Fake driveway spikes

There is a set of real spikes (STDs in Snowcrash terminology) in the Springvale cemetery, Melbourne. One day I saw this car slow down, take a look at the spikes, then drive over and destroy four tires. The weird thing is that there is no need for spikes there. A sign would do. Its not the end of the world if anybody drives forward at that point.

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These fake spikes are just begging to be surreptitiously changed out with real spikes, to the surprise of the person counting on them to be fake when they deliberately drive right over them.

Or, put another way, it’s stupid to condition yourself to drive over what look like real spikes counting on them to be fake.

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My mother made her own driveway spikes when I was a wee lad… We lived out in the sticks and since dad was a sailor, ma was left on her own most of the time. There had been some break-ins in the area and somebody had tried to break into our garage one night, so mom pounded a bunch of nails through a 2x4 spray painted it black and would set in out in the driveway every night (far enough in that it wouldn’t catch anybody who was just turning around). She had a dream one night that somebody did drive over her board and that they got so mad they beat her bloody with the board – it never got used again (though, she would still hop in the car in her “nighty” and chase down cars that drove up too far into the driveway in the middle of the night)

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The correct answer, I think, is “Tell me your badge number and I’ll take this time to make a phone call, or get off my property, OFFICER”

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You’re not wrong, but that conflicts with my long time practice of limiting interactions with law enforcement by any means available. When it comes to LEOs, my goal is to be invisible. Part of it is that I am a coward, and the other part is complex and personal.

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Good thinking! You might enjoy this podcast episode.

There is a 2 inch wide strip down the middle.D.O.T. reflective yellow.
Great night visibility.

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I love that the most intense debate I’ve seen on this forum is about something so inconsequential. I want to argue with this, but I’m starting to think that my opinion about this random product is entirely too strong.

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Factually I am correct, which is sometimes the worst kind of wrong to be.

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I agree with your policy… and I’m an old white guy that has every kind of privilege there is. There are so many bogus laws that I probably break a ton of them that I don’t know about, along with all the ones I break deliberately because they’re bad laws. And I have a healthy disrespect for authority. I have enough hassles in my life without attracting any more. Avoiding cops enhances my quality of life.

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I really wish you would argue it. This is a way more satisfying topic to banter about than, say, gun control or Trump or transgender toilets, precisely because it is so inconsequential. Rather than trot out the same hard ridden old nags on a familiar topic, here you get to ride in on a new little pony of logic bred from the new facts, extrapolations, surmises, etc. Fun!

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Hah, well, I think it will mostly work. I just don’t think people think that hard, especially when driving. Depending on if they can see it at night of course, but it looks like it does have the reflective strips. Then there’s the danger of conditioning yourself to ignore danger, as @Skeptic mentioned.

Edit: I deeply regret typing that conciliatory and reasonable response, so let me add that everybody who disagrees with me is a moron.

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Where did “night” come into this? But even so, your car headlights are designed to help you pick out opossums, potholes, armadillos, icy patches, etc. that are directly in your path. I wouldn’t say darkness impacts the analysis.

I think it would be safe to assume people have so little experience with fake spikes they would have zero basis for ever making the assumption they are fake, unless… if they are local to the installation rather than transient, they would have a chance to notice the property owner’s car seems to be immune.

Someone else brought up night conditions. Wait, are we on the same side? Cuz I’m switching, this is personal now. Yeah, I thought that people wouldn’t assume they are fake, but I see now that I was a stupid idiot.

Another edit: Ok, that’s enough being a dick from me. Somebody’s irony detector is gonna break on this level of meta. I thought you were saying they wouldn’t work though, did you just out-meta me? :slight_smile:

Duck season!

Edit: Wabbit season! Wabbit season! Duck season! BLAM!!!

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If this is the most intense debate you’ve seen here, I’m not sure what else you’ve been reading :wink:

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