Dear Stop Light Idler: I do not understand why you think it's good to stop six car lengths back from the stop light and idle slowly forward, occasionally tapping the brakes, until you get to the actual stop line. I'm writing you today to ask your help so I can understand. Do you feel you're somehow being safer? That actually stopping at the line is not quite as safe as stopping 25m before the line? Or is it that you don't trust your brakes? I might - might - actually understand this one, since you do tap...

It's been a while since my last traffic-related posting, mostly because my commute in recent years has been pretty short so I don't have those "Traffic Asshole of the Week" moments to post. Today, though, I found THIS guy:   This giant GMC truck made my traffic day. If you, too, want to make my day in the same way, here's how: While I'm going a full 45mph, wait until I'm a little less than half a block away and then do a left-hand turn out of a side street and cut me off....

Took my car in to the shop this morning to get it fixed from my one-way-grid collision. The estimate is that it'll be done and back to me on Friday, but until then, I'm stuck in a rental - a Kia Rondo. My usual car is a 2002 Acura RSX Type-S, so moving over to an odd SUV-identity-crisis with an automatic transmission has me sort of weirded out. I don't really want to try parking it in my garage because I can't figure out where the front and back on the thing are yet. It's Wednesday, but Friday is comin'...

My car got hit last night while I was on my way to get my allergy shot. No big deal, just some paint scratches (as far as I can tell), and no one was injured, but, man, it's just one more thing to deal with. The other driver and I were heading south on a two-way street and crossed into a one-way grid. He stayed in the right lane, I changed to the left lane (had to turn left soon to get to the shot clinic). He didn't realize we had switched into a one-way grid and turned left in front of me...

The Oregon International Air Show was this past weekend and it was pretty cool.  Since Jenn and I live near the airport, we get a pretty decent view of the show just by sitting on our front porch, so we popped some chairs out there and watched the Blue Angels literally fly down our street.  (The photo is from the Blue Angels web site, but the view looks almost identical from our house.) After the air show, since we were outside anyway, we decided to do some much-needed garage cleaning.  We "inherited" a lot of stuff when we moved into our...

Coming out of the grocery store yesterday, I swore I heard an ice cream truck. It started quiet, sort of peaceful, like that background music you hear sitting outside a decent coffee shop.  Second by second, it got louder.  And louder. Looking around, I saw this car come tearing into the parking lot.  Tires squealing, careening around other cars, totally unsafe style, and coming this way. At this point, the music was so loud it was like I was listening to my own headphones.  It had changed, though, from ice cream truck music a la The Entertainer to something more lilting, bringing visions...

UPDATE: It appears that the "youparklikeanasshole" site I visitedis actually an infringment on an existing product that has been sold for a while. I've removed the link to the site out of respect to the original idea distributors, however my two cents: First, when I was in grade school a friend of mine gave me a "leave-behind" that looked veeeery similar to this. It didn't actually say "you park like an asshole" on it, but it did refer to the driver as an asshole and had a checklist of infringements on it. That was over 20 years...

We haven't done a Traffic Asshole in a while, so I figured it'd be a good time. Jenn and I took a trip up to the Empress Palace last week to do some wedding preparations. Traffic was pretty heavy and Jenn was driving, so I hung out with the camera on the lookout for traffic assholes (as is my wont). It really didn't take long. Check this guy out: How many thousands of motorcycle deaths do you hear about each year? Normally I feel bad, thinking that cars should pay more mind to the other lesser-wheeled vehicle companions. Not so with this guy....

We haven't done a Traffic Asshole of the Week for a while, so let's give you two in one shot. The setup: Once a year in my neighborhood they advertise in the paper for a development-wide garage sale. Everyone with something to sell can pop their garage doors open and hawk their wares. This causes a parking nightmare as everyone in the neighboring states floods into my development to buy up junk. The photo: Taken through my front window blinds. Let's study this one: There are two (2) assholes in this one. The first one is the blue minivan...

This was seen in the parking lot this morning. Apparently this is not uncommon for this particular vehicle: This person is why many parking lots have signs that say "head-in parking only." Some folks still haven't taken that class on how to park, the advanced stage of which is "how to use reverse in combination with mirrors to ensure you're actually in a parking spot." This is no exception. I am ashamed to work at a company where people believe this is okay.

I don't know what it was with today. Things just pissed me off. I got my allergy shots and had a reaction (not bad, but enough to be annoying); I got a filling and shelled out the dough for that; on the way to my filling I ran into terrible traffic; and on the way back from my filling I got stuck in the world's worst traffic ever. Like, to the point I almost got out of the car and walked. Of course, it's been a while since I've run into a Traffic Asshole, so today was the...

It's been a little while (hey, I've been busy!) so I figured I'd start this fine day out with a Traffic Asshole. Today's is less a "Traffic Asshole" than a "Parking Asshole." This right here is why I hate people who own large trucks: Here are a couple of pointers for those of you who somehow feel the need to buy gigantic trucks even though you don't go off road and you don't haul anything: Don't park in compact spaces. See the label on the space that says "COMPACT?" Your truck doesn't qualify. Don't try it, it's not going...

This is the first follow-up to a Traffic Asshole Of The Week that I've posted, which, I think, makes this a fairly momentous occasion. Like we need a moment of silence because someone out there was stupid enough to make it to TAotW twice. So, those sort of following this thing realize that Jenn got front-ended at a stop light last week. After being given some faulty insurance information, it turns out that the lady at fault was driving on a suspended license. And why, you might ask, did she have her license suspended? For driving without insurance, of...

On my way to work today, I was passed by a FedEx truck that was moving like something on the Autobahn. The guy was weaving in and out of rush hour traffic like an expert race car driver and passed by like the rest of traffic was standing still. I was utterly impressed. It makes me want to ship something FedEx. For what it's worth, the guy was driving an Overnight Delivery truck. I kind of wonder if he personally drove the packages across the country for their next day deliveries. At a speed like that, I could believe it. (All you...

We have an extra special Traffic Asshole this week. Even more special because it wasn't even me involved. (Which means you'll have to forgive details, since I'm sort of filling in the blanks. Also, this is by no means any legal account of what happened, it's just what I heard, so if you're with the insurance company, this ain't for you.) Jenn was on her way home yesterday from work and was going to stop at the store to return some bottles. Six blocks from the store, she's stopped at a light. Behind her, a bus....