What, precisely, is a driver’s license?
It’s certainly not a certificate of demonstrated competence as a driver. That much ought to be obvious given the pervasive incompetence of “drivers” who possess a license but are unable to parallel park or keep their car in its travel lane without “advanced” driver “assistance” technology. It’s a kind of tautology. If a “driver” requires “assistance” to “drive” then by definition, he isn’t.
Vast numbers aren’t.
And they are ubiquitous.
One encounters them almost as soon as one crosses the threshold of one’s driveway and ventures out among these duly licensed “drivers.” Examples include the two “drivers” I had to deal with yesterday – one right after the other – who were “driving” 38 MPH and 43 MPH, respectively, on a road with a 55 MPH speed limit. Sun shining, pavement dry – perfect visibility. Except for what was in their rearview mirror, an analog-era driver “assistance” technology these “drivers” serially avoid relying upon.
It is considered – legally – “reckless driving” in my state and some others to drive 20 or more MPH faster than whatever the posted speed limit is. But the law is untroubled by “drivers” who “drive” 20 MPH below the posted limit.
Or even no MPH.
I video-recorded one of these “drivers” – inadvertently – while video-monologuing about the just-debuted 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning electric truck, whose cost in wasted time is almost as high as its MSRP. But – to paraphrase my man, Eric “Badlands” Booker – enough about that.
As I was explaining the problems with a limited-range electric truck, the range of which will be even further limited if you use its batteries to power your tools (or pull a load) I was forced to come to a stop – about that – and start talking about the “driver” ahead of me who stopped his car on a road with a 55 MPH speed limit because he was unable to deal with passing the bicyclist ahead of him.
Rather than even try, he let the gap between his car and the bicyclist increase to several car lengths before he began to follow at less than 25 MPH. This differently abled “driver” almost certainly had a valid license.
Notwithstanding the incapacity displayed – which was surely not an isolated display. A “driver” who cannot deal with a bicycle rider except by coming to a stop-crawl behind him is a person clearly lacking the capacity to drive.
As also any person who cannot parallel park, curbside, without “assistance.” And what of people who “drive” big trucks but cannot back-up a trailer without the same kind of “assistance”?
How is that such people are licensed to drive . . . anything? 
The answer is simple.
A driver’s license has nothing to do with driving, per se. Rather, it is a permission slip establishing you have no right to drive, even if you can. Proof of this being that a person can be an excellent driver – one who does not stop in the middle of the road because there is a bicycle rider ahead – and be arrested by an armed government worker if the AGW discovers that the driver does not possess a license, as at one of those probable cause-free “checkpoints” ostensibly posted to catch “drunk” drivers but actually established to catch drivers lacking the requisite permissions and stickers.
Just as it does not matter that you’re not “drunk” – or even driving, as when asleep in the back seat, with the keys not even in the ignition – but can be arrested for it – so also you can be arrested for driving without your driving being in any way objectionable, if you do so without a license.
It’s the permission that’s at issue. More finely, that people accept they are obliged to supplicate and obtain permission – establishing Who’s Boss.
Which isn’t us.
As matter of pure principle, libertarians object to such a thing. People have a natural right to travel on public thoroughfares without having to supplicate and without having that right turned into a conditional privilege – and a kind of ear tag, used to identify them and keep track of them.
Once upon a time, Americans understood this. There was no license needed to travel by horse on the public thoroughfares. (And a horse can be just as or even more “dangerous” than a car, so spare us the saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaafety non sequiturs, please.)
But if we must carry around a “driver’s” license, it’d be nice if acquiring one took more demonstration of ability to drive than standing in front of a biometric camera and get 20 out of 30 questions about traffic laws right.
. . .
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Many states have laws on the books against driving too slow. Good luck getting them enforced.
Is it just a Jersey thing, or are bitchy women in general just stupid, nasty and petty?
Either they’ll drive 10 under or just not moving at a green, you honk when the flashing doesn’t get their attention, they SLAM their brakes and then while flipping you off they roll down their windows when you just wanna go.
Both times, switched lanes and drove way, like them——————————————–> me and they’re still all raging while I’m just shaking my head
I wish they would teach people how to merge onto the freeway. In the big city mid-west I didn’t see people pop onto the freeway going 45 mph or stop on an on ramp when traffic is moving on the freeway, but I have seen this type of merging behavior many times in Southern Oregon. I almost rear ended somebody when they stopped on a on ramp in front of me when I looked to the left at freeway traffic and then turned my head back to notice they stopped on the ramp . ( I always accelerate hard on a on ramp)
RE: “In the big city mid-west I didn’t see people pop onto the freeway going 45 mph or stop on an on ramp when traffic is moving on the freeway”
Oh I have, especially on the old I-74 ramp over the Mississippi River, so many idiots who can’t ‘zipper’ and so many crashes.
