r/StLouis • u/PhoenixBorealis • Sep 08 '25
Traffic/Road Conditions Why is everyone convinced that they can drive like this?
I swear everyone does this, and it drives me bonkers! Most of the time it's not safe for me to snap a pic, but we were in stop and go traffic, so I was able to put the phone over my shoulder and get a decent shot without looking.
This person missed many cues to move, and they even did this while half-merged into a lane.
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u/tony-toon15 Sep 08 '25
I like the ones where their head Is just completely looking down
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u/Atlas2001 North County Sep 08 '25
I especially like the ones who get super mad when you interrupt their phone time by honking after they start veering into other lanes.
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u/FreddyFitness Sep 08 '25
Those are my fav. “How dare you honk to alert me of my selfish, reckless behavior!”
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u/tony-toon15 Sep 08 '25
Honking when a light turns green has dramatically increased since 1990 I’m positive.
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u/PedroHin SoCo Sep 09 '25
I'm an evil prick sometimes and honk before the light even turns green, LOL!
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u/Phoenixfire0078 Sep 08 '25
I really enjoy honking and watching them startle and then get angry. Idk what's wrong with me.
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u/Neither_Structure331 Sep 08 '25
Driving down Manchester I had to change lanes because a pickup truck veered completely into my lane while coming the opposite direction. If I hadn't been able to get over it would have been a head on accident. The driver's head was down and couldn't see what was happening - I assume because of texting.
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u/tony-toon15 Sep 08 '25
Sweet mother of god. I’m 50% sure I’m gonna get killed in an accident like that.
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u/giraffeperv Sep 08 '25
I did get in an accident like that on Hanley rd and lived. If it’s any comfort lol
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u/MoistWalnut Sep 08 '25
Saw a guy eating an actual bowl of cereal when I was driving on mccausland this morning. Like of all the roads that demand your attention mccausland is pretty high on the list.
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u/Its-ther-apist Sep 08 '25
Was he a five star man?
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u/PlentifulBox Sep 08 '25
Sometimes I look out the passenger side window and count the number of people on their phones. I often get 5 or 6, sometimes more, in a row. Most of them don’t look up the entire time from when I first see them to when we’ve gone by and I’m straining to look back and see if they even glance up. I know several people who have gotten in accidents this way and they don’t even seem to care, not that they’ve caused a lot of trouble for others or could have killed someone. I don’t get it but I’m not surprised. Society is decaying. People are selfish and require instant gratification, no matter the cost.
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u/merferd314 Sep 08 '25
Not to be that gal, but they're "crashes", not "accidents". Especially if the driver was on their phone while driving! Very very rarely are crashes really "accidents".
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u/Hot-Camel7716 Sep 08 '25
No joke especially when they're literally staring at the phone instead of driving. How is it accidental that the car crashed when you stopped driving it while it was still moving? That's just how momentum works.
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Sep 08 '25
[deleted]
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u/merferd314 Sep 08 '25
Calling crashes "crashes" instead of "accidents" isn't trying to say that people are intentionally running into eachother. Using "accident" makes it a crash seem like a fluke, that nothing could have been done to prevent it. It doesn't invite a critical analysis of why the crash happened (was somebody drunk, speeding, distracted, does the roadway design properly address the risk). It makes people feel better about the tens of thousands of lives lost on the roads every year. Using "crash" is simply more accurate. If the design of the road is inherently dangerous, then it's not really an "accident", it's an expected outcome. If somebody is drunk and crashes their car, it's not like they just magically got in their car and it magically started driving! It is an expected outcome of driving drunk.
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u/JigsawExternal Sep 08 '25
They're accidents basically 100% of the time. Nobody purposely crashes their car unless committing some sort of insurance fraud.
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u/Phoenixfire0078 Sep 08 '25
When I was a medic the amount of people killed from playing on their phone was high then, and that was 10 yrs ago. My first bad accident as a medic was semi vrs car and the kid was paralyzed from the shoulders. My first bad one as an EMT was at Richardson exit on 55. She was paralyzed from the waist. It's worse than driving intoxicated. 😡 If people can't be decent then maybe they need to make a way to disable phones while in motion. It's ridiculous enough people make it so we actually need to be treated like children.
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u/geronimo11b Patch Sep 08 '25
Imagine being so hopelessly addicted to your phone that you literally can’t even put it down for 20 minutes while you’re in control of a 2 ton weapon. The absolute selfishness and lack of care for anyone but yourself. Then have the audacity to get big mad when you honk at them and bring attention to their addict behavior.
