A New Category of Sloth

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> How about adding Sloth Turners? Those are the ones who may travel at
> or above the speed limit in a straight line, but come to a near stop
> when turning onto a side road, lot entrance, etc. I see this a lot
> from SUVs and trucks, but it's certainly not limited to any specific
> category of vehicle.
>

You're saying that you want to do someone else's driving FOR THEM. Who the
HELL are you to tell anybody else that they are turning too slow? I just
about got creamed by someone in a jeep this morning who was turning too
fast. I was waiting at a red light to turn left, a jeep was coming from my
left, wanting to turn right (headed the way I had just come from).
Unfortunately, he was on ice and going way too fast for conditions. So when
he turned his wheel to the right, the jeep only veered slightly to the
right. . . toward my driver's door. I had no time to do anything as by the
time I would have got my vehicle moving on the ice, the jeep would have
slammed into me. I don't know how the jeep driver pulled it off, but he
managed to reverse his turn (ON ICE!) in time to actually slide right on by
me. He ended up crossing the intersection in front of my car, THEN turning
right, down the opposing lane of traffic to my right, which was thankfully
empty. I suppose you would have been furious if you had been stuck behind
the jeep driver and he had slowed way down to take the corner safely?

At our home, we have to turn down a rather steep driveway, which is often
icy. We have lamp posts near the end of it. If I don't enter the driveway
very slowly, I will slide into a lamp post. (don't care about the lamp
post, but I'd rather not dent the car) But people behind me often don't
realize that. I've had many drivers ****ed off at me (some even honk) for
turning slowly into my driveway. But I deliberately slow WAY down for that
turn, as I learned the hard way that it's easy to slide into the lamp posts,
even if you THINK you are turning slow enough. So TO OTHER DRIVERS, it
might appear that I'm turning too slow. But those other drivers aren't
experienced at negotiating the rather tricky corner to enter my driveway
safely.

Do NOT make the mistake of second-guessing another driver. If he/she is
turning too slow for you, THAT IS YOUR PROBLEM. -Dave

Mike T. wrote: <brevity snip>

> Do NOT make the mistake of second-guessing another driver. If he/she is
> turning too slow for you, THAT IS YOUR PROBLEM. -Dave
-----

Roger ****ing that!

If people turn too slow in front of you LEAVE A FEW MINUTES EARLIER!
That way, they won't be there when you arrive.
-----

- gpsman

You said - "* Sloth Coasters, the guys who take their foot off the gas
whenever they see a red light (or even a "stale green") somewhere
before the horizon "

I suppose there are extremes, but it is not reasonable to get upset if
someone is slowing down in a reaonable manner for a red light. I
routinely see drivers roar up to a red light at high speed only to have
to smoke the brakes to keep from running the light. I get a lot of
enjoyment when I glide past these sorts of drivers. Of course they
often respond by roaring away from the stop and repassing me at all
costs - even if they have to drive 20 mph over the speed limit.

My goal is to hit the green light at the highest possible speed.
Roaring up to a light and having to come to a stop not only wastes fuel
and brake pads, it also wastes time. Just do the math, the car that
hits the intersection at 45 mph will most likely be on the other side
and moving a faster than the car that roars up to the light at full
speed but had to come to a complete stop becasue it got there before
the light changed. I do understand that this doesn't apply to lead
cars approaching an intersection with a trip. However, usually the trip
is only important on the cross street, not the main street.

My pet peeve are lights that change instantly when a car approaches a
main street from a little used cross street.ALl too often, when I am on
a main street, I have a light change just as I am approaching a green
light becasue a car shows up on the cross street almost from nowhere
seconds before I get to the intersection. It ends up with two cars
stopped - me becasue the light changed, and the other car becasue they
are waiting for the light to cycle to green. It seems like there should
be better logic in these systems that don't change the light if a car
is within some specified distance of the intersection.

Ed

> "never attribute to malice what's best charged to stupidity"

Yep: Sloth Thinkers -- the least common denominator of most of the
problems on the roads.

--Joe

Ed White wrote:
> You said - "* Sloth Coasters, the guys who take their foot off the gas
> whenever they see a red light (or even a "stale green") somewhere
> before the horizon "
>
> I suppose there are extremes, but it is not reasonable to get upset if
> someone is slowing down in a reaonable manner for a red light. I
> routinely see drivers roar up to a red light at high speed only to have
> to smoke the brakes to keep from running the light. I get a lot of
> enjoyment when I glide past these sorts of drivers. Of course they
> often respond by roaring away from the stop and repassing me at all
> costs - even if they have to drive 20 mph over the speed limit.
>
> My goal is to hit the green light at the highest possible speed.
> Roaring up to a light and having to come to a stop not only wastes fuel
> and brake pads, it also wastes time. Just do the math, the car that
> hits the intersection at 45 mph will most likely be on the other side
> and moving a faster than the car that roars up to the light at full
> speed but had to come to a complete stop becasue it got there before
> the light changed. I do understand that this doesn't apply to lead
> cars approaching an intersection with a trip. However, usually the trip
> is only important on the cross street, not the main street.