They got a new span across the river now, hopefully designed better.
I rear ended somebody doing the exact same thing, glancing to the left to find my spot while accelerating and the idiot in front of me came to a complete stop. Worst part was having to apologize since I hit her car while suppressing the urge to grab her by the throat and shout “WTF is wrong with you!”
I get tired of people who don’t know how to go around slower traffic.
As my grandmother used to say, “If you’re not gonna race, get off the racetrack”.
But, also, keep your bicycle off of roads where the big boys with loud machines go or at least stay out of the way.
You’re an impediment.
As George Carlin said, “Didn’t your mother ever tell you to keep your toys in the yard?”.
Hi James,
I fall somewhere in the middle on this. Brent and some others here assert (and I don’t deny) that bicyclists have the same right to use the road as motorists – and people driving slow-moving RVs, etc. I also agree with them that it’s a basic competence as a driver to be capable of driving around a bicycle (assuming the bicyclist isn’t being a jerk and riding in the middle of the road).
That said, I myself would not choose to ride a bicycle on a narrow road without generous shoulder space and with traffic operating at much higher speed than a bicyclist is capable of maintaining. Partially out of courtesy – and partially out of self-preservation!
Where is the bicycle’s tag? RVs have tags. I understand gas vs. human power maybe, but cyclists go the same direction as traffic and do not remove themselves from between the yellow and white lines like a pedestrian facing oncoming traffic would do.
I have also noticed that any other form of transportation approved to use roadways have to have signalling devices. Even down in Peachtree City, GA where the whole community is set up around golf cart paths, the golf carts have to have signalling devices as well as proper lighting if conditions were to require such.
As far as a cyclist picking a narrow road, the road I live off of has a sign at the start saying “High Accident Route – Please Observe All Signs”. Yet, we have all kinds of fools all the time on their bicycles. At first I thought it was because of Lance Armstrong because they had a bike race and Lance was in it and the route went down this road. But after is fall from grace, we still have many cyclists using a road that is dangerous for clovers by itself.
Hi J,
I actually wrote about bicycle licenses some months ago – and fully expect that to happen. And oppose it – for the same reason I oppose licenses – which is to say, government permission – generally.
It’s easy to get frustrated with a given foolish/obnoxious behavior and feel “there ought to be a law.” But that is dangerous because if “there ought to be a law” for that which you or I find foolish/obnoxious then it is certain someone will assert the same about things we do that they consider foolish or obnoxious. And perhaps they are foolish or obnoxious. But the danger is that you open the door to almost anything being so described and “laws” enacted and enforced to “prevent” them.
I’d rather the occasional obnoxious/foolish thing – the risk of whatever – than the certainty of government.
“High Accident Route – Please Observe All Signs”
That’s hilarious, J. Do they have “OK to Ignore Signs” signs on the low-accident routes?
Reminds me of when the county first paved our gravel road. They put signs up warning “NO CENTER LINE.” As if we couldn’t figure out that there was no stripe simply by looking at the road and noting the absence thereof. How many other things that don’t exist do we have to be warned about?
I try not to get involved in discussions here about slow/rude/incompetent driving, because it’s usually the same old stuff. But I do believe that the root of it is that they’ve been taught that as a driver, your most important task is to scan the roadside constantly for a sign that will tell you what to do. Sort of like during covid your most important task is to watch the teevee for the latest orders from the experts.
Ian Miller, if you’re listening, I want to see a chart showing the correlation between brainless driving and masking.
You get tired of people who won’t pass slow traffic? I really do because I’m that slow traffic. It isn’t my choice, I’m demanded by the GPS nazi that rides with me in my work vehicle to drive to drive that way. I even have a large sign on the back informing others that I am restrained by a GPS device.
I drive a lot of rural areas which means 2 lane roads… I get to the right and sometimes even slow down to encourage people to pass me in passing zones and many won’t. However; I have noticed, it might depend upon the vehicle’s ability to overtake causing the problem. A Prius is much less likely to pass me even when there is ample room for that weakling but a Dodge Challenger will have no problems passing on a double yellow line as soon as they see they are clear to pass even though the .gov didn’t deem it a safe place to do so.
Hi J,
I regularly drive my old truck with a load in the bed; it does not move fast – nor should it, given the load. Like you,I make every effort to yield to overtaking traffic, as by moving off to the shoulder and waving people to pass. Many won’t even try – and still ride my ass. This is part of the general incompetence. They are taught to regard passing – as by flooring it and getting around the slow-moving vehicle – as “unsafe.”