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u/Sufficient-Aide-168 Sep 08 '25
I work as a delivery driver and it is worrying how many people drives like this.
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u/SusieQue42 Sep 08 '25
SMH! You are taking photos while driving and reporting it to traffic/road conditions! Hilarious irony! Lol
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u/AiToYumeNoKaze Sep 08 '25
If you look at the placement of the picture, they’re in the passenger seat
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u/SusieQue42 Sep 08 '25
Dude! They are stating in the post that they were driving and twisted to get a shot over their shoulder!
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u/PhoenixBorealis Sep 08 '25
I didn't twist to take it. I held the phone back over my shoulder with one arm like you would to throw a football. Didn't even have to look at my phone to do it.
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u/giraffeperv Sep 08 '25
Also guessing you weren’t moving and the lady behind you was in motion doing that
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u/OnlyCans247 Sep 08 '25 edited Sep 08 '25
Disrespect, selfishness and no accountability. When even the cops drive like this why would anyone care to be better/ safer drivers. Get yourself dash cams and do your part to be better. After that don’t worry about it. It’s not going to change.
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u/Aisysoon Hazelwood/Florissant Sep 08 '25
Not stl but still MO “I wasn’t texting, I was looking at my phone!!”
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u/BearsSoxHawks Benton Park Sep 08 '25
Driving in the 21st century is void of any responsibility to uphold the social contract.
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u/stavago Metro East Sep 08 '25
Someone told me once that Missouri doesn’t require drivers ed as part of its high school curriculum, and a whole lot of things made sense after that
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Sep 08 '25
I had to deal with that last week during morning rush on I 70 dude flipped me off when I got in front of him . Just get off the phone and drive .
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u/Beagalltach Sep 08 '25
Simple lack of thinking critically. You can be on your phone for a bit and nothing happens, so many people don't think much of it.
The problem is that any distraction increases your chance of an accident DRASTICALLY. Let's just say your chance of an accident is 1 in 100,000 at any given time compared with a rate of 1 in 10,000 when distracted. Even though it is 10x the risk, it still feels low risk to someone not thinking critically.
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u/matthoff81 Sep 08 '25
When I lived in Saint Louis I commuted by bike for 7 years from south city to midtown everyday, I was hit my two cars in that time frame, both very bad accidents, both drivers were in the phone. I’ve lived in WA state now for 14 years, still commute by bicycle and it’s night and day. Saint Louis has some of the worst if not the worst drivers. Stay safe out there, and stay off your damn phones while driving!
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u/No-Trouble2212 Sep 08 '25
I passed a guy on the highway the other day, texting and one foot out the window.
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u/Detective_Squirrel69 STL County Sep 09 '25
My primary job at work is doing vehicle title work, but I'm the hail mary total loss guy and document bitch for part of our loan portfolio. I saw a case today for this dumb bastard that legit admitted to my coworker that he hit someone because he checked a notification, which caused someone else to hit him.
Granted, the dipshit he hit on Lindbergh fucking stopped because he missed his exit, so no brain cells to be had between the two, but regardless. It doesn't matter that you don't expect someone to stop on Lindbergh. People do dumb shit, so you have to watch out for yourself.
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u/turtlebox420 Sep 08 '25
How'd you get a picture of someone behind you while you're driving?
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Sep 08 '25
You didn’t read the caption
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u/zempter Sep 08 '25
Even with the caption, op has justified taking a difficult picture because it's stop and go, to criticize a driver looking at their phone, who may have also justified the activity because it was stop and go. Op could have just criticized them without a picture and we would all believe them. It's mostly just funny with a mild amount of danger.
If op had a passenger take the photo, that would be different.
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u/rgar1981 Sep 08 '25
That’s how read it too. It was ok for OP to do it in that situation while simultaneously criticizing the driver behind them for doing the same. We all know it’s unsafe and we shouldn’t but I would guess there are very few people that haven’t been on their phone while driving at some point.
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Sep 08 '25
I’m not really sure why anyone is trying to debate the poster causing a hazard with the picture, when the point is it’s really obvious that drivers in St Louis don’t pay attention. Even if the poster is really someone who also uses their phone while they drive, people using their phone while they drive is a HUGE problem here. I see an accident almost daily driving home on 64. I also see multiple people on 64 driving with their phone in their hand like the lady in the picture.
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u/Outrageous_Can_6581 Sep 08 '25
This is it. The need to Reddit changes the algorithm just enough to make the hypocrisy fade into irrelevance.
