Setting the Tone for the Day

Some relevant sections of New York's Vehicle and Traffic Law:

VTL § 1110(a):  "Every person shall obey the instructions of any official traffic-control device applicable to him placed in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, unless otherwise directed by a traffic or police officer, subject to the exceptions granted the driver of an authorized emergency vehicle in this title."

VTL § 1102. "No person shall fail or refuse to comply with any lawful order or direction of any police officer or flagperson or other person duly empowered to regulate traffic."

There is this one 4-way intersection not too far from my home.  One of the streets comes in at an odd angle, and it is a cul-de-sac with about 9 homes, plus a driveway that accesses the rear lot of a business establishment.  This street gets a very short green light, and the cycle of the traffic light skips this street every other time.  I have never timed it, but I would guess that in a three minute period, this street might get 15 or 20 seconds.  It is rare that more than 3 cars are waiting for a green to exit this street on to the main highway.  The residents of this quiet street apparently are quite content with the arrangement.

But today, there was a crew doing some work on the main highway, so they routed eastbound traffic through the business's parking lot, around to the back driveway, and onto this street.  And a flag crew (two flagmen and one flagwoman) directed the traffic through the intersection.

Now, according to the two relevant sections of New York's Vehicle and Traffic Law, whenever there is a duly authorized person directing traffic, the duly authorized person trumps the traffic light.  Indeed, this is the law in most if not all states.

So what happened?  I was in the line of cars that was directed through the parking lot of the business, and through that intersection.  And the delay would likely have not been too significant -- Except for the two shmucks who insisted on waiting until the light turned green, while disregarding the flagwoman's directives to drive through the intersection and onto the main highway.

What should have taken four minutes at worst took about nine or ten minutes.

And that was about 10 AM.  I shall not now detail the other frustrations, caused by various and sundry stupid idiots, that punctuated my day today.

An Important Person

I was in Pennsylvania yesterday and this morning. Returning home was a challenge, what with all of the flooding, but I am now safe and sound back home.

Yesterday, en route from my morning appointment, the car in which I was sitting was approaching an intersection, and the driver, an old friend of mine, noticed a funeral procession approaching from the left, the cars bearing a suction-cupped purple "Funeral" flag. He said, "I wonder who they're burying now?"

I, of course, had no idea, but counted 7 cars after the hearse, and speculated, correctly, that they were headed to the well-known cemetery about 2 miles down the road which was at the next intersection.

The car in front of us turned on his lights and flashers and latched on to the procession. My friend wondered aloud whether he should do likewise, and thus be given pass to go through the numerous stop signs along the road to the cemetery.

I told him to go for it, which he did. We probably could have made slightly better time via an alternate route, what with the slow speed of the funeral cortege (but we got to go through the stop signs). But I think that we did the right thing.

First of all, at Jewish funerals (which this was definitely not), those who attend the services at the funeral home but who, for whatever reason, do not go to the cemetery afterward, often follow the hearse for three steps in order to participate, at least symbolically, in escorting the deceased to the final resting place.

Secondly, along similar logic, we and the car in front of us raised the number of cars following the hearse from 7 to 9, an increase of not quite 29 percent. Note that the more cars a bystander sees following the hearse, the more important they will believe the decedent was in life. Anyone who sees a hearse followed by a long string of cars in the funeral procession invariably thinks, "hey, I don't know who they are burying, but it must really be someone important!"

So our car and the other tag-along increased the decedent's importance rating by 29 percent.

May the decedent, whomever he or she was, rest in peace!

The Senator's Husband

This really, really felt good!

One of the Department secretaries where I teach informed me that ex-President Clinton would be coming to campus at about 8 PM this evening, and requested that I inform my students of that fact.

I told her that my classes were more important than our Senator's husband!

The midterm exam is next week, so I reviewed for it in class. I ended my last class on the early side, and promptly departed campus, just as the traffic was beginning to build up.

Surely I'll read about it in the campus newspaper next week. Which is better than having to go and see him in person!

And I never did get around to announcing the Senator's husband's appearance on campus to my classes.