But it’s “safe” to tailgate. And to “cruise control pass” – remaining in the opposing lane of traffic much longer than necessary.
Beam me up, Scotty!
What a “Driver’s License” is.:
https://righttotravel dot info/drivers-license/
I am not a driver and , most likely, neither are you.
I drove a semi OTR for a year. When you drive all day everyday you get a front row seat into the stupidity and shear foolishness of drivers ( I have plenty of stories). Most people have little respect for the road and physics. Removing drivers ed from schools certainly didn’t help. We had to watch movies like Signal 30 when I was a teenager, which showed the violent gory deaths at accident scenes. They would never show these to the snowflakes today that bounce all over the road as they text. Wouldn’t want to give them a dose of reality.
Ohhhhoho my god, I used to rage out sooo harddd over southwest VA drivers for this!
It was nearly a decade ago and I still remember it like it was yesterday, just about every other day, sweet jesus..I’ve chilled out a lot over the years, but man I can’t even take the thought of this kinda stupid shit, big part of why I had to get out, for all the good christian biblebelt friendliness, there was too little sense where it counted for me 🤬
When I was 12 years old I was riding my brother’s Moped around the neighborhood until some policeman sent me home, I had to walk pushing the Moped all the way. I could ride and drive the thing, it was a bicycle with a motor. Wasn’t trying to kill anyone, just having some fun.
Always somebody out there spoiling your fun. At fifteen, driving pickup truck on country roads helping with the farm business was what you did. No license necessary. Drove to town to pick up parts and goods.
When I finally succumbed to take a driver’s license test, the road test had my left leg shaking uncontrollably, was that nervous.
If you didn’t parallel park in three moves, you were going to fail that part of the test. Not difficult to parallel park, just be along side the vehicle that is parked, go window to window, door to door, so to speak, then reverse to move into the open spot making the turn into the spot easy as pie.
Your right side rear view mirror can pinpoint the curb, you’re in like flint.
A manual transmission and no power steering makes it a different situation.
My friend the mechanic worked at a dealership in 1961. The mechanics were paid in cash at the end of each day, if not, they were gone to where they would. Before paychecks and deductions, you got paid right away.
$2.50 per hour, 20 dollars per day, in 2021 dollars, that is $67.50 per hour with silver at 27 USD at kitco.
Basically, it takes a lot of beer to get anything done.
“People have a natural right to travel on public thoroughfares without having to supplicate and without having to that right turned into a conditional privilege ….Once upon a time, Americans understood this. There was no license needed to travel by horse on the public thoroughfares.”
Totally agree. Apparently it was so obvious to the founding fathers no one at the time thought it was necessary to explicate in the Bill of Rights.
Growing up I was always told “driving was a Privilege” but never understood why it wasn’t included with the right to free speech, religion and to bear arms.
Larry, I think the idea is that “public” roads are different. They are owned by the collective, so when using them you must obey the rules set out by the collective. The statist would say, “Build your own highway and you can do whatever you want on it. But when you’re on OUR highway, you must obey OUR rules.”
All part of what I call fourth-grade civics class fairy tales, like the whopper that I am somehow “represented” in DC. We this, we that. If you don’t like it, wait a couple of years and vote for the clown you believe is most likely to change it. Repeat as necessary until you’re dead.
Licensing of all sorts. Driver, business, occupational licenses. Every, single, one, equal control mechanisms and revenue generating tools.
They furthermore like many other “credentials” attempt to give the false notion that some level of competence is implied in having a piece of stationary on the wall (with all the proper Masonic images and the signature of some psychopath to make it official yah know) or a plastic card in one’s wallet.
I commonly refer to my contractors lic. as “my $1,000.00 laminated card I’m supposed to carry.”
How many business owners went along with corona-chan restrictions “cuz they’ll take my, barbers, liquor, etc. license if I do/don’t _______?”
As the saying goes, “anything the Gov. gives you can be taken away.
‘I commonly refer to my contractors lic. as “my $1,000.00 laminated card I’m supposed to carry.”’ — Sicilian Switchblade
One year when renewing my New York professional engineer’s license, a fresh demand appeared in the paperwork: to certify that I had not engaged in domestic violence — literally a ‘when did you stop beating your wife’ question.
Incensed, I mailed the form back with a nastygram: ‘I don’t need no stinkin’ PE license … & I’m not payin’ your goddamned renewal fees no more. KISS MY ASS.’
States now assert the medieval right to forbid individuals to practice their trade or profession; that is, to support themselves by any means but menial labor.
