I want to start a website where if you witness another driver do something that's incredibly stupid you can anonomously go to the website, describe what you saw and describe the car including their license plate. Since the cops are rarely there when you see someone driving like a complete moron I was thinking perhaps public humiliation could be a bit of deterrent. There may be privacy issues with putting someone's license plate in each post but I think we'd be doing a public service by pointing out bad drivers so it supercedes that. Plus anyone can go outside and look at anyone else's license plate, right? Big deal.
Also, maybe it shouldn't be limited to just driving. Maybe we could include just stupid and/or ignorant acts in general. I know, I know what's to stop someone posting something false about somebody they don't like? I don't know. I haven't really thought this out that far because honestly, I have NO intention of actually following through.
I'd call this fictional webisite Blast.com (as in "to put someone on blast.")
myriam [email] said at 11:21 PM 05-28-2007: Not as great as something I saw the other day--a bright yellow bumper sticker slapped on the back of a car that read something like "i suck at parking" or even possibly "i park like an asshole"... i couldn't believe that the owner, who was driving the car at the time, would put a sticker like that on his own car, so it had to have been stuck on there some day when he parked badly. ha! even though i don't agree with vandalism, i have difficulty not agreeing with that.
reggie [email] said at 10:47 AM 05-28-2007: A) I don't freaking smoke
B) Actually, no. Every week as I drive around I see people do really stupid AND RECKLESS things all in the name of impatience and stupidity.
C) And obviously you didn't read the part where I said: I have NO intention of actually following through.
D) I take it you're one of those drivers, given your response.
reggie [email] said at 11:08 AM 05-28-2007: You know what? Let me add a fifth part to this:
E) People do stupid things all the freaking time and are never held accountable for it. Why not? Especially in this case since *ahem* people's LIVES ARE AT STAKE. I've seen a car with a couple of stupid teenagers driving way too slow and weaving around not because they're drunk but because they're on the cell phone! I've seen cars speed around on the shoulders of the road to get around cars that are "in the way." And this is just on the B-W Parkway.
So yeah. You know what? You're right. What a dumb idea. Why would anyone want to let another driver publicly know how stupid they are when we can just continue to let a-holes continue to put my life, your life and your freaking kids' lives at stake?
dave [email] said at 9:36 AM 05-29-2007: you brave soul with the noblest intentions of saving people's lives. how callous of me to thing this retarded when lives are at stake!
jake [email] said at 9:11 PM 05-29-2007: It's a shame your bleak, cynical outlook prevents you from enjoying a bit of idealistic whimsy. Or, that the still festering wounds of your childhood emotional abuse compel you to lash out at the unfettered enthusiasm of others.
anotherben [email] said at 11:26 PM 05-29-2007: since reggie said he wasn't going to make this, i did it myself. and now i have submitted all of your names in triplicate to the hexing machine for improper lane usage, turning without signalling, and riding peoples bumpers. -1000 parking karma for each of you.
josh [email] said at 11:47 PM 05-29-2007: see if this was text message based, bad reporters like you wouldnt matter... it would know that your phone # was over-reporting. there could be a rule that was like "if one phone number reports more than X times, they are a busy body so ignore them when it comes time to assess people's complaints"
anotherben [email] said at 12:23 AM 05-30-2007: that is why i used my imaginary snitching program and not yours. i have just manually entered -500 parking karma for you.
reggie [email] said at 7:22 PM 05-31-2007: Don't forget those who fail to yield, those who drive really slowly in the passing lane and those of us who go to the Express Lane in the grocery store when we CLEARLY have more than 15 items.
rick [email] said at 8:08 PM 05-31-2007: Regional variants:
- any Boston driver who puts their car in park in one of the lanes on Massachusetts Avenue.
- any DC driver who sees someone they know walking on the sidewalk and slows down to have a conversation with them, regardless of whether or not someone is behind them.
reggie [email] said at 8:30 PM 05-31-2007: addendum to the latter: any driver who sees someone they know in the car next to them at a red light and has a conversation with them until long after the light turns green.
reggie [email] said at 7:20 PM 05-31-2007: You know Dave, I admire you. No really I do. I mean, that stick must make it really uncomfortable to sit down.
What is wrong with you dude? The main point of the post was just to voice frustration that people get away with driving like retards. That's really it.
I HAVE NO INTENTION OF ACTUALLY MAKING THIS PROPOSED WEBSITE. IT WAS JUST AN IDEA. PERIOD. I DON'T EXPECT TO ACTUALLY CREATE THIS THING.
That said, are you really so freaking jaded that you just don't care about the complete selfishness and ignorance that leads to reckless and careless driving?
julie [email] said at 12:44 PM 05-26-2007: There is a site like this, but for women to warn other women about dudes they've dated who cheat or otherwise suck: www.dontdatehimgirl.com
anotherben [email] said at 7:51 PM 05-27-2007: i think it wouldnt be a bad idea if you could just text some giant database the license plate of asshole drivers. the database would discard multiple sends from the same person for the same driver, and the people who showed up as asshole drivers all over the map would have their name sent to a special computer that would put a curse on them.
anotherben [email] said at 3:02 PM 05-28-2007: there would have to be some way to prevent groups of kids from all picking on someone. also, the curse should be somehow proportional to the eggregiousness (is that a word?) of the driving offense.
reggie [email] said at 12:23 PM 06-11-2007: Last night as I was returning to Baltimore from my parents house on the B-W Parkway something happened that reminded me of this post and how it really is a good idea:
There's this one stretch on the Parkway, just as you get closer to the city where allegedly they are doing some kind of construction (although I have yet to see any actual work being done) so they've merged all of the lanes into one. Well there's one part of that where there's an on-ramp to hop onto the Parkway just before it splits to go to either the city or 95. At the top of this ramp is a stop sign. The stop sign is there specifically for cars trying to get onto the BW Parkway.
Now, before I continue, if you've never been on the Parkway I should say that the speed limit is 55 but nobody ever does much lower than 65/70 so that stop sign is necessary, as there's no room to merge and cars are going to be flying by. You just have to hop when there's a gap.
Anyway, so everyone's cruising along in the one lane at about the same speed when the car in front of me inexplicably stops and I had to swerve between the cones and into the construcion area to avoid hitting him all the while blasting my horn (as was the car behind me) I look at the driver of the suddenly stopped car and see that he's talking on his cell phone. He stopped because he saw the stop sign for the on ramp and thought that he should stop even though he's on a major freaking highway. Why would there suddenly be a stop sign on a major roadway? MORON.
I wish I had gotten his plate number because I would definitely post it right here right now.
So yeah Dave, what a retarded idea. I'm nearly in a three car accident because of some stupid, inattentive driver who A) is talking on his cell phone and B) stops at a stop sign that's clearly not intended for cars actually already on the parkway and I'M the retard because I want to point out people just like that.
woody [email] said at 4:28 PM 06-11-2007: Why did you have to swerve? I assume you were travelling a good, safe 300ft behind him, right? That should have given you plenty of stopping distance.
