I was stuck behind a truck with a Wounded Veteran/Purple Heart plate. And when I say stuck, they were respectfully doing the 5 under the speed limit and I wanted to go 40 over. So as per my personal rules of behavior, I stayed way back and quietly dealth with it like an adult. But, it gave me time to think, and I considered what a road-rage type of person might do in that situation. Imagine getting into a confrontation with someone with that plate...you have 3 possible scenarios:
- Person gets out and is missing limbs or is disfigured or showing other signs of sacrifice in defense of your liberties. You have already lost, are you going to fight this person you jerk?
- Person gets out and has severe PTSD and is triggered by your aggression. You lose you big jerk.
- Person gets out and you realize they earned their purple heart after taking 5 AK-47 rounds to the chest but still charged the enemy position and killed 5 tangos with their bare hands. They are now coming your way. You are truly screwed.
These are the things that pop into my head when I am bored, but they are better than honking and tailgating and being an a$$.
mtn
MegaDork
10/29/21 1:39 p.m.
My grandpa proudly had that plate. He got pulled over once, and got annoyed with the officer going through the whole "do you know how fast you were going" routine and said "Stop wasting my time, are you going to give me a ticket or not?"
Grandpa was probably about 84 at this point. Officer kinda stumbles a little bit on his words, and says "I saw the plate, I wasn't going to give you a ticket"
"Good, can I have my license back? I'm late for my tee time"
My observation while similarly bored in traffic yesterday: If there are multiple lanes, never chose the one with a PT Cruiser in it.
We all play red light roulette. Ok, ok...which lane do I choose. What happens on the other side of the intersection? Does it merge? Is there a Starbucks on the opposite side of the road? What cars are we dealing with? Is it a ragged Carolla with a delivered Sign on top? Buick that's had it left blinker on for the past 10 miles? Can't choose that. Broski 4x4 Diesel pickup?
What
Lane
Do
You
Choose ?
I was stuck behind a brand new C8 Corvette on a winding country road today. He was doing a solid 25mph for miles. I was in the Volvo wagon with the dog in the back, and we were both getting seriously annoyed.
I doubt that he had a Purple Heart, but he may have had pink ovaries.
In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :
I think the C8 and a purple heart are a likely combo. Aren't most of the Corvette's new buyer demographic Vietnam vets?
As a veteran I didn't pay property tax for the first 10 years I owned my house. Did you now Purple Heart recipients never have to pay school taxes?
Thank you.
In reply to 914Driver :
Young guy at work is a vet - thank you.
He bought a house in a ritzy 'hood and I commented on property taxes
No problem - I don't pay them due to my disability status. Something I wasn't familiar with.
I didn't know, grumpy old Italian guy next door told me. Here, it varies county to county. I told my mother and she slaps her hand on the table "I wish Recruiters would tell these kids this stuff!" Trust me, 17 year olds don't care about a house he may or may not ever own.
Appleseed said:
We all play red light roulette. Ok, ok...which lane do I choose. What happens on the other side of the intersection? Does it merge? Is there a Starbucks on the opposite side of the road? What cars are we dealing with? Is it a ragged Carolla with a delivered Sign on top? Buick that's had it left blinker on for the past 10 miles? Can't choose that. Broski 4x4 Diesel pickup?
What
Lane
Do
You
Choose ?
On my way to work, there's an intersection that will always have 15-30+ cars lined up in the left lane, and less than a half dozen cars, plus the trailers and heavy trucks in the right. The big trucks will move as soon as the light turns green and traffic starts forward, while the people on the left all have to put down their phones first.
Every day, I pass all of those cars in the left lane, then stop in the right lane. When the inevitable forty foot gap opens in the left lane I signal and shift over, and cross the intersection in the left lane.
The people at the end of the line on the left side don't even make it to the light before it changes again.