Needless to say, the silver-wigged, silk-stockinged Founders would have vomited in disgust at this modern-day descent into serfdom by those who hijacked liberty.
And here comes REAL ID. They have a yellow star. No kidding.
https://dor.mo.gov/forms/5754.pdf
One of the most insidious results of a “driver license” is implied consent. Decades ago, we should have never allowed this concept to take hold.
Techically, it’s not “implied consent.” It’s coerced consent. No one in the early 1980s when this crap started thought it would lead to forced blood draws on the highway. “No refusal.” What a crock
Excellent subject/article!
“A driver’s license has nothing to do with driving, per se. Rather, it is a permission slip establishing you have no right to drive, even if you can.”
This. I desperately wanted to drive at 10 years of age but wasn’t allowed to even though I was perfectly competent enough. It seems like the longer you wait to do something the less interested you become in doing it.
The licensing system correlates with the artificial extension of childhood/infantilization of society as it greatly hinders personal development during our best years.
My late grandmother started driving a car at age 9, because they didn’t have drivers licenses back then. Few thought it weird that someone so young would drive a car, since nobody questioned young people riding horses (which more people still did then) or driving carriages.
She suffered a very bad arm fracture once when the starter crank reversed.
Indeed, Handler –
I realized this many moons ago when I began driving – unlicensed – at age 14. I “got away” with it because at 14 I could easily pass for 17 due to my height. I routinely drove my parents’ cars – and it never caused a problem for anyone. But it was “illegal” and I could have gotten in trouble for it.
Driver’s licenses are essentially worthless. The reason that they are issued is that the government expects to make money on you over time. Government collects taxes from you, the insurance companies. It expects you to get a speeding ticket about every 5 to 10 years. That pays for the license. In some states, a license costs around 20-40. The costs of storage, software support and hard drive space easily exceed $20 every 4-8 years.
It’s a joke and we know it.
The other day – I was at the parking in a supermarket – a guy in front of me was taking forever to reverse park his brand new E class into a slot (could tell by the plate it was less than 3 months old)….. this is one of the problems today – people who cant drive finance cars they cant afford….. then spend their life freaking out trying to keep it safe…. WHAT joy is there to that!?
The driver’s license is really just a national identity card, which more specifically is just a proof of residence. It’s useful for registering to vote, and could/should be used as a proof of not being a felon (for example you could show that to a landlord when applying to rent an apartment), but that’s about it.
Really, huh? You know you can be branded a felon for any reason the powers that be decide?
Hi Robert,
Indeed. I became a full-boogie libertarian after my arrest, at age 20, for “production and manufacture of a controlled substance with intent to distribute” – a felony that carried the possibility of prison time. This was for growing some pot plants in my dorm room at college. Instant empathy for others who had their lives ruined over this sort of statutory make-crime. Here I was, in a jail cell – my friends bailed me out – for growing some plants. I’d harmed no one. Yet I was in a cell and facing the chance of staying in one a long time, a “felony” record and my life crippled by the fact. Lucky for me, the charges were reduced to misdemeanor possession and all I got was a fine and a few hours of indentured servitude – “community service.”
But it nonetheless made me realize what they could do – to anyone. Over nothing.
And to those reading who say – but you did do something! You grew illegal pot! True. But that is incidental. There are so many laws on the books that everyone is technically “guilty” of something – or can be made so, by the fiat of the system.
Stalin’s favorite lawyer is reported to have said: Show me the man and I will show you the crime.
Indeed.
‘for growing some pot plants in my dorm room at college’ — EP
This was a cultural war, rather than a campaign against crime. It began in the 1930s, when the stereotypical cannabis user was thought to be a Mexican agricultural laborer or a black jazz musician.
Now, with a wave of a magic wand, growing pot plants for personal use is legal in 15 or 20 states. In the rest, it’s still a ‘crime.’ Common-law notions of what constitutes a crime, starting with an identifiable victim, are still out the window. Utter arbitrariness prevails.
‘Just kidding, folks,’ is the message one might draw from the spreading repeal of cannabis laws. ‘Sorry about the human fallout. But we cleaned up the damned hippies, didn’t we …’
Hi Jim,
Yup. VA is on the verge of “recreational” pot being legal and one can already buy Delta8 gummies and such in almost any smoke shop. But when I was 20, this was “criminal.”
Fish heads, for them all.
I used to think legal weed would represent a freer society. Today, weed is legal, soon to be so in VA. Society is far less free. G E Griffin talked about legal “drugs” in the Creature as a feature of “their” totalitarian plan. I fear he was right.
