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Ego and the lesson.

Mainsail

Mainsail

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Apr 24, 2007
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Location
Silverdale, Washington, USA
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Sylvia Plath wrote:
Mainsail wrote:
The OP ran the red light. This angered someone who very clearly overreacted to it. Nonetheless, the fact remains that if the OP had simply obeyed the law there would have been no situation whatsoever. The OP would have been happy, the motorist who became angry would not have become angry, pedestrians wouldn’t have been endangered, and we wouldn’t be debating whether or not the OP put himself into a situation of his own doing.

When I lived in Tacoma, I saw a lot of near misses and there were many cases of pedestrians get launched right off the crosswalk because of drivers who feel the law applies only to ‘other drivers’ and not to themselves. Looking left for traffic so you can turn right without stopping means anyone walking or riding to the right is unobservable. That isn’t my imagination, I’ve seen it. Is that a good lesson for a son?

I’m not defending the angry motorist, after all, none of us including the OP know what kind of day he’d already had, but I’m also not going to defend the OP since he created a situation where one previously didn’t exist.
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Let's start with "pedestrians." Were there pedestrians around? If there are no pedestrians corssing the street at the time you can not have "endagered pedestrians."

Let's say that the OP actually did stop fora couple ofseconds before turning, all of us on here would be assuming that the driver would not have gone ballistic. Should the OP have stopped for a second or two before turning, yes. I am not sure how many of us do more than a rolling stop when in the same situation from time to time.

I am not sure how old his son is but his son is likely not understanding the subtleties of driving other than some POS tailgating them while enraged. I have stopped to make a right turn plenty of times where I pull out and the person already driving down the road speeds up or goes out of their way to let me know they are pissed that I am in front of them. There have been times that I judged the speed of the traffic wrong and pulled out when I didn't have neough time to get up to speed but who hasn't. I almost always follow up my error witha a wve of hand. If I get some lunatic who is freaking out by driving erratically and swearing at me I just smile and continue driving.

Your response is a perfect example of how perfectionistic American society has become when it comes to imperfect people making mistakes. It completely robs even reasonable people from realizing that crap happens, move on. Now people are forced to toil over a rolling stop as if that spawned the road rage incident. I am sure the POS following him had a chip on his shoulder way before the rolling stop.
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It has nothing to do with perfectionism. The law says stop, not slow, stop. When I was driving that Crown Vic I got a laugh out of how people would start to run a red light or stop sign, then slam on the brakes when they saw what they thought was a police car. That means it isn’t about perfection- because their reaction proved they knew full well that they were breaking the law.

Your response is a perfect example of how perfectionistic American society has become when it comes to imperfect people making mistakes.
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The OP didn’t make a mistake! He willfully and intentionally broke the law. We’re all imperfect; I agree wholeheartedly, but running a red light, regardless of the justification, is not an unintentional error.

I also find it amusing that you refer to me as a perfectionist and refer to the angry driver as a POS. You have declared him unworthy of humanity, a judgment which is only reasonable after you have achieved perfection yourself.

The fact remains; the OP created the situation. Blaming others for your mistakes is a sign of immaturity.

We’ll just have to agree to disagree.
 
gogodawgs

gogodawgs

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Oct 25, 2009
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Federal Way, Washington, USA
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Let me try to help clarify. Both of you are correct. (Mainsail and Sylvia)

In court, in life we would look at one additional fact.

Did the OP act with malice?

It is unlikely that the OP set out that morning, afternoon... with the intent to run the stop sign. While he did clearly break the law, and he stated so in his post, he did not do so with malice. Therefore, it is important to note what Mainsail has stated, the entire event could of been averted had the OP followed the law.

However, since there was no malice, it is important to discuss what occured after the stop sign was ilegally run.....
 
HeesBonafide

HeesBonafide

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I guess, "not coming to a complete stop" and "running a red light" are two different scenarios in my mind.

Did THIS event CAUSE THE event? I don't know since I didn't sit and listen to the enraged driver. Could it have? Certainly. For all I know, he was upset that my audi was much faster than his ford and he was feeling inadequate at that moment.

Where there pedestrians around? no.

If you want to get "technical" about it, yes, I broke the law because I didn't come to a "complete" stop. Was this person "right" or "justified" in their reaction or behavior -- absolutely not (unless he was a cop).

Oh, and no malice was intended, inferred or even comtemplated --I would have gotten out of the car then.
 
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