# what's your rush?



## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

OK I just have to post about this. I just got off a crowded elevator that had, among a mass of humanity, a giant SUV stroller that took up about 30% of the space in the elevator. But that's besides the point. What galled me is that I had gotten in the elevator when it was nearly full and just as the doors had nearly closed a bunch of extra people rushed towards it, as though it was the last ride on earth. One person must have caused himself a lot of arm pain as he attempted to force the doors open all the while the alarm was ringing. 

Note I was midway through the crowd and had been waiting when there were only 4-5 people present, so I did not choose to enter onto what would become a crowded elevator.

Keep in mind there were two other elevators available right beside this one. Both sat idle while everyone packed onto the one elevator.

Why couldn't these late runners have waited for 5 seconds for another elevator to come?

I remember the same thing in the GTA: running for the subway and for elevators in "banks" (sometimes as many as 16 elevators in the bank). I would be calmly waiting at the front of the line with time to read, while the rest of these fools would come running past or crowding onto a subway train at the last second. I simply waited the 40 seconds for the next subway train or elevator and would have the place to myself.

What's your rush?


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

TRM, one-man wolfpack.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

Same with the red light running. It's brutal. It's dangerous. It needs to stop.

I'm not from the GTA. I was astounded when I moved here and saw the amount of red light running that is prevalent, at least in the burbs. Red light cameras for every major intersection! For that matter, if we're going to have speed limits, they ought to be enforced. Either raise the speed limits and enforce them (photo radar, etc.) or leave the limits as they are and enforce them. 

I hate selectively applied laws. If the law is unjust or unreasonable, repeal it. Otherwise, consistently enforce it.


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

I'm pretty sure TRM wrote comment #6, lol, your post reminded me of how the other half lives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmEh-1pK87Y&feature=related


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

Toronto.gal, that video makes me sick to my stomach.

That's no way to live. 

But no, I didn't write any of those comments. Some of them were amusing. LOL.

Good point about the red lights - I was once t-boned by a red light runner doing highway speed, so I know all about it.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

Toronto.gal said:


> I'm pretty sure TRM wrote comment #6, lol, your post reminded me of how the other half lives.
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmEh-1pK87Y&feature=related


Wow! Great vid.

I've heard that they had "pushers", but I didn't realize that they literally jam the people in.

I agree with TRM - it annoys me when people have to squeeze in at the last second especially when the doors are almost closed and they push the button to get them open again.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

I find this irritating too, but sometimes it's for good reason: many people are taking several modes of transport to get to work, so if you want to catch the bus at the end of your subway journey you have to time it right. This isn't as big a deal during rush hour when buses and trains run frequently, but in off-hours missing one subway train can be the difference between getting home at 7 or getting home at 8:30.

When I lived in the Boston area, I commuted to work from Concord, Massachusetts; there were several trains at rush hour, but after that there was one at 7:30 and another at 9pm, then one at 11. If you missed the 7:30 you had to wait around for an hour and a half, and I have to admit I did run for a few subways after having supper with friends in order to get to my commuter train on time.


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## hystat (Jun 18, 2010)

What gets me is how the ones in a hurry are usually young people....and the older people are doddling...
shouldn't it be the other way around? 
I should be in more of a hurry as I age..... I can see the end now...
over the hill...now I have gravity behind me



andrewf said:


> Same with the red light running. It's brutal. It's dangerous. It needs to stop.


I hear a lot about that... what is red light running?
is it watching the perpendicular lights, and then jumping the intersection before one gets the green?
Or running the light as it just turns yellow/then red?
Or does it just mean blowing through a red light?


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

I remember when the "right on red after stop" rule first went into effect in the US, back in the 1980s; there were a number of intersections where it was judged to be too dangerous, so they had signs up saying "No Right on Red." I was stopped in the right-hand lane at one such light in Greenwich, Connecticut and an impatient motorist in a black BMW behind me wanted to turn right so he started blasting his horn at me. I ignored him because of the sign, and also because I could see something he couldn't see: just beyond the corner on the right was a police car. The driver behind me lost patience and peeled around me with tires screeching, giving me the finger as he drove by. He whizzed through the light and got nailed immediately by the cop. I gave him a cheerful wave as I drove slowly by.

Occasionally there is justice in this world.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

I like that story brad!

hystat: I'm referring to people running the red after the light has turned amber. I sometimes end up just exiting the intersection when the light turns red and feel like I've gone too far, then watch in my rear-view as four more cars follow behind me. They are literally entering the intersection after the light has turned red. Of course, I think the signals have been adjusted to take this behaviour into account. I've noticed a two or three second delay between the red in one direction and the green in the other. This also often leaves the left-turning vehicle stuck in the intersection well after the light has turned green in the opposing direction.

Jumping the green is not as dangerous, so long as the intersection is clear and all the opposing traffic has stopped. Combining jumping the green with red-light running can lead to some serious danger, though.


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## lister (Apr 3, 2009)

Toronto.gal said:


> I'm pretty sure TRM wrote comment #6, lol, your post reminded me of how the other half lives.
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmEh-1pK87Y&feature=related


That's why when we visited Tokyo we took the subway only during non-rush hours. I WILL NOT be packed in like that and I WILL NOT tolerate being pushed in like that.

I do not understand the rush for elevators, red lights, subway doors or dangerously running for a bus or streetcar. I remember several times on the subway seeing women with strollers run for the subway doors and get the stroller with child caught in the doors. How idiotic is that?! What happens if the sensors aren't working properly? "It's the TTC's fault!!" 

A few days ago on King St while walking home during rush hour I saw a guy dash across the street in front of a stopped streetcar to try to catch the other streetcar going the other way which was also stopped (there was an slight overlap of the two side-by-side.) He came up close to the side of the first streetcar as he was trying to cut in front of it so the driver didn't see him and suddenly a gap opened in front so the streetcar lurched forward. The driver barely caught him in his sight and stopped before creaming the guy. MORON! You're in awful rush hour traffic doing very slow stop and go and you risked your life to catch a streetcar?! (Even if it wasn't rush hour that would still be stupid.)


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

Quite frequently here in Montréal (and all the time in New York City the last time I was there), people treat red lights as stop signs - they slow down, maybe stop if there's traffic, but then cruise on through. I've had two very close calls at the end of my street when I started to drive through a light that had already been green for 30 seconds or more but there were idiots who barely slowed down for their red light. Those people should lose their licenses.


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## lister (Apr 3, 2009)

Driving in Taiwan is especially galling and infuriating. If I drove over there it's only on the highways otherwise I'll have a serious case of road rage.

Everyone pretty much does whatever they want. Scooters are everywhere and very rarely follow any rules. Pedestrians do not have the right of way at intersections (being a big intimidating foreigner I get some courtesy probably out of fear that if I can still stand after being hit, they're in for a world of hurt!) Red lights are ignored, driving in any traffic lane including the scooter lanes, cutting in front of left turners to make their own left turn, parking wherever, U-turns everywhere, you name it.

Whole families on scooters with only the parent wearing a helmet (I've seen as many as five kids!) I've even seen the family dog with it's front legs on the large speedometer and it's hind legs on the chest of the scooter driver. With four kids as well. No helmets.

Terrible!


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