Eric, there’s a famous book entitled “Three Felonies a Day”. It’s entitled that because, it is said, that the average American commits three felonies a day without knowing or realizing it.
Interesting point you made about doctors being licensed. In spite of said licensing, the number three cause of death in the US that will NEVER appear on a death certificate is medical error. About 225,000 per year the last I heard. More than illegal drug abuse and gunshot wounds combined. It took COVID about 8 months to reach that total, in spite of the insane protocol used to assign deaths to it. Doctors are second only to politicians in their reception of undeserved praise. There are good doctors, and even a few good politicians, but they are NOT the rule.
Meant to be a reply to Dan at the very end of this string.
Here at 56 yrs old, I particularly enjoy “being carded” by an 18 yr old waitress because “we card everyone”. In our state we have “vertical” IDs for the “under drinking age” but you must hand your horizontal ID to the teenager and they must actually read it, look at you and “verify” that it is valid.
Because, you could look 110 yrs old but if it’s not “valid” (i.e., expiration date) you can GTFO and no beer for you!! Thank goodness these teenagers are helping to keep us all safe in this manner. Oh and the waitresses are sometimes cute too.
For a second there, I thought you were serious when you said you enjoyed being carded.
I loath that process. I still cannot forget standing in line at a Target and a twenty-something chick asked for an ID from an obviously 80 yr old or so man buying groceries and some alcohol while shopping with his woman.
That was the Last time I shopped at Target. However; it’s almost next to impossible to escape that kind of process, I -almost- understand, because the cops work so hard to try to ticket them for selling to minors. I think, and can’t back this up, the cops have even used Hollywood style makeup to make young people look old so they can give the ticket to merchants. I would not be surprised if that were so.
Anyway, reading this article, I was getting my drivers permission slip a few years ago, an old woman in front of me COMPLETELY failed the vision test. Yup, they gave her one anyway.
I went over to Green Turtle the other day just because I could do so without a mask. I had forgotten that they rarely have any decent beer and they card everyone. It’s so stupid, I don’t look anywhere near 21 and I have a wallet with an ID window which I always make sure they see as I’m taking it out. Never good enough through the ID window, nope! They gotta read the fine print.
I’ve mostly gotten out of the habit of going out to eat anymore. I’d only done so about half a dozen times during this entire farce. Then, even without retarded masks, they come at me with the *other* stupid shit! (and no decent beer)
I was really hoping these mediocre crap corporate chain restaurants would fold up and go away. You know, make room for something better when the hysteria subsides, if ever. And if never, no big loss.
When I took “Drivers Ed” in the 90’s, I almost failed. Not because of incompetence, but because I forgot to fasten the seatbelt, drove with one hand and often exceeded the speed limit.
I had been driving for years before getting my drivers license. I learned to drive in a 1976 Chevy Luv. I drove a 1990 Dodge with a manual tranny all of the time as an early teen. I even drove to drivers ed and just parked the car a few blocks away so I wouldn’t get caught. Naturally, getting into the drivers ed Oldsmobile sedan with an automatic was a cakewalk to parallel park and navigate anywhere I wanted. So what did the teacher threaten failing me over? “Safety violations”.
Driver’s license’s are an abomination.
Eric, if there’s one thing I’ve observed after having watched your videos for several years now, it’s that VA. seems to be infested with more slow and or incompetent drivers than I’ve ever seen to be the case anywhere else! I may encounter such drivers every now and then….but DAYUM!!!!!!- It seems like you come across them almost every time you go out!
Only reason I can see for VA. being the state so full of clovers, is due to that state being the most tyrannical and aggressive when it comes to traffic laws amd enforcement. A perfect example of how tyranny affects large swaths of people and estanlishes it’s edicts as the norm of behavior- without those on whom it has been inflicted even realizing it.
Re the Lightning: Funny- I just paused a Scotty Kilmer vid to watch your vid- and Scotty was just mentioning how Messla…err…Tesla was celebrating there now being 25,000 electric chargers in the world…. Meanwhile, there are 1.6 million gas pumps just in the US alone! (And 25K chargers is not 25K separate charging stations….but rather the number of indicidual charges all told)
NOTE: My computer is down after havi ng had a power failure the other day- The HDD may be corrupted- and if so, it’ll be a long time before I do anything about it, ’cause I just don’t have the time or patience for that crap right now. So I’m just using my old laptop so I can have some minimal internet acces…but I really don’t like using a laptop, and I’m not taking the time to tweak all of the settings and transfer all of my data etc. to the virgin OS which I installed years ago on this laptop and haven’t ntouched since….so I’m afraid I may largely be MIA for the foreseeable future, till such time as I get my desktop back up. I m kinda liking minimal internet anyway- it’s good training for I get out of here and take nup residence in the nwilderness.