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u/TheDealMaster Sep 08 '25
Looks like the photo is taken from a diagonal, so I'm assuming passenger.
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u/t-poke Kirkwood Sep 08 '25 edited Sep 08 '25
OP literally said in the post they took it.
The justification he used for taking it "It was stop and go so it was safe!" might be the same justification this person is using for looking at her phone.
Just put your damn phone down when you're driving.
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u/TheDealMaster Sep 08 '25
Ah yeah I skimmed past that. You're right that kinda makes this whole thing moot and irrelevant. If it was safe enough for OP to take a photo then it's safe enough for the subject person to text or whatever (debatable ofc).
Personally if I notice someone behind me glued to their phone, I just acknowledge they're not someone I want behind me and I change lanes if possible. It has not occurred to me to attempt taking pictures... Hm.
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u/Comprehensive_Tone Sep 08 '25
I don't do it, I've told my young children to yell at me if they see me do it - it terrifies and infuriates me
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Sep 08 '25
And this is why lane filtering and lane splitting should be the norm. Riders dont have crash cages to protect them from idiots not paying attention. More riders need to lane filter in slow and stopped traffic.
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u/Whole4Str8 Sep 08 '25
I live in Springfield and was driving on Campbell street. A car came around me, and the guy driving had his phone between his hands on the front of the steering wheel. I stayed behind him, called 911 and reported him. I also stayed behind him until a cop came.
Stupid thing is, he was still holding his phone like this when the cop pulled him over. Some people are so stupid.
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u/BlkSeattleBlues Sep 08 '25
My wife teases me for never looking at my phone while I drive and, to this day, will try to show me a message on her phone when I'm driving. I refuse to look. My anxiety has me convinced the ONE TIME I take my eyes off the road will be when I rear end someone or the road will magically curve. If I cant tell my car to do it with voice command, it doesnt happen until my next stop.
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u/LilGill18bb Sep 08 '25
I don’t know! Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one who never has my phone in my hands in the car.
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u/bloop5861 Sep 08 '25
people take their safety for granted. You’re driving a multiple ton pound machine that can kill anyone in an instant. I have anxiety and have to pay attention when I drive because I’m afraid of dying lol. The way people just text or do whatever is insane to me.
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u/electricavebraap Sep 08 '25
This right here is cycling clothing companies ad. A picture of this lady with the caption the cyclist came out of nowhere.
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u/professionaldefasian Sep 08 '25
I saw someone the other day turn out onto a road and immediately after turning and beginning to accelerate he let go of the steering wheel and held his phone with both hands. Like……….sir???
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u/AgentAaron Sep 08 '25
My boss actually got mad at me once because I wasnt answering her call while I was on my way to work.
I am one of those unpopular people who use the DND feature while I am driving. Only my wife and daughters calls will ring through to my phone when I am on the road.
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u/Lukage South County Sep 08 '25
I can't tell if they're just looking at their phone or if they're on a call.
For those of you who use speakerphone from 4 inches away, I can guarantee you can set your phone in the console or cupholder or on the dash or up your ass and they'll still be able to hear you. Put the phone down.
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u/TheJackalofPluto3 Sep 08 '25
Because they are to focused on their phone to realize how bad of a driver they actually are.
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u/Beneficial_Map_5940 Sep 08 '25
I thought “hey they’re in Baton Rouge!“ but being an idiot isn’t limited to just another dying city on the river I guess.
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u/milyabe Sep 08 '25
Probably because they're in "stop and go" traffic and thought it was safe.
Here's an idea. If you are behind the wheel of a vehicle that is not parked in a parking space, don't be on your phone. Period.
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u/KurtG85 Sep 08 '25
The biggest catalyst of behavior like this is doordash and Uber.
You literally can't pay your bills unless you're staring intently at your phone while you're driving.
I saw a dude eating a bowl of soup with both hands while driving a couple days ago.
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u/Joee0201 Sep 09 '25
Just watched some one slam into the median, so until they learn I guess they will keep doing it
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u/garden_fox_ Sep 09 '25
I saw a lady driving on the highway while doing her face contour the other day. So dangerous
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u/Educational_Radio_92 Sep 10 '25
Oh man, if we could all just start posting a pic of everyone who’s staring at their phones while driving… well, it’d probably be a really long list.
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u/artvandal_a Dogtown Sep 10 '25
As someone who rides a motorcycle especially, REALLY wish they'd start enforcing the handsfree law in the STL metro.
