Special Snowflake Stories

[PeterM]

I was in an accident two weeks ago due to a SS like this. SS stops abruptly and for no apparent reason on an exit ramp. I slam on my brakes, move my car to the side as much as possible and guy behind me, hits me and pushes me into car in front of me. Which then, sped up and off and away, nowhere to be found.   What was especially infuriating was that the cops told me that they weren't going to look too hard for him as I and the driver behind me were 100% at fault, automatically, according to the laws of the state. Yes, the person in front of you can stop for no reason and if you hit them, it's always your fault.

This is the case in a lot of places, and it's a monumentally stupid idea. It's right up there with the various "pedestrian is never at fault" rules you get various places.

I got a lovely little lecture about MY responsibility to always leave enough room to compensate for someone stopping dead in front of me and someone hitting me in the rear so as to "save" the idiot in front of me.

I will bet serious cash money that the cop who lectured you regularly does not practice what he preaches. No one leaves that much space between them and the car in front of them under all conditions. Our society literally would not function if everyone did. You just use your best judgment and assume the person in front of you isn't a suicidal moron. Sadly, that's not always a safe assumption.

I'm reminded of a time I had a cop tailgating me late at night. Really, seriously tailgating me in a way that was incredibly intimidating and unsafe. I wanted very badly to slam on my brakes and see just how far that "car in the rear is always to blame" thing would take me. My car was an absolute beast, it would've been fine, and we weren't going fast enough to cause major injury to anything but the cop's front end. Luckily I was smart enough to decide to turn off into a handy housing development and let the cop get ahead of me.

I gave myself a few minutes to calm down and the cop time to get far ahead of me and then went back to driving home.  I came around a corner to a stop sign and there was the cop, stopped at the sign to my left, pointing the way I was headed. I waited, since he had the right of way, and he just sat there for several seconds revving his engine. I finally made my turn and he started following me again, still too close but not dangerously so. He finally let me go when we got to a major road. I really should've reported that idiot, but it wouldn't have done any good.

[mmswm]

Those laws irritate me because it's impossible to leave that much space.  If you try, then you get cut off by people merging over in front of you. I don't know if it ever went through, but I do know there was a push a while back to change that law in my state, due to the enormous number of insurance scam accidents that took advantage of that law.  On the other hand, that law, in another state, saved me from an SS who really was following me too closely.  Somebody who was following me at 5mph (and in horrible weather conditions) should have been able to stop when I hit my brakes.

[Piratelvr1121]

We have a cinema near us that has a few theaters that are VIP because they have very nice leather recliners in them.  They also do "Dinner and a Movie" date nights in them, and they usually show the new releases in these theaters for the first week or so.   The ticket for these (regular showings, not D&M) is the same price as any other theater and before noon you can see a movie in these theaters for $5.  It's awesome.

Once I did end up picking a bad seat but it wasn't a very populated showing and the usher told me I could move to an empty seat once everyone was seated.  Problem was it was a very long theater and the guy at the ticket booth just said "Back, middle or near the front?" I usually like to sit in the far back but upon going into the theater realized how many rows there were and once the previews started and it seemed like people had stopped coming in, I asked an usher if I could move since there weren't many people in there and he said sure.

I was chatting with a friend yesterday about cellphone users in movies and she told me the theaters she's been in (in eastern Iowa) cell phone usage during movies is NOT tolerated.  They will even put "plants" in there, an employee of the theater sitting with popcorn, pretending to be just another patron and if someone uses their phone during a movie the plant will show identification and inform the person they have to leave.

I was so envious.

[athersgeo]

I was chatting with a friend yesterday about cellphone users in movies and she told me the theaters she's been in (in eastern Iowa) cell phone usage during movies is NOT tolerated.  They will even put "plants" in there, an employee of the theater sitting with popcorn, pretending to be just another patron and if someone uses their phone during a movie the plant will show identification and inform the person they have to leave.

I was so envious.

I think I must have read this paragraph three times before I realised that you didn't mean something leafy and green...I either need vastly more coffee, or vastly less!

[Twik]

I got a lovely little lecture about MY responsibility to always leave enough room to compensate for someone stopping dead in front of me and someone hitting me in the rear so as to "save" the idiot in front of me. Apparently the idiot in front of me had no responsibilty whatsoever.

Did the cop indicate just how far that would be? Do you have to predict just how fast the theoretical idiot is coming from behind to push you? The first part, about compensating for someone stopping is reasonable, but factoring in being pushed when stationary is totally ridiculous.

[goldilocks]

Woman in front of me on a merge type lane, she pulled out then abruptly stopped at the end of the lane.  I was watching for on-coming traffic, and I thought she had gone, so I rear-ended her.

Okay, I know the law, and it's my fault.   I get out of the car and apologize, and the first thing she says is "This is the THIRD time I've been hit at this intersection!!!"

Okay, I know I'm at fault, but really - shouldn't she find a different route to take?

[Mental Magpie]

Woman in front of me on a merge type lane, she pulled out then abruptly stopped at the end of the lane.  I was watching for on-coming traffic, and I thought she had gone, so I rear-ended her.

