Baristaville, How Are You Driving?

I think I've always been a good driver (no moving violations in decades on the road), but I have become more vigilant since becoming the parent of teenagers. They are utterly clueless as a breed, which anyone can observe when driving near the high school. Be very careful when driving around them, and try to keep your temper as they do asinine things like walk right into the street in front of you (no crosswalk in sight).

Saying that NJ drivers are "getting better" is a lot like saying "Yeah, but at least it's only skin cancer."

It's good to see into the future to 20007.

Fatalities may reduce or increase without any corresponding changes in driving habits. Fatalities is not the statistic we should be looking at -- numbers of accidents are. The number of safer and bigger cars on the roads have increased over the same period of time. These result in fewer fatal accidents. About the only "driver intelligence" factor I can think of that might be skewing these data downward is increased use of seatbelts, which would have a drastic affect on fatalities. New Jersy drivers, yours truly occasionally included, are just as aggressive, inept, and dangerous as they always have been: their hardware is just a little bit safer.

Things that bother me about NJ drivers:

1. Driving down the road without your lights on even though it's dark out. Hello? Street lamps may allow you to see the road but they do not let other drivers see you very well. Morons!

2. Drivers who are in such a hurry to get down Bloomfield Ave they weave in and out of traffic only to get stuck behind a bus or a double-parked moron.

2. Double-parked morons on Bloomfield Ave. See #2 above.

3. The idiots who walk across Bloomfield Ave in random places where there are no crosswalks. These pedestrians assume that everyone will just t stop for them because they're in the road. Uh hello, morons on their cell phones while driving are not likely to be paying attention and get a nice new hood ornament.

4. Drivers who have some inane need to be on their cell phone while driving. See #3 above.

5. The idiots going 90 MPH down the GSP or NJT, flying around you on the left, only to slam on the brakes, zoom back in front of you crossing 2, 3, or 4 lanes of traffic just so they can get to their exit that much faster and then sit there because the exit ramp is backed up.

6. Just because you drive a Lexus or [insert luxury car name here] does not give you the permission to drive like an asshole or an idiot. So stop acting and driving like one. People driving shitty cars have as much right be on the roads as you. I'm looking at you, the morons who only extract their Bentleys, Corvettes, Aston Martins, and Maseratis from their North/South/Upper Mountain Ave. garages once a month on the weekend in the summers. If I have to watch one more of you idiots accelerate your sports car around the traffic roundabout/circle on Church Street to make your tires squeal I'm going to start putting down tire spikes.

It's not as bad as it seems. The reason is that bad drivers are so irritating that you can multiply the effect they have on conciousness by 100 while good drivers are not irritating at all and barely negate the effect of a bad driver.

If we pay more attention to good, safe, considerate drivers and endevor to become one ourselves, the bad drivers won't be so annoying anymore.

Next time you see someone trying to get onto a main road from a side road or parking lot, let them out. They will appreciate this act of kindness and be more likely to be nice in return..

The world is what we make it.

My new driving habit is related to yellow lights. Now that there is such widespread use of those traffic cams, if i see a yellow light i now check to see if there is a camera before i floor it through the intersection.

so, let me understand this a bit better. If a driver drives in a bad manner, i.e. speeds, tailgates, squeels tires, switchs lanes over & over & over and basically drives "like an asshole or an idiot" {there's a difference??), and they are in a honda, toyota, nissan, kia, saturn or a mitsubishi - it's not so bad? But, it becomes a much greater offense if said driver is in an expensive car. I see.
I drive alot of miles, extremely carefull driver, driving for 43 years, in said time frame, one accident, not my fault, teenager stole a garbage truck in Elizabeth - running from the law "T-Boned" me at 40MPH. Tickets? 2 for overtime parking. I have owned 2 Corvettes in the past.
I also own a McLaren. I do speed!!!! (At Englishtown!!)

Only in NJ...I was in the B&N parking lot at Clifton Commons last wewk and had my blinker on to pull into a space when a cadillac SUV with blacked out windows drove past me in the opposite direction, jammed on his brakes, backed up to cut me off and pull in the space! Luckily I was in the right mental zone and just laughed it off. As I walked past the SUV, they never got out of their bulgemobile, maybe they thought I would go ballistic, but I just thought it would make a good diary entry.....>(:o}]8=====/

I get the "news" items (term used lightly) on this site. The site gets lots of hits etc.
But I would really like to see some real
news stories for a change. The situation in Gaza would get a ton of hits (which the Baristas would like, no?), and I'd love to read the comments from posters. For the record, I'm Jewish -- my grandfather was a Holocaust survivor (Auschwitz. Only one other family member survived the camps. The rest did not), One of my best friends, and his family, live in Tel Aviv (we're both originally from Boston), and his daughter is in the Israeli army -- kinnehorah - at the moment. And while while I'm pro-Israel, I do feel terrible for the citizens -- especially the young kids -- of Gaza. Can we please have an item that matters (i.e. like this one)? I just know that Cathar, Mrs. M, JerseyGurl, MellonBrush, the Prof, ROC,Nellie, Conan, Iceman, Walleroo, Generically Named Mike and others will have interesting (and educational) things to say about all of this. Thanks!