Besides the incorrect avatar, the real Nunz would never type this coherently. And this imposter used only one set of parentheses and no brackets, or intermixing of the two. The real Nunz does that basically every post. Corrupted HDD? Yeah right. Like the real nunz wouldn’t have used a surge protector.
The real nunz is only gone probably because I wrecked him in that private property debate. He’s still trying to figure out how to respond I bet.
I didn’t fool ya? DARN! Ya mean I bought all this olive erl and garlic for nothing? O-K, O-K…..I’m an Italian rapper and my real name is Fonculio…..I just impersonate Nunz on nights and weekends….fart….Ooooo….I just got done bushhogging my manure-encrusted pasture with my Jap tractor after walking through the Sheep-doo-doo section of Brooklyn where I saw some old jalopy that I can’t afford to buy, just ’cause they don’t make ’em anymore!
Hi Nunz!
Sorry to hear about the computer issues; I feelz ya – as I have been having some myself. On Virginia: Yep. It’s a state with uber-Cloverific traffic laws and vicious enforcement thereof. I’ve had to leave several AGWs in the lurch over “reckless” driving during my time. Because if you pull over after one spies you doing say 76 in a 55 you are facing “reckless” driving charges, possible arrest and certain enserfdom via enormous fines/free for years to come.
So, diddyap – and g’day, sir!
Eric,
It would be epic if you would do an article on how to evade AGWs!
I suspect his formula is simple. Three ingredients. I’m not sure of the ratios. Horsepower, driving skills, the willingness to properly leverage the former two.
Jody,
I suspect something like that as well, though, as my dad always said, you might outrun the cop, but you’ll never outrun his two-way radio. Thus, I imaging the decision to evade must be made before he can see your license plate and the cops must diffuse enough that more can’t be summoned ahead of you.
Haha yes. I remember that saying. There may be some more ingredients. Intimate knowledge of his terrain and the habits of the predators within it.
Looks like Eric has already given some pointers!
https://www.ericpetersautos.com/2013/07/28/tactical-manual-when-and-how-to-run/
Great stuff. Looks like I was wrong about the horsepower part. He doesn’t mention it.
Virginian drivers are horrible. I visited in 2017, and on the second day there got rear ended when I wasn’t even moving (waiting for a light). Three hours later got run off the road by a clover going the wrong direction on the road.
I managed to drive in Chicago traffic without being crashed into for 25 years. Luck ran out when a red light runner t boned me in 2013.
Hi Rich,
I won’t argue – because I know it’s true! Virginia is a hot spot of poor driving, especially Northern Virginia. Hypercaution combined with inattentiveness or aggression combined with incompetence. At least in my area, there are fewer of them so it’s easier to just go around/get away from them.
I often have fun with them, too – while driving my ancient and under-powered ’02 Frontier pickup. I routinely leave them behind going up the curves of Bent Mountain; me in mine and they in some late-model “luxury sport” thing with twice the power and lateral grip but a fourth the skill behind the wheel!
Not that I am Carroll Shelby. But I am competent. And – today – that almost makes me Carroll Shelby vs. these clowns.
Another state that I have observed extreme poor driving is Michigan. Nearly as bad as Virginia, with many “drivers” as slowly moving obstructions. Thankfully most of the state is rural and low traffic.
They TEACH new drivers when passing to come back into the right lane much too close to the person they are passing. It’s made cruise control basically useless as you have to tap it off or quickly pass so you don’t rear end the person who just passed you and now is is now too close (they make you into a tailgater!!) and going too slow in front of you.
They even export their crappy driving to my local interstate highway (Indiana). You see someone doing something really stupid, Michigan plate……
I am sure “no fault” insurance is an aggravating factor since its about 25 years old now. Car insurance is very expensive there and got that way due to that stupid no fault. There has been no progress in repealing that turd of a “law”.
Passive Aggressiveness. A trait of the arrant cvnts and neutered males infesting NoVA.
Kilmer, Demuro, Hoovie, LegitStreetCars, Car Wizard, Raj, they’re all fun to watch but the thing that I don’t like about the (YT) platform is that it seems rare to have any meaningful interaction… certainly never with the host. Kilmer and his click-baity titles are fun and I was just thinking (reading Eric’s “Manual if you can get it” article) about how Kilmer is always talking about “the computer” being “smarter” than “us stupid people” that drive cars (especially with respect to the transmission). I don’t believe it though.
Hi Eure,
I value the back and forth here tremendously; the bright/fun/snarky people I have met here have been a boon to my mental health during this fiasco and I will be forever grateful. Someday, I’d love to host a big get-together at my place. Beer, guns and food!