Okay, I know the law, and it's my fault.   I get out of the car and apologize, and the first thing she says is "This is the THIRD time I've been hit at this intersection!!!"

Okay, I know I'm at fault, but really - shouldn't she find a different route to take?

Or learn that she shouldn't come to a full stop in a merge lane?

[Cami]

I got a lovely little lecture about MY responsibility to always leave enough room to compensate for someone stopping dead in front of me and someone hitting me in the rear so as to "save" the idiot in front of me. Apparently the idiot in front of me had no responsibilty whatsoever.

Did the cop indicate just how far that would be? Do you have to predict just how fast the theoretical idiot is coming from behind to push you? The first part, about compensating for someone stopping is reasonable, but factoring in being pushed when stationary is totally ridiculous.

Ha. I did ask him and he said, "That's up to you to figure out." The guy behind me and I just looked at him like he had two heads. The cop then huffed and puffed and said, "Well, you two are just lucky that I'm a nice guy and not writing you a ticket!"

[LadyClaire]

I got a lovely little lecture about MY responsibility to always leave enough room to compensate for someone stopping dead in front of me and someone hitting me in the rear so as to "save" the idiot in front of me. Apparently the idiot in front of me had no responsibilty whatsoever.

Did the cop indicate just how far that would be? Do you have to predict just how fast the theoretical idiot is coming from behind to push you? The first part, about compensating for someone stopping is reasonable, but factoring in being pushed when stationary is totally ridiculous.

Ha. I did ask him and he said, "That's up to you to figure out." The guy behind me and I just looked at him like he had two heads. The cop then huffed and puffed and said, "Well, you two are just lucky that I'm a nice guy and not writing you a ticket!"

So..did the insurance companies agree with him? I've seen them go either way, depending on the laws of the state. A friend of mine was in a similar accident and the insurance company ruled that the entire accident was the fault of the person who hit her, so that person was responsible for the damage to my friend's car and the car that she'd been pushed into.

[Shalamar]

I had the same type of Snowflake twice on the weekend.  Snowflake Slowpackgroceryus.

For the first encounter, the lady in front of me at the grocery checkout took her sweet time packing up her few groceries, putting on her hat and scarf, checking her phone, adjusting her sunglasses, etc. - all while my groceries were piling up on the conveyor belt behind her.  Until she moved, I couldn't bag my stuff.  This, of course, meant that the people behind me were delayed, to the annoyance of all.

Then, blow me down, it happened AGAIN the following day!  Different store, different lady, almost identical behaviour.

[KenveeB]

I got a lovely little lecture about MY responsibility to always leave enough room to compensate for someone stopping dead in front of me and someone hitting me in the rear so as to "save" the idiot in front of me. Apparently the idiot in front of me had no responsibilty whatsoever.

Did the cop indicate just how far that would be? Do you have to predict just how fast the theoretical idiot is coming from behind to push you? The first part, about compensating for someone stopping is reasonable, but factoring in being pushed when stationary is totally ridiculous.

Ha. I did ask him and he said, "That's up to you to figure out." The guy behind me and I just looked at him like he had two heads. The cop then huffed and puffed and said, "Well, you two are just lucky that I'm a nice guy and not writing you a ticket!"

Tell him to go ahead -- you obviously weren't following too closely, you were able to stop in time! You aren't accountable because the person behind you propels you into someone. The person who hit you is responsible for your damages and the damages to the person in front.

[Dr. F.]

I'm reminded of a time I had a cop tailgating me late at night. Really, seriously tailgating me in a way that was incredibly intimidating and unsafe. I wanted very badly to slam on my brakes and see just how far that "car in the rear is always to blame" thing would take me. My car was an absolute beast, it would've been fine, and we weren't going fast enough to cause major injury to anything but the cop's front end. Luckily I was smart enough to decide to turn off into a handy housing development and let the cop get ahead of me.

I gave myself a few minutes to calm down and the cop time to get far ahead of me and then went back to driving home.  I came around a corner to a stop sign and there was the cop, stopped at the sign to my left, pointing the way I was headed. I waited, since he had the right of way, and he just sat there for several seconds revving his engine. I finally made my turn and he started following me again, still too close but not dangerously so. He finally let me go when we got to a major road. I really should've reported that idiot, but it wouldn't have done any good.

He was probably trying to get you to speed, so that he could give you a ticket. I heard about this when the exact same thing happened to me, and I was complaining to someone. A lot of people will speed up when a cop is riding their bumper, and then become easy marks once they go over the speed limit.

It doesn't work on me, as I'm naturally perverse, and SLOW DOWN when people are on my bumper. When the cop started tailing me, I ended up pulling over and stopping, after having gotten down to about 20 mph in a 50 zone. 

[MrTango]

I'm reminded of a time I had a cop tailgating me late at night. Really, seriously tailgating me in a way that was incredibly intimidating and unsafe. I wanted very badly to slam on my brakes and see just how far that "car in the rear is always to blame" thing would take me. My car was an absolute beast, it would've been fine, and we weren't going fast enough to cause major injury to anything but the cop's front end. Luckily I was smart enough to decide to turn off into a handy housing development and let the cop get ahead of me.