My goal is to just catch the green. Hitting it "at the highest
possible speed" doesn't make much sense if there another timed light a
few blocks away. And I too love to pass the rocket-ass who wasted his
gas and brake pads in his quest to be first at the light. His "re-pass
at all costs" is ****ing hilarious when it happens again at another
light. But, in his defense, I guess he did... "win"...

> My pet peeve are lights that change instantly when a car approaches a
> main street from a little used cross street.ALl too often, when I am on
> a main street, I have a light change just as I am approaching a green
> light becasue a car shows up on the cross street almost from nowhere
> seconds before I get to the intersection. It ends up with two cars
> stopped - me becasue the light changed, and the other car becasue they
> are waiting for the light to cycle to green. It seems like there should
> be better logic in these systems that don't change the light if a car
> is within some specified distance of the intersection.

Yeah, I hate that too and it *is* a conundrum....
-----

- gpsman

On Thu, 08 Dec 2005 19:08:44 -0800, Scott en Aztlán
> wrote:

>* Sloth Mergers, the doddering ninnies who take the on-ramp at 45 MPH
>
>* Sloth Coasters, the guys who take their foot off the gas whenever
>they see a red light (or even a "stale green") somewhere before the
>horizon
>
>* Sloth Passers, the pricks who get into the passing lane and procees
>to "pass" the other vehicle with a 0.001 MPH speed differential,
>causing the pass to last forever
>
>* Sloth Speeders, the Sloths who accelerate like molasses in January
>but keep right on accelerating; eventually, if they have enough
>running room, they will get up to 80 MPH
>
>And now there are Sloth Spoilers, the assholes who sit right next to
>you and match the speed of the Sloth in front of you, preventing you
>from changing into the wide open lane in front of the SS and escaping
>the trap. To escape their clutches, you have to slow down to a speed
>even lower than the SS, change lanes behind him twice, and then punch
>it - that's assuming you have at least 3 traffic lanes with which to
>work. If there are only 2 lanes, you're screwed.
>
>Of all the different kinds of Sloth, I think I hate the Sloth Spoilers
>the most.

Agreed with a vengeance. In my case, a significant percentage of the
times I was pulled over was because of these assholes. I would guess
between 10 and 25%.

On Fri, 9 Dec 2005 04:12:24 +0000 (UTC), (Kenneth
Crudup) wrote:

>In article >, newsgroup says:
>
>>And now there are Sloth Spoilers, the assholes who sit right next to
>>you and match the speed of the Sloth in front of you, preventing you
>>from changing into the wide open lane in front of the SS and escaping
>>the trap.
>
>Don't you HATE these people?! I think its yet another case of "never
>attribute to malice what's best charged to stupidity"; I think they're
>so ingrained to follow along with the herd they don't realize what
>they're doing.
>
> -Kenny

Sometimes, but a lot of times they actually make an effort to match
increases and decreases in speed. That is not the mark of someone who
is following along, as those people can't adapt quick enough to match
speeds with someone who slows down or speeds up.

On Fri, 9 Dec 2005 13:05:03 -0500, "Mike T." >
wrote:

> wrote in message
roups.com...
>> How about adding Sloth Turners? Those are the ones who may travel at
>> or above the speed limit in a straight line, but come to a near stop
>> when turning onto a side road, lot entrance, etc. I see this a lot
>> from SUVs and trucks, but it's certainly not limited to any specific
>> category of vehicle.
>>
>
>You're saying that you want to do someone else's driving FOR THEM. Who the

Since they can't, yes.

>HELL are you to tell anybody else that they are turning too slow? I just

A far better driver than you, see below for examples.

snip of irrelevant whining about an unrelated issue of ice in a
conversation about sloth turners.

snip of irrelevant whining about an unrelated issue of a poorly
maintained driveway in a conversation about sloth turners.

>Do NOT make the mistake of second-guessing another driver. If he/she is
>turning too slow for you, THAT IS YOUR PROBLEM. -Dave

No, that is your problem when you get spun around a few times,
bouncing what little brains you have around in your skull, only to
wake up to a reckless endangerment charge for deliberately causing
someone to hit you.

In article .com>, wrote:
> How about adding Sloth Turners? Those are the ones who may travel at
> or above the speed limit in a straight line, but come to a near stop
> when turning onto a side road, lot entrance, etc. I see this a lot
> from SUVs and trucks, but it's certainly not limited to any specific
> category of vehicle.

Those who can't manage to turn and accelerate at the same time and those
who decide it's a good thing to spend as much time in the intersection as
possible neglecting the obvious danger of being there and having no
concern for anyone else making it through on the green signal.

Scott en Aztlán wrote:

> Say, aren't you the one who gets all bent out of shape by us "evil
> speeders?" According to you, your blood boils so much you carry around
> bags of marbles to toss out your window.

That's true. Has anyone ever wondered why most of us aren't bothered in
the least by drivers who go faster? Has anyone ever wondered why most
of us aren't bothered in the least by slower drivers who keep right
except to pass?

That brings up another question. Why is it that the "must drive the
speed limit" crowd gets so worked up over others driving faster than
them or slower than them?