28 Apr 09 08:46, Roger Nelson wrote to Roy Witt:


 RW>> In which case the stop sign is the limit line.

 RN> Right.  The nose of your car at a stop should not be past the stop
 RN> sign, but the gendarmes around here aren't quite that picky.  You
 RN> have to really be doing something wrong to get their attention.

That's the case here. The local newspaper prints the daily arrest record
and hardly any of them are minor.

 RW>> I see drivers that don't stop at the limit line, but about 3 feet
 RW>> into the intersection. That and they're flying down the street and
 RW>> don't slow down until they're right on top of the stop sign.

 RN> So, those motorists are just like the ones we have here, except we
 RN> have some kamakazi drivers here who will see how close they can get
 RN> to your car without hitting it.  Real nutjobs.

We have a few, but most of the nut jobs are in San Antonio. Between the
nut jobs and those who can't drive worth a damn, it's hell driving in SA.

 RW>> What gets me is that cars exiting the freeway have the right of way
 RW>> over traffic that is already on the road that the exit dumps them
 RW>> on. The entrance to the freeway is just 100 yards further down the
 RW>> road and traffic that wants to get on the freeway, can't because
 RW>> some jackass coming off the freeway thinks the road belongs to him.
 RW>> I complained and complained to the local PD about them speeding (70
 RW>> in a 45) and they finally setup a laser speed trap, but only after a
 RW>> couple of high speed crashes off the exit. My pet peeve...

 RN> There is usually a relief area for that merging traffic.

The exit lane is the same lane as the entrance lane. It runs for a ways
and then you either get back on the freeway or merge with traffic. That
doesn't mean you get to cut them off just because you came off the
freeway.

 RN> If the traffic that should have the right of way can't move over to
 RN> allow that offramp traffic to merge, then what the offramp drivers
 RN> should do is wait for a clear lane.

It would help if they'd slow down to the speed limit too. Then they
wouldn't have a problem merging. The frontage road speed limit is
45mph...most of that traffic just has to keep up their freeway speed, for
what reason I don't know.

 RN>  Most places I've been the drivers will see you coming off the ramp
 RN> and either slow down or move over a lane to let you on.  That's the
 RN> law here.

Not here. Freeway traffic has the right of way...even if merging traffic
has to stop before they merge.

 RN> Anyway, we're both old enough to know the world is full of jackasses.
 RN>  Sometimes others think we are.  (-:[

Yeah, the jackasses who're flying off the freeway and this jackass speeds
up and refuses to move over...one day, I made a woman in a Ford Excursion
stop on the freeway entrance because she wouldn't slow down and merge in
behind me. ;o)

 RW>> Just like here, that street was one of only a few streets that gave
 RW>> access to the neighborhood where thousands of people lived. High
 RW>> traffic area at the AM and PM rush hour.

 RN> The rush hour in this town has changed since I lived here before
 RN> between 1979 and 1995.  We had normal rush hour traffic back then.
 RN> After Katrina, we had an influx of people moving into this town to
 RN> begin their lives again (I was one of them) and this town is bursting
 RN> with population.  The rush hour now starts around 05:00 and lasts
 RN> until 21:00, if you can believe that.  I'm still trying to figure out
 RN> where all those people are going. Even getting to the bowling alley
 RN> on Tuesdays for noon is problematical, but I can understand why.

I know where they're trying to get to here. This is a bedroom community
and most people either work in San Antonio or Austin...if they're not
coming, they're going. One couple I know work in universities teaching the
German langauge. He works in Austin, she works in San Antonio...most of
the elders here speak German.

 RW>> I can't do that...When I feel the cop is wrong, I have to tell the
 RW>> cop he's a looney bin character needing a straight jacket.
 RW>> Heh...I've had plenty of judges read the record for a long time
 RW>> before proceeding with my case. And I'm not afraid to tell them a
 RW>> thing or two if I think it's needed.

 RN> You think they haven't heard it all before?  (-:

Oh no, but he needs to hear my version so I feel better... :o) He gets to
take it home with him and deal with it in his own way.

 RN> Think about all the people in prison proclaiming their innocence.
 RN> Some of them probably are, but the law of large numbers is a very big
 RN> net and the law of large numbers is what everybody goes by.

That's why the divorce rate among LEOs is so high. Dealing with the public
is one thing, but dealing with it when you get home isn't so great.

 RW>> In Sterling, IL, a cop stopped behind my car(s) while we were
 RW>> stopped at the curb. He had seen us at an earlier intersection and
 RW>> wanted to tell us that he thought the car that was following me was
 RW>> following me too close.

 RN> Jeez!  Must have been a slow day for him.

Think AM, as in 3...probably a slow night.

 RW>> On further inspection, he found out that the car following me
 RW>> actually had a tow-bar attached.

 RN> ROTFL!

Imagine the astonished look on his face when he saw that...

 RW>> This was also during the early morning hours with no other traffic
 RW>> on the streets.

 RN> Maybe that's when they are not the most alert.

I think he had too much coffee.

 RW>> After going through a traffic light controlled intersection, we had
 RW>> pulled over to the curb to let junior out of the campershell covered
 RW>> back of the El Camino and into the cab, where it was a bit warmer.

 RN> He say anything about that?

The cop? Nope.

It was comfy enough back there for him, but he claimed that his little
butt was freezing...That El Camino had bucket seats and a console, so
seating him wasn't as comforable as he was in the back. Mama had to share
half of her seat with a pillow on the console for him.

                R\%/itt




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