> > You know, that was something I observed when I was in New Hampshire, although I don't think I've mentioned it in the finished parts of my journal (or in any part of the journal, for that matter). I noticed that a large majority of New Hampshire cars stopped with their tires on the crosswalk line, which caused the rest of the car to extend through the crosswalk. Sometimes it was a lot more extreme, too. I do see that happen here, but I would venture to say that most people here stop so that their car is not sticking out into the crosswalk. Is this just a Sacramento/New Hampshire thing? Am I just hallucinating?
> >
> > Ell"Noticer of things"myruh

The thing that I was talking about which Morris replied to (starting this sub-thread) was a specific incident--or number of incidents. The one incident which comes to mind was one day when I had the extreme misfortune of being stopped next to the same car at three consecutive red lights. Twice he was to my right, and once to my left. The first time he stopped with his tires INSIDE the crosswalk, I figured it could have been bad luck--maybe the light caught him, he started to slow down late, and ended up too far forward. No biggie. However, I was right beside him the next two times, and his front tires were IN the crosswalk both times. By that third time, I was angry enough to fantasize about getting out of my car, dragging him out of his, and beating him senseless with the empty Mountain Dew can which had been rolling around in my trunk for weeks. This would have taken several hours, and been a pleasant way for me to spend my Saturday afternoon. (OK, so my road rage fantasies are not exceptionally violent.) This problem, of course, is not rare here--we do have terrible drivers. One of my friends used to (before he got his temper under control) slam his fist down on the hoods of cars which were in the crosswalk when he was crossing, and sometimes yell at the drivers. I think he even jumped up and slid across the hood once or twice. We used to discuss instituting a policy of walking straight through crosswalks, and if a car was blocking one and we had to hop up onto the hood and walk there, then so be it.

Fortunately, we never put that policy into effect.

The ones that irk me the most are the ones who roll into the crosswalk AFTER the light is already red. What if a young child were running across the crosswalk and you couldn't see them coming because the view was obscured by the car next to you? Again, my blood boils. On to the next post.

> They do that quite often out here in New Jersey as well. The roads out here are much narrower than the roads of any other area I've lived in (save Europe). Also, almost every road has curb-side parking on both sides. I can see why a car would have to creep out a bit farther than normal to see if there is any traffic coming. (Rather, I can see why someone in a '92 Ford Tempo would do that. Someone in a Canyonero, seated fifteen feet off the ground, should have no problem seeing over parked cars. Jerks.)

Upon seeing the word "Canyonero", I felt the urge to a quote a verse or two. But you beat me to it at the end of this post. :-) We do have some of the creeping out problem here in Calgary, but...

> However, I've also seen so many cars do this:
>
> A car, facing north, wants to turn west. The driver pulls the car out into the east-west street, completely blocking the east-bound traffic until there's a gap in the west-bound traffic. That upsets me so much, I can't even continue talking about it.

...I have never seen this. And I can understand why it would make you furious. I think I would consider using my horn (something I NEVER do), or creep up to within an inch or two of the guy's fender, just to scare him.

> I want to mount a paintball gun in my grill. I've got several non-working buttons for options I never got on my car. I could hook one of those up to the gun. Next time someone tailgates me, whips off to the right lane and cuts me off, nearly causing a collision - PAK PAK PAK. Big orange marks on the rear of the car.
>
> That'd be cool.
>
> -Faux "PAK PAK PAK" Pas

I just want that badge and siren. *sigh* Maybe that's what I should look at for a career.

> Twelve yards long, two lanes wide,
> Sixty five tons of American pride!
> Canyonero! Canyonero!

This is the verse I would have quoted if you hadn't beat me to it. :-)

Don "WEEEEEEEooooooooooEEEEEEEEEooooooooEEEEEE" Monkey