Why do people just ignore road rules?

[Calibanbutcher]

Because I exclusively drive german manufacturers.

And I expect people to get out of my way when I am approaching. Maybe play some dramatic music and what not.

Spoiler: It's my ride

 

[OneCatch]

Rules are important, but not for awesome people like me. They're for everyone else, I'm too awesome to need them.

Every time there's talk of stricter rules about more or less anything, lots of people get upset and claim they are good responsible people who shouldn't be punished, the government is just clamping down etc etc. Pretending that that is true of the people saying that (which is not a given), not everyone is them, and there's not really a way to tell who is and who isn't.

Yeah, it's like that thing where the vast majority of drivers will describe their driving as 'above average'. And then all the statisticians cry.

 

[Genocidicles]

Some people are in a hurry, and they don't have the time to get stuck behind some old fart doing 20 in a 40 zone.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Rules are important, but not for awesome people like me. They're for everyone else, I'm too awesome to need them.

Every time there's talk of stricter rules about more or less anything, lots of people get upset and claim they are good responsible people who shouldn't be punished, the government is just clamping down etc etc. Pretending that that is true of the people saying that (which is not a given), not everyone is them, and there's not really a way to tell who is and who isn't.

Yeah, it's like that thing where the vast majority of drivers will describe their driving as 'above average'. And then all the statisticians cry.

Well, perhaps there are a few drivers that drive upside down and inside out to balance them.

 

[Yabba]

Screw the rules. I have money.

Yu Gi Yoh abriged for the win!

 

[Bleidd Whitefalcon]

One interesting thing to try is to keep track of how many drivers obey the laws. You'll likely see that there are many more of them than the idiots who don't, but you don't remember them. People screwing up are more memorable, sadly.

This is true...but there's something about a negligent driver that just demands attention. It's a lot easier to remember the guy in the SUV cutting across 3 lanes of traffic to take an exit 300ft away than every other driver who obeys road rules. Out of curiosity OP, where in the US are you from? I'm lucky enough to experience Maryland traffic on a near daily basis[/sarcasm]

Oh god, I hate Maryland drivers SO GODDAMN MUCH. Especially in Annapolis... No one uses turn signals, I've seen a lot of cars with only one taillight working (i'm seriously considering a piece of posterboard with "FIX YOUR FUCKING TAILLIGHT" written on it for friends to hold up in cases like that), lots of red light runners... i could go on.

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

When I see a pedestrian actually paying attention to road rules I'm seriously amazed. It's like spotting a unicorn.

I ignore the rules of the road all the time just because I feel like being a **** to drivers. I really hate people in cars, always thinking they're top dog, always going as fast as possible as if being in a car isn't enough to get you to your destination. Fuck 'em.

 

[BlackStar42]

Screw the rules. I have money.

Screw your money, I have rules!

...Wait, that came out wrong.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

And I'm not even talking about 'oh you followed 20 feet too close, or didn't signal enough in advance/at all...' I'm talking about the rediculously dangerous stuff. Left turns on a red light, driving in BOTH lanes simultaniously (dotted line right down the middle of their car), that kind of stuff. I just see people do it all the time with no regard for anyone or anything. What's happened in the past couple years to make this get so much worse?

Your question answers itself. Ignorance. People seem to be more prone to ignorance these days, ignorance of the consequences of their actions.
Also texting while driving is a HUGE problem, and I'm pretty sure this is the major cause of that shit.

 

[Scow2]

When I see a pedestrian actually paying attention to road rules I'm seriously amazed. It's like spotting a unicorn.

I ignore the rules of the road all the time just because I feel like being a **** to drivers. I really hate people in cars, always thinking they're top dog, always going as fast as possible as if being in a car isn't enough to get you to your destination. Fuck 'em.

No. Fuck you for projecting an attitude onto others that doesn't exist. Hopefully, if your violation of the rules of the road get you hurt or killed, the driver is found innocent, and it's your estate that needs to pay the damages. Is being an asshole worth fucking over your family because you think you have protection when violating the law?

 

[JagermanXcell]

Because some rules....
ARE MEANT TO BE BROKEN!!! MWHAHAHAHA

OT: I live in southern California and my friking God the drivers here are EVIL. HITLER EVIL. STALIN EVIL. SATAN EVIL. EA EVIL. I CAN'T SRESS ENOUGH HOW EEEEEEEEVIL THEY ARE.
I'm so looking forward to graduating high school, but I have to pray I'll live to see it cause driving out of my school's parking lot is like being on the set of every Fast and the Furious movie not as a stunt double but as a donated and expendable meat shield with.

On my way home from school I almost got hit by a driver who stopped to let me through... or so I thought. She almost hits the side of my car, I honk, then I see a halted frightened high school girl, wearing sunglasses, on her cellphone (I've never been more angry at the human race until that happened). Not to mention people in my city drive to school/work at 90 yes 90 mph on a 40 street in sports cars that their parents probably bought for them... -_-

I don't know why people ignore road rules. Very selfish? Perhaps blind ignorance? Nah, I'll just assume they're aliens who are in disguise, winning the war against man by slowly killing us with our own inventions. Yeah that.

 

[Godhead]

Because they have to be somewhere, you don't, and they're obviously far more important than you are so it's okay.