Add in some hot chicks as well. I’m there, man.
Hey Eric, We are up in the mountains near you all summer long camping, riding our motorcycles, playing with our rc boats on the lake etc. I figured at some point I would wave as we pass you on the road lol.
Hi Bear-
Excellent! I welcome stop-bys. If you’re passing by, feel free to swing by. I’m usually lurking out back… watch out for the Attack Ducks, though!
Haha Attack Ducks, thats funny.. and probably true! 🐥
I don’t know exactly where you are but I think you are sw of Roanoke? We do most of our riding around Stewart to Hillsville to Philpot Lake. Camp at Fairy Stone state park alot but this year we have been staying at a little out of the way place called Jameson Mill Park on the other side of the lake. We ride the Parkway often. Let me know when you might want to go riding and we will bring the Ninja up with us! 😁
Oh man! That’d be a great get-away destination. About a 5-hour trek from here but I would be interested!
A winning combination!!
Is this post actually, Nunz? It doesn’t sound like him.
Yes it’s actually Nunz. He let me know his main PC was disabled. I do agree though it sounds too smart to be him.
Its not just the license, the permits are sometimes just as ridiculous if not more so. I had my contractors license for twenty years, retired then seven years later decided I needed to work some more. Getting a new contractor license in a different state was a pain.
One of the cities I work in is Sedona. I started getting nasty letters from the city saying I was required by ordinance to pull a permit on every job. Most of my jobs are repairs or replace some are just 100-200 bucks. So these .Gov POS expect me to go stand in line (probably with a cough Burka), pay 15-25 bucks for absolutely nothing. They don’t inspect the work, they don’t seem to go after the myriad of unlicensed people operating all over the valley. As a one man operation I was able to come in way under what the large plumbing company charge. At 75 bucks an hour I’m not really anymore expensive than some fly by night unlicensed guys. I was getting more and more referral business but the threats and nasty letters came more frequently. I finally decided Fuck Sedona and the fascist pony they rode in on. There is plenty of work to be had closer to home. I’ll save the twenty mile drive. I suspect it was one of the big name corporate plumbing companies that complained.
Sorry I went off on a little rant. The whole fact that .Gov produces nothing and tries to rake off everything is disgusting. Just like the drivers license you talked about. I’m sure nearly half the people shouldn’t be on the road. When I got my CDL a few years back that was a real driving test. Ten wheel dump truck, 36 ft trailer, with a back hoe, driving through twisting back country roads. The stupid little cars everyone drive today take very little skill to drive and the drivers are very unaware especially of big rigs.
If the .Gov really cared about our saaaaaaafty as you so humorously say in your vids they would license politicians. Drug tests, background checks, and the requirement passing of a hundred question test on civics, history, and economics. And instead of parallel parking they should have to demonstrate the ability to read at a level higher than ‘one fish two fish, red fish blue fish.’
Preach it, Brother Norman!
This whole “licensing” thing is just another scam. Just a legally enforced one. By a mafia without the decency of “this thing of ours.” The mob may take your money but it never says it’s for your own good and a public service. I admire the honesty of that.
And the Mob won’t put you out of business. And if its a protection racket (which actually is a “for your own good” thing), God help the SOB that did you damage. Broken legs abound, with no court date for the perpetrator. The constabulary, on the other hand, has two basic goals. To acquire your property, and maintain the power to acquire it. If it puts you out of business, well it sucks to be you.
Eric, I admired the wise guys honesty as well. I lived in Vegas at the end of the mob era, and the ascendency of the ‘We are here to help, with guns if needed’ era. At least the mob used to make sure the drugs and prostitution stayed out of the neighborhoods. The hut hut brigade as you coined the term only show interest in redirecting the money they extorted into overwhelming the neighborhoods with illegal street shiters. Once that happened everything went down hill from there. My friends who still live there tell me it is a pit of vipers and viperessses. Thanks Harry Reid, Mormons, and Diebold voting machines.
Indeed, Norman –
The mafia might make you an offer you can’t refuse but at least it won’t tell you it’s for your own good! And the old-school mafia was mostly involved in legitimate business made “illegal” by the government, such as the selling of booze, running gambling joints, whorehouses and so on. These things may be vices but to characterize voluntary free exchange between consenting adults as a “crime” is puritanical priggery and nothing more.
I’ve got another idea.
In the interest of “transparency of government,” I propose that all public meetings be required by law to be conducted in the nude.
A bit tough to be pompous when you’ve got it all hangin’ out.
