I have a friend who is super car focused. Where she lives, there is a bridge where people often cross the road, and they painted the road with some blue waves, to showcase that. I often drive whe. She's with me, because she drives like a maniac. Anyway, people were crossing the road and i waited. She told me that cars have the right of way here and i could just go. I just gave her a look and then drove off when people were done, like 5 seconds later.
The next time a few weeks later, she said the same thing and i told her: I don't care how often you tell me that, i'm not gonna run over people to save 5 seconds.
She told me that she would usually just honk or rev up her engine, or "pretend to run people over" it's so weird to me what they get out of that behaviour
"Pretending to run people over" is a crime lol. At least in the States. That's textbook assault (making someone fear bodily harm), and arguably reckless driving or endangerment.
What is it about cars that make people into psychopaths? Or does it just bring out these things in already bad people?
In my experiences and from the stories I've heard and read, cops and courts are a lot more lenient when it comes to cars, probably partially because they all rely on them too. Some people even say things like "its better to kill the pedestrian instead of just injuring them because dead people can't sue" and "if you want to murder someone in north america, do it with a car, you will probably walk away with relatively little consequences."
In North America, the best that can be done is a license suspension, between a few months or maybe a year or two in extreme cases.
Even that doesn’t stop people from driving though.
It's because our whole society is built around having a car. There is no real alternative. Taking away a license inflicts a major burden on them. The idea that "driving is a privilege, not a right" is a cruel joke.
I had a friend who's mom had a seizure while driving. Her foot jammed the accelerator to the floor while going downhill. She didn't hit anyone, and survived the inevitable crash, but there wasn't much left of the car. It was likely going to happen again, and yet the state did not take away her license. Now, the family was responsible and made sure she didn't have to drive anymore, but not everyone has a responsible and proactive family like that. There are almost certainly people with similar medical issues driving around right now, and it keeps me awake at night. Not even an uncontrollable medical issue that makes you a rolling time bomb is enough.
Your friend is a fucking psychopath and I can’t imagine how you’re still friends with them. I know it’s only one thing we’re seeing from your comment but I don’t think there’s much one can do to redeem “doesn’t have the barest consideration for strangers or their lives”.
Go to any Instagram comment section about something to do with bikes, and every other comment is some blood thirsty version of "I get hard when I run over bikers".