"Are you coming or going?"

[Tiberius Jim]

I don't think the two are comparable at all.

When I'm out and about, and I see someone waiting for me to leave so they can park in my spot, I sure as shit don't waste time just sitting there making them wait. Apart from starting my car and buckling my seatbelt, I fucking go. Why? Because there's nothing I could be doing in that moment that I can't also do pulled over on the side of the road once I exit the parking lot/structure and that's only if I really have to.

But that's just me. I try to be considerate of other people's time.

In a restaurant, I don't waste my time or energy worrying about what other patrons are doing.

Flux it strikes me that you really, REALLY spend a lot of time worried about what other people think, say, and do to the point of omitting any enjoyment for yourself in favor of just getting riled up about non-issues. This is all a perfect example of such.

The parking spot and the table are totally comparable. They are both public spaces that we occupy for a certain amount of time, and when we vacate them, other people then take our place. How is that any different?

If I am in a spot and am opening my door and getting in, yeah, I will GTFO and let them have the spot. What people seem to be missing is it is only irritating to me when I am not even at my car yet (when people basically stalk you as you walk from the store to your car) or I am in the middle of loading my cargo and not close to getting into my car. That is when it is exactly like the scenario with the restaurant table. I am still using this spot. My car needs to remain in it so that I can finish loading my cargo. With the table...I am still occupying the table and using it to eat on. I need to remain at the table so I can finish my meal and pay my check. In both instances, it's irritating to have people hovering over you waiting for their turn.

Define "hovering."

Hovering, meaning the guys were so close they could have reached out and tried some of my entree if they'd wanted to while they were at it.

If someone were obnoxiously standing over my table waiting to take it I'd order more food/drinks.

My wife and I definitely took our time. The guys then saw someone else getting up from their table and tried to swoop on them. Turns out the woman was just going to the bathroom.

But why is it okay to take your time when someone is hovering over you to finish your meal so that they can take your table...and why is it okay to be irritated by that....but not be irritated by someone doing the same thing regarding your parking spot? If I am loading up my stuff, I am just as finished using that spot as I am done using that table.

Are you at a fancy restaurant? Or a midscale place like Applebee's or Chile's, where you have to be seated by a host?

Or is this only happening at In-N-Out when school lets out? Because you know, In-N-Out at 3pm tends to be packed.

More importantly: How many times has this actually happened to you and your wife that it has become such a blight on your very existence? Why is it so annoying to you that people "creep" after you to get your parking spot if you are actually leaving? What's the harm?

This was at a pretty upscale restaurant in San Francisco in the bar area where you seat yourself, thus why the guys were waiting for an available table, saw that we were working on our desserts and figured they would stake out our spot despite the fact that we weren't even done yet. it doesn't happen often, no, but when it does happen it's irritating.

My wife and I definitely took our time. The guys then saw someone else getting up from their table and tried to swoop on them. Turns out the woman was just going to the bathroom.

But why is it okay to take your time when someone is hovering over you to finish your meal so that they can take your table...and why is it okay to be irritated by that....but not be irritated by someone doing the same thing regarding your parking spot? If I am loading up my stuff, I am just as finished using that spot as I am done using that table.

1. they have to be obnoxious about it. Patiently waiting at a polite distance is another matter.
2. you admitted you didn't act that way over the parking space. Instead you let the situation intimidate you.

I wasn't intimidated by anything, I moved out of the way so the guy could get in and free up the other traffic.

Guys, let's be fair on the "cagd/cager" thing. I mean it's only implying that the vast majority of us who are in cars are really in confined spaces used to restrain animals against their will. Why be offended by that or take it as derogatory?

You can interpret it that way if you like, but the way I see it it's in regards to the car having a cage, like a race car's roll cage, enclosing the driver whereas a motorcycle is more open and the rider is not enclosed. Simple as that.

And, Flux, on the lane splitting thing... You say you do it at around 30mph, what I read on it said you should do it closer to 10. 30 is a pretty good clip to be going I a narrow space between stopped or slow-moving cars.

I don't know what you read, but I'm thinking you might have misread. California state guidelines on lane splitting regarding speed are us follows:

1) Travel at a speed that is no more than 10 MPH faster than other traffic – danger increases at higher speed differentials.

10 MPH faster. So if traffic is going 20, I go 30. If they're going 10, I go 20. If they're stopped. I usually hang out around 10-15. When I say 30, I mean that's the fastest I will go, which is keeping within the guidelines.

 

[Trekker4747]

I must have mis-read it. That still strikes me as wildly dangerous and sort of a dickish thing go do. I'd be interedted to know the eeasoning behind allowing a bike to "pass" between lanes 10mph over slower traffic in certain circumstances. Seems like a recipe for disaster, abuse and road-rage.

 

[Squiggy]

BREAKING NEWS:

Parking lots are busy during the Christmas Season. Film at 11.

 

[Bisz]

There's a flag on the play. Flaming. Out of line. Five yard penalty. Comments to PM.

That was warranted.

My only protest is the use of American Football as a metaphor.