Left me out? I think I'm one of very few Jewish people on here.
Well.....
Let me wxplain it this way. Lets assume that Canada was firing rockets into Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Ct. and Mass. Killing citizens of our country, for years. Our Gov warned them many times and even fired back. Finally there was a cease fire, and it lasted some time, and was finally lifted, in hopes of peace. Next day? Rockets from Canada....land in New Hampshire.
Okay..............What do you think the USA would do? Bush? Obama? Any former pres?
Would we fight back? Ya darn right we would, so....why is the story diffrent when it's Israel? See?
They have been parient for a long time. Time is up!
NO other country that I know of, would be as patient as Israel has been. (and) they were wrong to be so patient for so so so very long.
Zero Sympathy here.

So sorry I left you out, Sandy! (not intentional, as I'm sure you know). To be honest, I don't read this site as often as I used to b/c so many of the "stories"
aren't very newsy/interesting (although I love Fran's photos); I also get bored reading about this store and that store (sorry Baristas!). Thank you for your insightful post! And again, I'm 100% behind Israel -- and yes, lobbing rockets into Israel (and for so long) is simply outrageous. Enough is enough!
(I just wish there was a way to get those kids out of Gaza!).

Open a Toys R us in a bomb proof building with no windows and an inside McDonalds and beds. They'll come.
People forget about all of those suicide bombers that were sent into residential markets in Israel & blew them selves up taking many children (with their Mommies) along. I recall it being almost every day for a while - like 3 years ago.
Israel is attempting to take out HAMAS. Hamas at that time was trying to take out children.

It goes on & on.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2009/01/world_fears_grow_over_gaza_humanitarian_crisis.php

I realize that this may (or may not) be an unpopular opinion in Baristaville. That said, I stand behind it (and do note that I'm a lefty liberal, but I guess in this case I'm not). The NYTimes comments section published my comment, and I stand behind it.

86.January 06, 2009 3:21 am
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We seem to be forgetting that the Palestinians voted Hamas into power in the first place!
I feel terrible for the women and children in Gaza, but as a proud Jew (and one who supports Israel), how long should Israel have put up with rockets being lobbed
into their country? Enough is enough - Hamas needs to go! That said, I do hope there's a way to end this conflict quickly!
? Deborah Broide, Montclair, NJ

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Amen. I'm not Jewish, although I sympathize with the Israelis. Tolerance only goes so far with a group like Hamas. I believe it's long past time for them to go.

I'm with you Deborah. The Palestinian terrorists (please note that I did not say the Palestinian people) have a long history of using innocent civilians as "collateral damage,", i.e., women and children. I would think that this would invite worldwide condemnation but sadly, it has not (See: United Nations). The Israelis are always made out to be the bad guys.

Mrs. M -- You are so right about the Palestinian people. My friend's wife teaches
at a University in Tel Aviv (she's British, and Jewish too;she teaches English Lit). She said the Palestinian students in her class are appalled that Hamas is in power (they truly are a terrorist group, afterall).
Many of these folks take buses from the West Bank just to come to class. Last year one of the buses was bombed and and Tina lost two Palestinian students (and friends). It's all too terrible.

Some think that Israel is the Neigborhood Bully.

With all due respect to Robert Zimmerman (I am a fan of Dylan's music) have we heard from him about Hamas lobbing rockets into Israel? I think not.
I'm not saying that Israel is always right -- far from it! But they can't sit back and let this terrorist group (and that's exactly what Hamas is) continue.

I noticed that the Baristas have yet another foolish post today. How disappointing (there's so much real news, afterall!).

with apologies to the Baristas -- I just read the entire post (and the comments) and I get that the budgets are certainly not foolish.

Hansmeier---you really made me laugh! I agree with most of what bothers you the most.

The one that really upsets me (and I wish the police ticketed for more frequently) is talking on a hand held cell phone while driving. That and not using turn signals, and tailgating at high rate of speed all drive me crazy.

My peeve for the day is the invisibility of turn signals on many modern cars. Against the glare from daytime running lights, not to mention headlights at night, their blinker bulbs are often too weak & poorly placed to be apparent.

That's one more reason why I'm hanging on to my ancient Honda Civic; its turn signals are big, bright & impossible to miss. I didn't think about that at all when I bought the car but I've come to appreciate it. I figger that if I let the yobbos on the road know what I'm planning to do, I'll stand a better chance of getting through an intersection unscathed. This philosophy generally seems to work.

That's why I like my old Volvo, big black bumpers. Last time I got rear ended at a light, the Mercedes behind me busted his grill & radiator. I had a little scratch on my bumper. By the way, he was futtzing around with his radio and he looked up a hair too late.....Bammin' in NJ

How about those blue or purple head-lights? Those things should be illegal--I never fail to be blinded by a set of those.

But to answer the question if I'm "driving the speed limit more often, have stopped talking or texting on cell phones, are stopping more for pedestrians" -- yes, all of the above.

Can someone answer this question though? Are you, as a driver, supposed to stop for a pedestrian in a crosswalk even if you have a green light? The signs at Mountainside Hosp. (and elsewhere, I'm sure) seem to imply that.

Sandy.
Did I read McLaren? We need to chat!