cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/15976653
Man with suspended license appears in Michigan court over Zoom while driving
On one hand, yes this was terribly stupid.
One the other, I understand why people are forced to drive under desperate circumstances to get to work, doctors appointments, etc. because public transit in most places is so bad it’s worthless.
Indeed, when you experience the public transportation system in the 1st World EU countries and Japan, the USA is decades behind them. However, if you look at the US public transportation system until the mid 1960’s, it was there.
However, if you look at the US public transportation system until the mid 1960’s, it was there.
On that note, it’s worth bringing up that Los Angeles, a city known for its horrible traffic conditions, once had the largest electric rail system in the world before it was completely eliminated in favor of the gridlocked highways it has now.
All explained in the documentary, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Indeed, when you experience the public transportation system in the 1st World EU countries and Japan, the USA is decades behind them.
I think thinking of it this way only makes sense if commitment and desire to create good public transportation is somewhat comparable - which it’s not. In the US (and a lot of Canada) there simply isn’t any desire to properly invest in public transit. When public transit projects fail and a government is held accountable at the ballot box, the following government just slashes everything and washes their hands of it instead of trying to fix things. They’re not behind in time, they’re behind in commitment.
There’s plenty of desire here, there’s just no desire in our overlord billionaire class.
Fortunately for our billionaire overlords, we’re still very fond of them.
Exactly, and it’s good old fashioned racism that they use to get away with it, too.
Public transit still has a stigma in many parts of the US as being for poor people who can’t afford cars. And as it happens, nonwhite Americans are a lot more likely to be economically disadvantaged due to institutionalized racism. On top of that, they are also a lot more likely to live in urban environments where there is some semblance of public transit due to the phenomena of white flight, where white people by-and-large started moving out of cities to get away from the coloreds, and so riding the train or taking the bus has become “out of style”.
Basically, a white middle class American is likelier to reject the option of public transit because they don’t want to share space with poor minorities, and so public transit is limited to urban pockets surrounded by an impenetrable wall of NIMBYism. Plus no one with the resources to afford a car wants to support measures to create more environments where cars are not needed, so attempts to improve existing public transit often fail.
I lost my license years ago because I could not pay my child support because of a work injury. I had no option but to continue driving. Then almost did not get a new job because I did not have a license. It was a vicious circle. 11 years after no longer having child support it is still effecting me, one state suspended my license because I was driving on a suspended license (but I was never notified) and even though another state gave me a license when I moved, they also suspended my license (again without notification).
My daughter went through this - Lost her license at 17, continued to drive, and each year got caught resulting in another year of suspended license. This went on for about 7 years. She finally went to the court and asked for a hardship license. It was a pain in the ass because she had to keep a log with her that documented every trip and her insurance was crazy expensive, but after a year of that, she got her license back. It sucks, but in the end paying a couple hundred dollars and going through the real process with the courts for a year was much cheaper than continuing to pay bail and tow fees.
Why would a 17 year child need to be able to drive a car?
School, work, extracurriculars, general 17-year-old activities.
Here everyone just uses a bicycle. We don’t even let children drive and it’s a non-issue.
That’s not really an option here because of distance, weather, and infrastructure. You could do it, but it would mean riding in a regular traffic lane. It’s more common in urban areas or small towns. We have bike paths in my suburban area, but they’re mostly used for fun (behind houses, around a lake, through a park, …). We sometimes ride to get a coffee or to the library, but it’s mostly a fun afternoon activity, not a quick way to run errands or get to work/school.
As a Dutch person I can’t imagine how you can live like that. My bike is my primary mode of transportation and it’s infinitely more convenient than using my car. It’s faster to get around, you can actually ride into the city center and park your bike right outside any shops you need to go to. With a car you need to park it at the edge of the shopping district and walk everywhere (while paying an absolute fortune for parking).
Even when the car is a little faster, I go by bike anyway. My parents live one city over and while it’s 20 minutes by car and 40 by bike, I’d rather cycle. Instead of sitting in a stuffy car on a boring road breathing in the exhaust fumes of the guy in front of me, I can ride my bike through the fields and woods, enjoy the fresh air and the sounds of nature. I go months between uses of my car.
In many parts of the US it’s typical to start driving several years earlier than that, and realistically there is no way to get anywhere other than by car. Until kids can drive, they might quite literally be unable to go anywhere or do anything without an adult to drive them. It’s sprawl to an absurd degree.
Even where bikes could theoretically be used from a distance perspective, it would likely be way more dangerous and way less practical (no bike lanes and every road is full of cars, no bike parking, you’re never getting to a bike shop for repairs without a car, …)
I bet Uber would have been cheaper than what he is facing now.
This might be a dumber move than the guy facing domestic violence charges calling in from the same house as the defendant.
Any context?
Yeah, that was a dumb move but it shows how unreasonable driving alternatives are. People have to drive in the US
I mean, couldn’t he at least park? Who’d attend a court hearing while driving anyway?
Well, we know at least a new person that would.
“Yo, Judge, is this gonna—man, fuck you bitch, I got the right of way motherfucker!—Sorry, like I was saying, is this gonna take a long time? I got places I got to be man, I mean, you’re honorific, sir—Man, fuck off cunt, you ain’t got no room to fit that shit here, wait your turn bitch!—Excuse that, I uhh, I rest my case, thank you.”
I’m sure every attorney has stories about clients where they’ve wondered, “how can you be this fucking stupid?”
But at what level do you go, “you know what? I’m done practicing law. I didn’t go to law school and pass the bar so I could manage a fucking circus. I’m going to be a sheep farmer because sheep might be dumb but at least they don’t show up virtually to their hearing for driving on a suspended license WHILE DRIVING ON A SUSPENDED LICENSE!” Angrily swipes everything off the desk
I am an engineer and have clients that make me regret my degree choice, fairly often. So yes I imagine so.
That awkward silence was effing wild, lol. Judge was giving him the hard stare down.
LOL…freak’n idiot.
y’all crack me up I saw the painting first
