The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Editor, I have noticed a few things about the 'drivers' in town. Now it is not all the drivers' fault as to the problems, BUT I have noticed a few things that people might want to look out for. Behaviours that I have noticed include the practice of turn signals as an option on turns, let me clear this up for those that don't know. They are the blinking lights that let OTHER drivers know that you want to turn, and should be used EVERY time you turn. And the excuse that they are a waste of power doesn't hold water, they don't! Cell phones are dangerous in the wrong hands, or to the point, ANY drivers' hands. If your life is that important that you have to drive and talk on the phone then by all means run the stop sign, red light, yield sign, whatever, but be warned you are going to be really late if some idiot driving according to the rules hits you, sorry they didn't know just how important you were. And to the drivers that have to cut others off to get ahead of them just to drive 10 to 15 kph UNDER the posted speed limit, STOP IT. If you were in that much of a hurry to feel it is okay to cut someone off and save yourself the .0001 second, at least do the speed limit. Oh, and to those that still haven't figured it out, the funny reflective things on the sides of your car/truck are MIRRORS, they are for looking behind you. With them you might not cut off people and thus eliminating this problem all together. I realize that this might be an alien concept for some people but it is okay, you will be all right. Now to one of the biggest problems I have noticed to date and the main cause of most of my problems at the local shopping center. Although they have tried to clearly mark the parking spots and have placed those neat cart corals, people are obviously confused to what they are for. I will try to explain and I will try to use small words. First the yellow lines on the ground are for parking that 2,000 lb. thing that you didn't read the instructions for. It is not a coincidence that the lines on the ground are about the same size as your car/truck. I do realize that when we were introduced to this new concept of a parking lot, it was winter and we had to guess where to park, but it is summer, the season between snow storms. So the next time you go to the parking lot look at your car/truck and if it has yellow lines under it try again, I won't laugh at you, honest. Now it gets complicated, they have special parking places for pregnant people, they are clearly marked. When a 95 lb. (soaking wet) woman gets out of a car alone parked in one of these spots it makes one think. Pregnancy does not include those that WERE pregnant, GOING to be pregnant, THINKING about pregnancy, or those that are just capable of getting pregnant. They are for women that ARE pregnant. Oh, this also goes for the handicap parking spots. And stubbing your toe at work doesn't count. Now on to the carts. The metal things in the parking lot are not some new form of art. They are to keep the carts from rolling into the parking lot and hitting cars and denting them, so people won't have to go to their insurance agent to make a claim that eventually makes everyone's insurance go up (ya, this is how it really works, the more claims the more it goes up). Now you might be thinking that they are too far away. Well, if that's the case then let them fly, but when your insurance goes up don't complain ? you let that cart go and hit a car. And before you say the store should do something they did, they put out those cart corals that were 10 steps too far away. Finally (well for now) to you people that think it is alright to park in the road. Or stop to "talk to your friends." You are actually breaking the law, the road is for driving. If you want to talk to your buddies pull over and park (see parking section). In conclusion, I realize that the road is not mine and I do have to share it with other people. And I will try to understand that even though I am the only one who read the instruction book on how to drive, that not everyone has the 20 minutes that it took me or the comprehension that the rules DO apply to everyone. I will not get mad at them because they are obviously a lot more important than the rest of us and don't have to play by the rules, humm, just a thought as I wonder what these people were like in school. DOES NOT PLAY WELL WITH OTHERS? ? Thanks, a concerned citizen