I gave myself a few minutes to calm down and the cop time to get far ahead of me and then went back to driving home.  I came around a corner to a stop sign and there was the cop, stopped at the sign to my left, pointing the way I was headed. I waited, since he had the right of way, and he just sat there for several seconds revving his engine. I finally made my turn and he started following me again, still too close but not dangerously so. He finally let me go when we got to a major road. I really should've reported that idiot, but it wouldn't have done any good.

He was probably trying to get you to speed, so that he could give you a ticket. I heard about this when the exact same thing happened to me, and I was complaining to someone. A lot of people will speed up when a cop is riding their bumper, and then become easy marks once they go over the speed limit.

It doesn't work on me, as I'm naturally perverse, and SLOW DOWN when people are on my bumper. When the cop started tailing me, I ended up pulling over and stopping, after having gotten down to about 20 mph in a 50 zone. 

I've had this happen to me a couple times, and both times, since I was already in the right lane, I just turned off the cruise control and slowed down to the posted Minimum speed for the road.

[Kariachi]

I'm reminded of a time I had a cop tailgating me late at night. Really, seriously tailgating me in a way that was incredibly intimidating and unsafe. I wanted very badly to slam on my brakes and see just how far that "car in the rear is always to blame" thing would take me. My car was an absolute beast, it would've been fine, and we weren't going fast enough to cause major injury to anything but the cop's front end. Luckily I was smart enough to decide to turn off into a handy housing development and let the cop get ahead of me.

I gave myself a few minutes to calm down and the cop time to get far ahead of me and then went back to driving home.  I came around a corner to a stop sign and there was the cop, stopped at the sign to my left, pointing the way I was headed. I waited, since he had the right of way, and he just sat there for several seconds revving his engine. I finally made my turn and he started following me again, still too close but not dangerously so. He finally let me go when we got to a major road. I really should've reported that idiot, but it wouldn't have done any good.

He was probably trying to get you to speed, so that he could give you a ticket. I heard about this when the exact same thing happened to me, and I was complaining to someone. A lot of people will speed up when a cop is riding their bumper, and then become easy marks once they go over the speed limit.

It doesn't work on me, as I'm naturally perverse, and SLOW DOWN when people are on my bumper. When the cop started tailing me, I ended up pulling over and stopping, after having gotten down to about 20 mph in a 50 zone. 

I've had this happen to me a couple times, and both times, since I was already in the right lane, I just turned off the cruise control and slowed down to the posted Minimum speed for the road.

Similar. My dad and I were heading home a few years back when we pulled onto the street before ours (about 4 minute drive at 55) only to find ourselves behind someone going 25 in a 55 zone. We followed behind for a few minutes, then my dad flicked on his turn signal and passed the guy doing 60 (road rager, he is). Turned out to be an unmarked police vehicle. My dad got off with a warning.

[emwithme]

Back onto stories of the "regular" kind of Special Snowflake - SS roadrulesdonotapplytome-us.

Driving behind someone the other day, and we both got on the same highway exit.  It's a cloverleaf exit, so you have to speed up pretty quickly once you're able to, in order to merge with traffic.  It being winter (snowy and all), people were going slower than normal, so I wasn't terribly surprised when the person in front of me wasn't accelerating very fast to merge onto the highway.  I was not, however, expecting them to slam on their brakes and STOP.  I almost drove into the car before I could stop.  I could see people coming up behind me who wouldn't be prepared to stop.  I honked at them repeatedly, and they finally started accelerating very slowly.  As soon as it was safe, I changed lanes and passed them quickly.  I still have no idea why whoever was driving thought it was okay to stop in the middle of a highway merge, nor do I know why they stopped.  As far as I could tell, there were no impediments to driving safely anywhere.

I was in an accident two weeks ago due to a SS like this. SS stops abruptly and for no apparent reason on an exit ramp. I slam on my brakes, move my car to the side as much as possible and guy behind me, hits me and pushes me into car in front of me. Which then, sped up and off and away, nowhere to be found.   What was especially infuriating was that the cops told me that they weren't going to look too hard for him as I and the driver behind me were 100% at fault, automatically, according to the laws of the state. Yes, the person in front of you can stop for no reason and if you hit them, it's always your fault.  I got a lovely little lecture about MY responsibility to always leave enough room to compensate for someone stopping dead in front of me and someone hitting me in the rear so as to "save" the idiot in front of me. Apparently the idiot in front of me had no responsibilty whatsoever.

This is a well-known insurance scam in the UK.  People will (occasionally having un-hooked their brake lights so they don't light when they brake) slam on the brakes at moments when they really shouldn't (when merging onto a motorway, when going round a roundabout, when driving down a clear, straight, multi-lane road), wait until you go into the back of them and will then claim for a multitude of car repairs and personal injuries.  Including to people who were *not* in the vehicle at the time.