 

[Fleischer]

I find that when people drive in a vehicle, they tend to forget that those other cars actually contain people. They just seem to forget that other humans are there and putting others in risk by your actions seems to be missing from their thought process.

I must also say that some traffic laws can be quirky. I just learned that it is legal in some U.S. states to take a left on a red light, so long as the left turn meets these three critera:
-The left turn will take you onto a one way street
-You come to a complete stop before starting the left
-There are on vehicles that your turn will move in their path
Completely didn't know that for the first decade I drove.

I will simply say I live in Massachusetts.

After the turn signal turned into a challenge for the other drivers to purposely not let you by or in, no one seems to use them anymore. The only reason I haven't been in more accidents is because I developed the jackass/D-bag/blissfully unaware 6th sense, if you don't in New England you are doomed to be hit by some asshat.

Yep. I've lived in Mass most of my life, and I gotta admit the road conditions here are quite insane. A friend moved up here from the Philly area, and she had to completely revamp they way she drove, since she routinely would nearly be push off the road or almost rear-ended. Nowadays, she's back in Pennsylvania, and her friends down there are terrorified when she drives, since she retains her Masshole madcap driving ways.

 

[Hawkeye21]

Because people are bastard-coated bastards, with bastard filling

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Oh god, I hate Maryland drivers SO GODDAMN MUCH. Especially in Annapolis... No one uses turn signals, I've seen a lot of cars with only one taillight working (i'm seriously considering a piece of posterboard with "FIX YOUR FUCKING TAILLIGHT" written on it for friends to hold up in cases like that), lots of red light runners... i could go on.

The funny thing is I see a ton of people driving around with missing headlights (I call them black eyes). Some people even drive around at night without any lights whatsoever.

 

[Launcelot111]

Where are you from OP?

Virginia.

And ya, to the british, we're bizzaro traffic world, so this would be like someone making a right turn on red to you.

Dude, you could have just said you're from Virginia in the first place and every part of this thread would be explained. 95 is the biggest driving shitshow I've even seen, and every part of the state is plagued by DC traffic or bored rural cops or both. Or those DC/Maryland drivers filtering through and ruining our days. Or the jackasses in the unnecessary pickups who have to put that otherwise unused engine power to use. Or Virginia's idiotic revenue collection fines. I don't know why Virginia is so bad at it.

My personal favorite is one time when I was going between two roads with 55 mph speed limits each. I have to get between them on a road that is in total 3/4 of a mile long and has a church and about 4 houses on it. I didn't notice a speed limit sign so I keep going 50ish, and boom, I get stuck with a 17 over speeding ticket for driving on a street with the exact same driving conditions as the roads surrounding it but suddenly a 35 mph limit. Someone explain how this is for the public good and not some asinine way for local cops to make their fucking quota.

 

[Bleidd Whitefalcon]

Oh god, I hate Maryland drivers SO GODDAMN MUCH. Especially in Annapolis... No one uses turn signals, I've seen a lot of cars with only one taillight working (i'm seriously considering a piece of posterboard with "FIX YOUR FUCKING TAILLIGHT" written on it for friends to hold up in cases like that), lots of red light runners... i could go on.

The funny thing is I see a ton of people driving around with missing headlights (I call them black eyes). Some people even drive around at night without any lights whatsoever.

How did I forget those jackasses? >.< Bloody danger to everyone on the road with them.

 

[lechat]

rules don't apply to me i have common sense.
<----- 15 years on the road and not a single accident. i routinely speed and run red lights and KNOW i will never have an accident that is my fault because i know what i am doing.
the rest of you are morons get off my fucking road!

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

No. Fuck you for projecting an attitude onto others that doesn't exist. Hopefully, if your violation of the rules of the road get you hurt or killed, the driver is found innocent, and it's your estate that needs to pay the damages. Is being an asshole worth fucking over your family because you think you have protection when violating the law?

Well that's quite rude. I've never put myself in danger just to be an asshole and I never would. But if I see a car coming and time to cross I'll cross and stare the driver out. I might cross when the green man isn't there, just before the red light for this road's cars and not give a fuck that they have to wait.

Thanks for hoping pain and bereavement on me and my family though, just to make a point.

 

[Zantos]

The truth is, nobody's going to die in collisions with cyclists except perhaps cyclists when hit by automobiles. Pedestrians won't. Drivers certainly won't.

Less pedestrians die from cyclists than cars. Much less. But I still wouldn't want to be the one that has to go tell someone that their 17 year old daughter has been hospitalised by a cyclist. Never mind then if she dies and he gets off with a fine.

By far the worst offenders are drivers, but a bike can build considerable speed and is certainly capable of killing someone. The cyclists who spend their time mounting pavements and running lights need to think about that in just the same way that the drivers and pedestrians need to think about the shit they do to endanger themselves and others.

But when I'm not nearly getting rammed into by cyclists at crossings, the ones pissing me off are the motorway drivers. Driving on a motorway is not hard, you just need to stay aware of the vehicles around you, use your indicators and not make sudden drastic changes to your speed or direction. I don't know why anyone would think 70 miles per hour in your heavy metal box is the opportune situation to start acting like a ****. Luckily a combination of sensible distancing and giving erratic drivers a little more attention has meant that when they inevitably do something cuntish I can avoid it.