A funny one I heard on YouTube the other day – as all cops are required to wear body cams – why dont all politicians have to wear body cams all day ! then we can see what they really get up to – and how the screw people over and earn a nice couple quid on the side….
Another story about government building “inspectors”. When I was selling real estate, a builder told me about the “inspector” who was checking the houses he was building. Seems the “inspector” had a bad knee (and was very overweight). So he never went upstairs or down in the basements of any house he was inspecting. So the “inspections” were basically useless to home buyers.
In many parts of the US, few inspectors could even tell if there were defects in construction even if they looked. They are often political appointees with little or no knowledge of construction. That’s why bribes are rampant in some areas, since that is how those folks make their money……
Hi Rich,
I think due diligence is a great thing and should be encouraged. I think it’s wise for a potential home buyer who isn’t expert as regards structural issues, plumbing and electrical, etc., to hire someone who is. The problem arises when government makes all of this kind of stuff “official” and “mandatory.” Then you often get a disinterested hack who just wants to get paid for the least amount of effort.
In general, the more people depend on others for their due diligence – the less sharp they become themselves. And so become easier marks.
A “public servant” would be the very last party I would trust to adequately inspect a building for flaws. I spent about 25 years in construction, and witnessed first hand multiple incidents of corruption, both in inspections and in selection of inspectors, and simple failure to do their job because “work sucks”.
Add the motor home drivers and recreational “tow-ers”, what a mobile zoo!
Here in the Soviet of Washington (state) I’m required to have passed a test and thus have an endorsement to legally ride a motorcycle. Yet no test/endorsement for that giant motor home piloted by someone that shouldn’t drive a Geo Metro.
https://www.dol.wa.gov/driverslicense/motorcycles.html
Hi Sparkey,
Yup! And motorcycles have the virtue of being self-testing. If you fail, you won’t be riding long.
Reminds me of a time when I was working the tech support line at a well known handloading component sales company. One of the gals on the sales line said “I can’t believe we sell this explosive stuff to such morons.” To which I replied “Its a self regulating problem.” Quite a number of problems are, if we would just leave them alone.
One of my older biker buds would say:
“There are old bikers, and inattentive bikers, there aren’t old inattentive bikers”
My recently deceased 90 year old father never took a test of any kind for a drivers license. when he got his, it was like a fishing license. You just paid for it and walked out.
I suspect its even worse now than when I took my driving test in 1971, and it was a joke then. Although I did have to parallel park. Never got off a city street, with a speed limit of 35 or less. Then I was given a license to drive on 6 or 8 lane interstate highways at rush hour in urban areas. I have no idea why they bothered with the driving test, other than because they could. The State of Missouri does still require one. It’s just another fleecing method. That they can take away from you.
Man, you guys keep going on about parallel parking, yeesh, why just the other day I was backing into a parking slot in a big parking lot and the young woman in the car next to me had her window down and said to me, “I wish I could do that.”
I just smiled at her cause I had no answer.
Maybe next time I’ll say, “practice?”
Applies to more the drivers.
Doctors & lawyers are licensed and yet there are bad individuals in both of those categories.
Licenses are always sold to us as increasing our SAFETY, yet they are actually used by the powerful to limit competition.
Why does a business need a license, yet I can buy from anyone at a yard sale or flea market who shows up?
Am I any worse off that they are not licensed?
In fact, I get a better deal from these unlicensed vendors who have lower overhead.
I can’t cut hair without over 1000 hours of training and a license. Never knew it was so dangerous.
Gone are the days you could learn a trade and apply it without permission from the govt.
I don’t know the point of a driver license, and it may have been touted as SAFETY, but it is now undeniably for tracking and control.
Your updated photo is analyzed via facial monitoring and stored in a database.
Some establishments swipe of scan to verify age.
You can’t operate in life without it, and when you do, paperwork is generated – bank accounts, gun purchases, entry into certain buildings, etc
Technology and a culture of dependency on govt has whittled away our freedoms without anyone much caring.
All regulation favors the well to do established businesses, not just licenses.
Dependency is the primary subject taught in public schools. Government is a collaboration of saints, and you can’t survive without it.
Interesting point you made about doctors being licensed. In spite of said licensing, the number three cause of death in the US that will NEVER appear on a death certificate is medical error. About 225,000 per year the last I heard. More than illegal drug abuse and gunshot wounds combined. It took COVID about 8 months to reach that total, in spite of the insane protocol used to assign deaths to it. Doctors are second only to politicians in their reception of undeserved praise. There are good doctors, and even a few good politicians, but they are NOT the rule.
And that was a Johns Hopkins study that tagging it around 200,000.
You’re right, the media likes to ignore this.