have no bloody business speeding on a rd with blind turns where animals and kids can be there at any given moment, and i love to piss them off. thanks for reading, and commenting Sam. will check u out asap. continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | December 12, 2011, 10:30 pmOh man, this is one of those topics I feel very strongly about. I guess it’s too difficult to flip on that turning signal. And God forbid you turn your neck left and then right, to look both ways before you pull out in front of traffic. A woman once pulled in front of me on a very busy road and I was forced to slam on the breaks. I beeped at her and she gave me the finger, and then pulled into the same parking lot I had entered to yell at me in some foreign language. I just beeped some more and yelled some universal profanities, and went along my way.
Man, I hate stupid drivers. Loved this rant.
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Posted by Nicole Marie | November 23, 2011, 7:04 pmThanks NM, yesterday a guy runs a stop sign, i beep, he gives me the finger. that’s where we are. oh well…continue…
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Posted by Anonymous | November 23, 2011, 10:18 pmWhat galls me is almost everything that happens once supposed sane people get behind the wheel. The folks who drive way too fast, sorry barkinginthedark, to only get to the fucking light a half a second before me. Sometimes it’s the jackwipe who is driving far to slow 10 to 15mph below the speed limit but won’t let me pass, cause their car magically accelerates everytime I am about to make my move “Sorry miss no can let you pass.” you can almost hear them say. Or maybe it’s those kids yaking on their cells BOTH hands fluttering in the air lipstick still placed artfully on their lips while I wonder how the hell could they manage to do that when I stand in front of a bathroom mirror for what seems like an hour and still can not achieve that artfull effect, as their car DRIFTS towards mine, and then they have the audacity to look at me like I merged over to their lane, their big pinks lips in a silent “fuck you mam”. Or that semi you mentioned that rides your ass and you mouth into your rearview mirror in hopes that the a-hole behind can read lips, “Hey fella did you notice that the traffic ahead of me has grinded to a halt.”
So don’t pay much attention if one day you hear about a lunatic who stopped dead in the center of the road to scratch at some fleas for that would be me.
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Posted by V. Lyn | November 18, 2011, 3:36 ami feel you V. i know you’d like to – but please don’t stop dead – you’ll only be giving some satisfaction to the sick bastards who equate driving to a spot quicker than you with “achievement”, and who’d prolly like nothing more than to either give you the finger, play “chicken”, or run you down dead. thanks for the read, and for the comment. cotinue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | November 18, 2011, 4:21 amp.s. i noticed you subscribed to my defunct site Baying at the Moon…thank you V. but i think it’s Barking at the Dark that’ll be where you wanna sub. anyway, thanx for that, i shall endeavor to be as provocative, funny, disturbing, informing (tho’ i get the impression you know what’s goin’ on Ms. Jones), and generally entertaining as i can. continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | November 18, 2011, 4:32 amI think you’re totally justified in your rant. However, since I drive so seldom and walk almost everywhere on a daily basis I experience a different type of rage–NYC sidewalk rage. I totally appreciate the fact that some a**hole cutting in front of me on the sidewalk and then slowing down, thereby causing me to have to adjust my pace, is generally not as threatening to vital organs and body parts as a car crash is. It nevertheless annoys me no end, along with bicyclists who ride up onto busy sidewalks. Those same bicyclists can be very dangerous when they whiz right past you on the curb without signaling, usually from the opposite direction of the flow of traffic. Nice.
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Posted by Carole Monferdini | October 22, 2011, 2:10 pmI actually had the bike experience myself…afterwards I wondered how badly I’d’ve been hurt had I stepped out into the street a 1/2 a foot further…and yes – he came from the wrong way on a one-way st. My brother, who lives in NYC, says he can smoke a pack of cigarettes while walking because everyone who smokes can’t do so indoors anymore so there all out there puffing away. Thanks for reading Carole, and for the comment. continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | October 22, 2011, 7:45 pmIf I had a dollar for every time I’ve said “Nice signal, dickhead.” to someone who couldn’t be bothered, I could hire a driver.
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Posted by lisahgolden | October 22, 2011, 2:17 amhahahahahahha lisa…u got that right. continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | October 22, 2011, 2:20 amP.S. dickhead is waaay too kind. continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | October 22, 2011, 2:22 amThere may be other not so kind names uttered. My vocabulary for insulting names is ever expanding. And that’s just sad. Useful, but sad.
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Posted by lisahgolden | October 22, 2011, 2:26 amI totally agree about the SUVs. I don’t think it’s right. These are suburban streets/city scapes – you don’t need a truck-like thing blocking the traffic. When I moved from Perth to Melbourne with my son, my son was not used to the HUGE streets of Melbourne & was knocked off his bike by an SUV driver, after school. I was at work. The guy took my son’s bike, as a crowd had milled around my son, and put it in his car and said to the people ‘it’s all right, I’ll drive him home’. Well, he was speaking on his mobile while asking my son directions to where he lived, and asked ‘Is your dad home?’ and when my son said ‘He doesn’t live with us’ he offhandedly said ‘Yeah, it’s like that for a lot of kids’, and the uptake is, my son who was disoriented and completely shaken got a bit lost in the directions, so the SUV driver stopped short of our flat, left my son & his mangled bike on the side of the road and was never to be seen again.
Trying to make a police report, I went to the pub across the road where it happened and the drive-in bottlo guy said “Yeah, actually, I thought he was dead – he flew up as high as that street post there”. No success in identifying the driver though as the witnesses all thought “he’s doing the right thing, taking the traumatised boy home”.
So yeah, I’ve not favoured SUVs since. That’s my bit.
As for indicating, I don’t see a problem with it here, though it happens sometimes.
Lovin’ another slice of your life there barking in the dark 🙂
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Posted by wordsfallfrommyeyes | October 22, 2011, 1:48 amThank you Noeleen…keep on “indicating” especially ’cause Daniels aboard. continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | October 22, 2011, 2:14 amDriving used to be fun – you actually drove, maybe listened to the radio, and sang along. Far fewer distractions. People didn’t eat while driving, there were no cup holders, phone calls, texting. Just you and the car (which had a lot of horsepower and was actually as comfortable as a sofa)…ahh, the good old days.
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Posted by k8edid | October 22, 2011, 1:21 amI remember it well Kate…that all across front seat…what a lovely thing eh? continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | October 22, 2011, 2:15 amHow do I feel? Hmm. *thinks* Ok: I don’t give a shit. I am random. Sometimes I signal, sometimes I don’t. Mainly because the sensory input I get is random too. Guess that about proves your point, huh?
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Posted by BrainRants | October 22, 2011, 12:48 amoh well…sorry i asked. big mistake. won’t happen again. continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | October 22, 2011, 12:53 am