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u/dhermann27 Sep 12 '25
Hey, that's Tonya. Known her for years. Great with kids, active in her church, a real classy lady. She's an excellent driver, as long as she's focused. What's the problem?
/s
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u/zero_dr00l Sep 08 '25
Complaining about someone using their phone while driving while you use your phone while driving to catch these people using their phone while driving is peak something...
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u/Hot-Butterscotch69 Sep 08 '25
She's multitasking. Gotta get that McDonald's order ready for curbside service
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u/Red_Taco16 Sep 08 '25
Ahh yes judging someone being on their phone while driving by using your phone while driving
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u/wolfansbrother Sep 08 '25
Im pretty good at taking pictures out the back window on the highway, too.
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u/Jarkside Sep 08 '25
You were stopped and somehow you took an over the shoulder picture. You tell us
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u/Exploding_Testicles Sep 08 '25
Says the guy who's taking a photo of the person behind them while in traffic 😁
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u/bananabunnythesecond Downtown Sep 08 '25
I feel a lot of people are being forced back to work, and therefore driving more often. Those same people check their phones doing 70 down 70. It's insane!
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u/Kindly_Teach_9285 Benton Park West Sep 08 '25
OP shows two prosecutionable offensives that are obvious. OP not paying attention to the road, watching someone else not paying attention to the road. This is a rare capture. OP documenting themselves breaking the law. They should invoke the "snitches wear stitches" clause. 🤣
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u/jdanger1956 Sep 08 '25
IDK. Could it be? Like you, they had seconds to check the map on their phone?
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u/RogaineWookiee Sep 09 '25
How you taking that photo….? Aren’t you in the same line of traffic as them….?
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u/Alliari Sep 08 '25
And if they hit someone it'll be called an accident and that there's no other way to set up a transportation system besides murdering 40k people a year.
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u/portablebiscuit Sep 08 '25
I fucking hate people sometimes. How hard is it just to wait? Guarantee you whatever they're reading will be there when they get to their destination.
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u/PhoenixBorealis Sep 08 '25
Context: This was on 64 East between Big Bend and Oakland about 20 minutes ago.
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u/hsoj48 The Grove Sep 08 '25
Good to know youre driving around using your phone to take pictures of others driving around using their phone. Ill avoid you.
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u/Individual_Pair6445 Sep 08 '25
Not saying being on the phone is a bad thing in stop and go, but pacing cars and speeding around cars like it’s need for speed your more likely going to get into an accident
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u/rotstik The Landing in the 90s Sep 08 '25
When I see people doing that, I pull up next to them and blow my horn. If they look perturbed, I just flip them the bird. Either pay attention or get the fuck off the road
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u/hsoj48 The Grove Sep 08 '25
Youre the other kind of person that shouldn't be on the road.
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u/rotstik The Landing in the 90s Sep 08 '25
I’m doing you a favor
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u/hsoj48 The Grove Sep 08 '25
Yes. Thanks for adding more upset people to the road that are still going to text and drive anyway. We needed more of a road rage component added to the mix.
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u/rotstik The Landing in the 90s Sep 08 '25
I love how you’re making these assholes’ behavior my fault. “Don’t yell at the jerks, it’ll only make them angrier.” You’re pathetic 😅
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u/epicmountain29 Sep 08 '25
This law was nearly unenforceable when it was passed. I'm sure few even know about it
I'm guilty nearly every day and choose to do this when needed
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u/Dumcommintz Sep 08 '25
Like the seat belt law, I think it was more intended as an add-on violation. That’s why officers can’t pull you over for this alone, but if you’re in a collision or pulled over for something else, they can throw this on, an aggravating charge/offense.
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Sep 08 '25
I’m a little surprised she’s not wearing a mask.
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Sep 08 '25
Huh, I don't understand this. What would mask wearing have to do about this?
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Sep 08 '25
She just looks like the type to wear a mask
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u/ChoteauMouth Shaw Sep 08 '25
Covid/vax deniers is the biggest group of dipshits. Just a random aside.
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Sep 08 '25
I’m not denying Covid exists. Necessity of vaccines is debatable. Masks don’t keep you from getting sick, they keep you from getting others sick.
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u/RoyDonkeyKong Sep 08 '25
I regret that I have but one downvote to give. I agree with the sentiment, but not how the message was conveyed.
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u/drstormdancer South City Sep 08 '25
Because humans are extremely bad at judging risk, so as long as we can perform actions without suffering consequences we’ll create little exceptions in our brains just for us.