Missed connection

[mstone]

@Steve O 188376 wrote:

This whole interaction totally pisses me off.
But this quoted part, arggh. Isn’t everyone supposed to be traveling below the speed limit? Isn’t “limit” supposed to mean maximum?

Limit
noun
1. a point or level beyond which something does not or may not extend or pass.
“the limits of presidential power”
2. a restriction on the size or amount of something permissible or possible.
“an age limit”
synonyms: maximum, ceiling, limitation, upper limit;

The dictionary definition does not apply to car speeds. E.g., in many places you can be ticketed for going the speed limit in the left lane of a highway because OF COURSE the speed limit is less important than moving out of the way of people going more than the “limit”.

[Steve O]

@mstone 188397 wrote:

The dictionary definition does not apply to car speeds. E.g., in many places you can be ticketed for going the speed limit in the left lane of a highway because OF COURSE the speed limit is less important than moving out of the way of people going more than the “limit”.

So, in theory, one could be ticketed for going 55 in a 55 and also ticketed for going 56 in a 55 if an officer were so inclined.

To whit: I once had a neighbor who, in a previous life, had been a NM highway patrol officer. He would occasionally stop people going 65-70 in a 55 (these were the days when it was all 55) and then tell them he would write the ticket for only 57 mph, because he was such a nice guy (it, in fact, made no difference in terms of fines or points). He did this because sometimes he would want to pull a driver over for another reason (suspected DUI or carrying drugs or something) who was driving 56 mph. Then when that person’s lawyer would challenge him in court, saying “C’mon, you never pull someone over for going 56 in a 55,” he could refute this by showing these previous tickets he had written. Clever.

[elbows]

Me: Heading east on Hamilton in NW DC, close to New Hampshire in the bicycle lane at a relaxed pace.
You: Tooting your horn at me, presumably because you wanted me to exit the bike lane so that you could idle your sedan in it.

I’m sure you’re quaking in your boots at DC’s coming enforcement against vehicles in bike lanes.

[SarahBee]

Me: Getting a parking ticket on my bike.
You: Meter maid who doesn’t know a car from a bike?

[LhasaCM]

@SarahBee 189093 wrote:

Me: Getting a parking ticket on my bike.
You: Meter maid who doesn’t know a car from a bike?

The ticket is dated Tuesday. Is that when you found it on your bike, or did it just get lost/blown around/tossed there today? (That plate has 5 other unpaid tickets for the past month in DC.)

[SarahBee]

@LhasaCM 189095 wrote:

The ticket is dated Tuesday. Is that when you found it on your bike, or did it just get lost/blown around/tossed there today? (That plate has 5 other unpaid tickets for the past month in DC.)

It was on my bike on Tuesday right on the top tube closer to about 3pm. I was stunned when I saw the pink slip, but who knows how it got there? Do you think anyone at DC DMV will have a sense of humor?

[dasgeh]

@LhasaCM 189095 wrote:

The ticket is dated Tuesday. Is that when you found it on your bike, or did it just get lost/blown around/tossed there today? (That plate has 5 other unpaid tickets for the past month in DC.)

Also, is your bike a 4-door Nissan? Because maybe we need to have a conversation…

[LhasaCM]

@SarahBee 189096 wrote:

It was on my bike on Tuesday right on the top tube closer to about 3pm. I was stunned when I saw the pink slip, but who knows how it got there? Do you think anyone at DC DMV will have a sense of humor?

Not saying it’s impossible, but I’ve never known anyone at a DMV to have a sense of humor.

[dbehrend]

@LhasaCM 189095 wrote:

That plate has 5 other unpaid tickets for the past month in DC.

The 6 tickets are all from the same area too. I wonder if it was the driver or a passerby that moved the ticket from the car to your bike.

[infinitebuffalo]

@SarahBee 189096 wrote:

It was on my bike on Tuesday right on the top tube closer to about 3pm. I was stunned when I saw the pink slip, but who knows how it got there? Do you think anyone at DC DMV will have a sense of humor?

More specifically, it’s dated ~10am. It’s possible in the intervening hours it blew off to or was thrown away near your bike and someone else stuck it on the bike….

[ChristoB50]

An interesting Missed Connection / case of bad cyclist behavior; as I was car-based…

Me: In my car driving home from the cathedral. Roll to a stop on Woodley, 2 cars back from the red light to cross 34th Street.

You: Zipping down Woodley ahead of me as I had slowed to the stop, I watch you just moderately slow for that same red, to check both ways at least(!) — before you continue uninterrupted through the red light, leaving us cars to obey the law you chose to ignore. How quickly the irony of this will unfold…

Me: Then, proceeding down Woodley, eventually I pass you, until reaching the Stop sign at Woodley & Klingle, where I stopped.

You: Quickly pulling up beside me (my window down for the nice weather) to admonish me, “You just blew through 3 stop signs, dude!” (Predictably enough you then continued directly through the Klingle stop sign without actually stopping there…)

(Important Note; there weren’t 3 stop signs on Woodley between the light at 34th and Klingle — just the 1 stop sign I stopped at. While other side streets feed into Woodley in that stretch, Woodley doesn’t stop for them. Perhaps you’ve confused those intersections as requiring stops, anyway? — In which case, you also blew through the same 3 {nonexistent} stops you’ve accused me of…)

Me: Catching up with you once more as we both approach the 3-way stop at Cathedral Ave — where I again stop; but you don’t even bother to slow down this time, and blow through it at speed.

Us: Proceeding down Cathedral Ave now, you in front of me taking the lane — but then slowing to 10 mph as you check your phone while coasting along.

All too happily, we parted ways at 29th Street!

[baiskeli]

@ChristoB50 189195 wrote:

How quickly the irony of this will unfold…

This story reminded me of one from long ago, before the Missed Connection thread, or this forum, or even the internet.

I was walking down the street, I think from Adams-Morgan Day to Metro. A jerk cyclist was hotdogging his way down the street. I’m talking wheelies and weaving through traffic. No stopping for lights and such, of course. I see him continue down the street ahead of me, jerk-like, until I lose sight of him.

Then I hear screeching tires.

I soon catch up with jerk-face, now walking (uninjured) carrying his smashed-up bike.

[ChristoB50]

It is sometimes hard to resist the schadenfreude that comes with encounters unfolding like that…! All the more so here, since it was, fortunately, human-injury-free!
My last memorable schadenfreude moment was when a tight group of high-speed racer/trainers, lapping at Hains Point, got pulled over by a DC cop for blowing through THE stop sign (the one with the added “All bicycles must stop” signage!) as they flew past me while I came to a stop there)… I then got to continue my biking, passing the riders and cop, happily not getting flagged over by him to join the group.

[secstate]

Last night I decided to walk home rather than bike because, after a long day, I didn’t have the energy to deal with traffic. I could only smile at the irony after almost getting taken out in the crosswalk at 21st and Penn by a CaBi rider wearing a helmet and high-viz vest!

[DCAKen]

Me: Traveling south on the 15th Street bike lane

You: A cyclist

You first drew my attention when you rolled onto the hood of a car that was making a right turn from K Street onto 15th Street. You bounced up very quickly and didn’t curse the driver out, since you were at fault as your made a sweeping left turn from K Street onto 15th. Then down at the Pennsylvania Avenue plaza in front of the White House, you ran into a cyclist going the other way, knocking both of you to the ground. You seem to have a depth-perception problem…

[Author]

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