I was going to suggest a Golf instead, but then got thinking about Mods giving out strokes to posters and decided the metaphor may not be ideal.

 

[Tiberius Jim]

I don't see why it seems dickish. It's legal to do and there are several benefits to the other drivers on the road. This article and the links/video featured should help clear things up. Keep in mind it's a practice that's legal just about everywhere else in the world.

For me, the biggest thing is that if I am just sitting in traffic, I'm a sitting duck. if the car behind me doesn't stop for whatever reason, I've just become the meat in a car-motorcycle-car sandwich. If I keep moving my only threats are from in front of me. I always keep my hand on the clutch and am always ready to be on the brake should someone dart out. I basically assume they're going to, and prepare accordingly.

Also, some bikes are air-cooled and will overheat if stationary for too long...and in a warmer state like California that could be a problem.

 

[Squiggy]

I don't see why it seems dickish. It's legal to do and there are several benefits to the other drivers on the road.

It's not illegal to be a dick.

 

[doubleohfive]

Also, some bikes are air-cooled and will overheat if stationary for too long...and in a warmer state like California that could be a problem.

Overheating is a problem even in unusually cold winters like right now? You know, where the right to burn wood in your own home is being stripped away from the plebes?

Thank goodness we have you here, looking out for our best interests!

 

[iguana_tonante]

I have actually been thanked for my service BY the veterans we bring home. I've responded with, "Oh, no I've never served." and they tell me that they consider what we do to be a service in it's own right. So the word was not exactly my own

That's... convenient.

 

[Tiberius Jim]

I don't see why it seems dickish. It's legal to do and there are several benefits to the other drivers on the road.

It's not illegal to be a dick.

Except nobody who lane splits properly in the state of California is being a dick.

Also, some bikes are air-cooled and will overheat if stationary for too long...and in a warmer state like California that could be a problem.

Overheating is a problem even in unusually cold winters like right now? You know, where the right to burn wood in your own home is being stripped away from the plebes?

Thank goodness we have you here, looking out for our best interests!

I gave that as one of many examples of the benefits of lane splitting. And you should know very well that it doesn't stay cold in CA for long.

 

[SeerSGB]

BREAKING NEWS:

Parking lots are busy during the Christmas Season. Film at 11.

Thanks alot Obama. Cleary this is another symptom of the ACA.

 

[RoJoHen]

Universal Parking for all!

 

[SeerSGB]

2 wheels good, 4 wheels bad! 2 wheels good, 4 wheels, bad!

 

[Amaris]

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmH4wpGCDwk[/yt]

 

[doubleohfive]

Universal Parking for all!

THAT'S IT!

SHUT DOWN THE BOARD!

 

[Locutus of Bored]

2 wheels good, 4 wheels bad! 2 wheels good, 4 wheels, bad!

To the death!!!

 

[doubleohfive]

AWWWW YEAH

Then again, I guess it's good Flux is no longer constrained by the prison of his car, God forbid this ever happen to anyone!

 

[Tiberius Jim]

I don't see the point of the second GIF, but in the first one the rider looks like he's going a little fast and should have seen that car changing lanes. Like they say in the video I linked to, the rider is responsible to make sure a car doesn't hit them. At least that's the mentality you need to have.

 

[Trekker4747]

I don't see why it seems dickish. It's legal to do and there are several benefits to the other drivers on the road. This article and the links/video featured should help clear things up. Keep in mind it's a practice that's legal just about everywhere else in the world.

For me, the biggest thing is that if I am just sitting in traffic, I'm a sitting duck. if the car behind me doesn't stop for whatever reason, I've just become the meat in a car-motorcycle-car sandwich. If I keep moving my only threats are from in front of me. I always keep my hand on the clutch and am always ready to be on the brake should someone dart out. I basically assume they're going to, and prepare accordingly.

Also, some bikes are air-cooled and will overheat if stationary for too long...and in a warmer state like California that could be a problem.

I dunno, legal or not it just seems dickish to me with too much potential for abuse or causing problems because of the unpredictability of it. That's a terribly narrow space to have someone tearing through 10mph faster than everyone else.

 

[Tiberius Jim]

Also as was said in the video, it might seem reckless and aggressive to the outside observer but when you do it yourself it feels much more natural and easier than you'd think. I disliked it at first but I've gotten my comfort level up and it's much better. As long as a car isn't hugging the lane there is plenty of room.

It's much better than sitting at a dead stop and hoping nobody rams you from behind, from which there is little to no chance of escape. That's why I rarely if ever take the bike out of gear at a stop, though, just in case.

 

[Pingfah]

10mph is not very fast at all, that's a comfortable running speed for most people and it's about right for moving through stationary traffic. You can stop on a dime at that speed, and any decent biker should have no problem. The motorbike in that gif is going much faster than that.

I do this every day and for many years, and never have I been anything close to having an accident because of it. That said, I don't lane split through moving traffic at all unless it's at a crawl, for the reasons demonstrated in 005's first gif, but I do straight overtakes if the oncoming lane is free.