There’s no physical barrier–there are painted ones though. He clearly passes on the right (ding), at high speed (ding), over slashed white markings (ding). He’s completely, utterly in the wrong here. Don’t try to find ways to make this OK.
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I try not to make too many generalizations, but I have noticed a strong correlation between people who drive BMWs and people with dangerously aggressive driving habits.
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I’m pretty much a jerk, I guess. I honk once, loud and long, and then if I’m not in high speed freeway traffic I just let them hit me. My 2012 Toyota has been hit four times now.
I just put more Totoro stickers over the damage and collect a payoff from the other guy’s insurance.
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Oh you mean lease for three years, then lease another one for three years, then lease another one for three years, then foreclose on your mortgage, then lease another one for three years…
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I’ve heard that but it doesn’t jive with what I’ve seen. My experience with Mercedes is that the cost for normally replaced parts and difficulty of maintenance is no different than any other brand. Spark plugs $3.50, HID bulbs $6, plug wires $20 set when you cut them yourself, oil filters $10, ete etc are no different in price.
Of course, if you are paying someone to do the work for you then perhaps you are right. And while major parts are expensive, the brand is reliable enough that those repairs are rare. Besides, if you have a $2000 repair on a $5000 Mercedes, you sell the Mercedes and get another one. For example, the last Merc I bought is a 2005 CLK 320 for $5500. So I have a $229 mo car payment if it dies today. That’s my highest possible cost on the car. If I can keep it for 4 years without a major repair (easy to do) my car cost me $114 a month. In 4 years if it is still running well, I’ll be able to sell it for around $3K meaning my cost was around $52/mo to drive a well made comfortable car. That’s good value IMO. I can pick up a newer (10 year old) model at that time and start again.
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I don’t see how any thing I said could be considered as being exculpatory. And I think that the Jersey barrier that he ends up on top of definitely counts as a “physical barrier.” It is hardly a painted line.
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My motto used to be “dents give you power”
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That was you? I’m so sorry. If I’d known I wouldn’t have sped away like that*.
*Kidding, obviously. I’m lucky to have only been in one accident when another driver rear-ended my father’s car.
Also @simonize’s name reminds me of this from Lenny Bruce’s How To Talk Dirty & Influence People:
The caption is, “The efficient gas station attendant, at right, has not only Simonized my car but cleaned out the back seat as well. I wonder what the service charge will be.”
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I once had a BMW driver pull out of a parking lot right in front of me on my bicycle, causing me to almost crash into the driver’s side. Said driver then rolled down the window and started screaming at me about how expensive the car was and how I had almost scratched it (with my flying body). Boo hiss.
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We’re all better-than-average drivers, aren’t we? We are all members of the 0.1% of drivers who know how to drive in the snow, too. What are the odds?
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Are you saying that 99.9% of drivers do what this guy just did?
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If they’ve been doing lines off the dashboard all day, then yes, certainly.
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My 1990 pickup and 1967 Pontiac Catalina Wagon were gnarly with power, then!
The pickup is why I don’t let people hit me in high speed freeway traffic any more. I came far, far too close to a major multi-vehicle accident, involving a half dozen innocent bystanders, when I let a guy coming off a ramp destroy my passenger side door.
Almost scratched it? You need to attach more pointy stuff to your belt with carabiners!
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Reminds me of this comic I saw - small time, but funny and I bought his CD. Sadly found out he recently passed…
Anyway - his joke went something like this:
One thing I never have to worry about is “who goes first” at a four way stop. I have a 15 year old Honda and great insurance. I’m going first.
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…An acquaintance of mine was an MP. Some idiot thought that it would be a good idea to rob the bank ON POST. So of course his job was to stop all traffic leaving the Army Base. He steps out of the guard shack onto the exit road and signals the person driving to stop. She is oblivious until the very last second, As he rolls over the hood he is furious and with the rapid thinking that goes with that sort of adrenaline he’s thinking “That’s a retractable antenna, I bet that’s expensive,” snap and “I wonder whether I can manage to get my boot through the windshield” (nope)
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I used to know someone who would do lines of ketamine then drive. I don’t know how the fuck he’s not dead. His bladder is basically dissolved, mind, but he never crashed the car.
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A dented and generally gnarly looking car definitely gets more space from the people around you on the road.
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I don’t think he realized any such thing - it was everyone else’s fault.
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Not in terms of consequence, obviously. However, to a first approximation; all drivers seem to be impatient at one time or another (for some it seems constant); all drivers break the speed limit pretty much all the time, except where impeded by corners or other drivers; no-one stops at stop signs other than to directly avoid a collision; in the city any newly changed red light will always be “run” if there is a vehicle there to run it; many drive while distracted. We’re all guilty, and yet commentators (like me) are able to find fault with everyone else’s behaviour.
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I concur, I do not think you were letting the guy off the hook whatsoever. Nor do I think any rational person could. I believe you stated that he probably will have a suspended licence not lose it entirely. Which is not the same thing as was then stated as a retort to you.
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