Signs and rules

I'm a moral relativist.  Ethically, I'm a utilitarian, and to that end I have a very strong tendency to go for the flexible, spirit-of-the-law, ox-in-the-mire, exception-to-every-rule, highest-respect-for-the-law policy of enforcement.

The exception, and it's a huge exception, is the laws of transit, to which I am a stickling moral absolutist.  This is because, as far as I can tell, the laws in place are set up almost perfectly to ensure that transportation is safe and fair.

"But what if I'm running late?"  Then you should have left sooner.  That extra fifteen kilometers per hour is not going to make a difference, and you'll just be stopped at the same red light as the people going the speed limit anyway.  If not, you've just saved about thirty seconds.  Thirty seconds and about fifteen meters of stopping space.  Most of the time, I'm a cyclist, and I can tell you, you're a dick.  I'm basing this on the "mean to the waiter" theory of human behavior--if a person is nice to his or her date but mean to the waiter, he or she is not a nice person.  You may be a loving mother of three who donates to charity, but if you drive like a dick, I have very strong evidence you're a dick.

That's not even the stupidest thing drivers do.  Now, I'm prone to exaggeration, but when I say that since 2008 I have seen a grand total of twenty-four people make a complete stop behind the limit line before turning onto the main street, know that I am dead serious.  I don't believe there's any way they could simply not notice the limit line, because it's a huge white line, made with paint that includes flecks of metal to make it stand out under light, which is preceded by a two-meter long "STOP" also made of highly visible white paint on a black or dark gray background, accompanied by a STOP sign (which by the way is the only red sign and the only octagonal sign used in most of the world, meaning that an illiterate person could still recognize its meaning even if their vision was so bad they couldn't recognize either the color or the shape) and considering that under scientific study white on red draws attention more than most any other combination of colors, I can only assume they see the sign, the writing on the ground, and the line and decide, "Yes, I see these, and I know what they mean, but I'm going to ignore them, plus the fact that this is a T-intersection in most cases as well as ignoring the laws which enforce these signs and laws because..." and I'm sorry but I can't think of any way to finish that sentence, unless every driver I've ever seen is actively malicious.  I'd believe it.

And while it's not the subject of this rant, drivers seem to have a disturbing tendency to believe it's okay to specifically target cyclists for harassment.  So far I have seen people pull into the bike lane and start driving in it towards me for no discernible reason; I have been hit by four water balloons, a half-full soda, a chicken sandwich, and something round and hard wrapped in paper which I didn't bother to identify, all thrown from moving vehicles.  An almost weekly occurrence would be for someone to honk at me at full volume or perhaps roll down the window and scream as they passed me.  Why, I wonder?  I have not yet received an answer.

This problem, this blatant disregard of law and order, has only worsened here at BYU-H.  Again, I point out I'm not exaggerating; I have seen each and every posted rule violated within range of the sign.  On my way to the dining hall, I passed three "No Skateboarding on the Sidewalk" signs and six people skateboarding on the sidewalk.  I passed no people skateboarding in the street, where it is permitted.  In fact, it's become a rarity to see people riding their bikes, skateboarding, rollerblading, or what have you anywhere but the sidewalks.  I know they must be seeing the signs, and again ignoring them for no reason.

As I said, I'm a relativist, and I'd be willing to ignore this as long as these skateboarders (hundreds upon hundreds of them) were decent people about it.  They are not.  They seem unwilling to move even slightly when they are in people's way or when they are about to crash into them; worse, they get angry at the pedestrians.  I recall that only one of use is violating the rules.

I would, however, like to give props to the guy who figured out the loophole that unicycles are never prohibited on the sidewalk.  Well done, sir.

Moving on, every single posted sign has been violated at least once, usually more.
-"Please do not stack your cups!" on the dishes repository has been interpreted as "Come on, man, you can make it to twelve!"
-One young woman decided to overfill the waffle iron, add something other than waffle batter in the iron, and then remove her waffles with a metal instrument, thus breaking every rule of the waffle irons in the sequential order those rules were listed.  On a huge sign, dangling over the exact waffle iron she was using.  Well done.
-"Quiet hours are from 10:00 PM-7:00AM!"  Aaahahahahahaha.
-"Women are not permitted past this point."  To be fair, I'm not sure what I was expecting.  Maybe something like the vampires in Buffy.
-Not even the "Caution: Slippery when wet" sign is right.
It has gotten to the point where I oppose posting the Ten Commandments.  It's a religious school, I oppose it out of concern for my personal safety.

While there are exceptions to rules, of course, they're in place for a reason, and likewise exceptions have to be made for a reason.  Martin Luther King said that to break an unjust law represented the highest respect for the law, but somehow I doubt that crosswalk is infringing on your rights.