3 ms·

Do you want to be right or alive? Pick one

by slt2021 3y ago

toss1 3y ago
Yup I remember my grandfather telling me long before I could drive: "You don't want to be dead right."
- slt2021 3y ago
  Similar wisdom about arguing with your wife: Do you want to be right or happy? /i
  - CoastalCoder 3y ago
    Another bit of worldly wisdom from (at least) Tom Magliozzi! I wonder which of his marriages taught him that :) * I mean this with all due respect. The world was a better place with Tom in it.
- martinpw 3y ago
  "Better to be 3 minutes late in the current life than 30 years early in the next"
  - duskwuff 3y ago
    Similarly: "He was right, dead right, as he sped along. But he's just as dead as if he were wrong."
lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 3y ago
Respectfully, this is a tired meme and it needs to die. This is a defeatist attitude that just gets in the way of any progress on improving driving culture. I really would prefer I can just trust the other driver.
- kelnos 3y ago
  I don't think that's feasible. Human nature just doesn't work that way. I think we could potentially get to a point where we can trust the other drivers more than we can now -- and that alone would be a laudable goal -- but I don't think it's reasonable to expect we'll ever get to a point where it's safe to place 100% trust that another driver on the road will always do the right thing all the time. So what we're left with is defensive driving. If a giant vehicle starts edging out into the road in front of you, assume that the driver doesn't see you at all, and act accordingly. Frankly, I don't think it's a tired meme: it is absolutely better to be alive than to be right. And sometimes those actually are your only choices.
  - lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 3y ago
    > Human nature just doesn't work that way. Citation needed. Look into Finnish driving culture; it seems quite reasonable to see it as nurture over nature. I believe that it would be difficult to effect such a change given the distance between different American subcultures but it’s been demonstrated that a society can actually choose to take this seriously. > And sometimes those actually are your only choices. This is the part that needs to die. I was still right when I chose to allow the other driver to cut me off; turns out I’m alive too. It’s not a dichotomy but treating it like it is suggests that the other driver was “right” because I yielded. They were not. I was right and I didn’t do anything dangerous.
8note 3y ago
That's why you bring a gun, to shoot the large truck drivers. That way you can be both right and alive.
matsemann 3y ago
Ahh, the old wisdom used to tell the oppressed to shut up and stay docile.. As a cyclist I hear this all the time. A thinly veiled threat, if you ask me. "Stop pointing out things that could've been better with our infrastructure or traffic culture, or I'll run you over".
- slt2021 3y ago
  I agree with you, and I bike often. I just dont want to use my health and my life as an argument in figuring out who is right, when on the other side is just some dumb drunk dude on a pickup texting his buddy or reading twitter while driving

Do you want to be right or alive? Pick one

toss1 3y ago

Yup I remember my grandfather telling me long before I could drive: "You don't want to be dead right."

slt2021 3y ago
Similar wisdom about arguing with your wife: Do you want to be right or happy? /i
- CoastalCoder 3y ago
  Another bit of worldly wisdom from (at least) Tom Magliozzi! I wonder which of his marriages taught him that :) * I mean this with all due respect. The world was a better place with Tom in it.
martinpw 3y ago
"Better to be 3 minutes late in the current life than 30 years early in the next"
- duskwuff 3y ago
  Similarly: "He was right, dead right, as he sped along. But he's just as dead as if he were wrong."

lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 3y ago

Respectfully, this is a tired meme and it needs to die. This is a defeatist attitude that just gets in the way of any progress on improving driving culture. I really would prefer I can just trust the other driver.

kelnos 3y ago
I don't think that's feasible. Human nature just doesn't work that way. I think we could potentially get to a point where we can trust the other drivers more than we can now -- and that alone would be a laudable goal -- but I don't think it's reasonable to expect we'll ever get to a point where it's safe to place 100% trust that another driver on the road will always do the right thing all the time. So what we're left with is defensive driving. If a giant vehicle starts edging out into the road in front of you, assume that the driver doesn't see you at all, and act accordingly. Frankly, I don't think it's a tired meme: it is absolutely better to be alive than to be right. And sometimes those actually are your only choices.
- lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 3y ago
  > Human nature just doesn't work that way. Citation needed. Look into Finnish driving culture; it seems quite reasonable to see it as nurture over nature. I believe that it would be difficult to effect such a change given the distance between different American subcultures but it’s been demonstrated that a society can actually choose to take this seriously. > And sometimes those actually are your only choices. This is the part that needs to die. I was still right when I chose to allow the other driver to cut me off; turns out I’m alive too. It’s not a dichotomy but treating it like it is suggests that the other driver was “right” because I yielded. They were not. I was right and I didn’t do anything dangerous.

8note 3y ago

That's why you bring a gun, to shoot the large truck drivers. That way you can be both right and alive.

matsemann 3y ago

Ahh, the old wisdom used to tell the oppressed to shut up and stay docile.. As a cyclist I hear this all the time. A thinly veiled threat, if you ask me. "Stop pointing out things that could've been better with our infrastructure or traffic culture, or I'll run you over".

slt2021 3y ago
I agree with you, and I bike often. I just dont want to use my health and my life as an argument in figuring out who is right, when on the other side is just some dumb drunk dude on a pickup texting his buddy or reading twitter while driving