Is emptying a cup of soda (with ice) onto the road dangerous?
Heated conversation on the way home yesterday. (Weather was cloudy and about 60 degrees)
I had about half a cup of soda (still with ice in it) in a plastic cup in the car. I had already imbibed too much of it, my bladder was full, and I had no intention of drinking any more of it.
So I opened the car window (actually I was stopped at a stop sign when I did this), and poured out the soda, ice and all. I retained the plastic cup in the car – I’m not about to litter. And then I accelerated.
My passenger ripped into me, saying “someone could slide on that ice. What you did was dangerous to the next drive behind you”
My answer was “this was a 1 foot by 1 foot patch of liquid and ice which is going to melt/dry in a matter of 10 minutes” and “even if one wheel slid on the soda and the ice, there are three other wheels that were hugging the road”.
My feeling is that there was no danger, no harm.
What is the collective feeling of Flutherdom? Danger or No Danger?
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My response would have been more “Why the fuck are you talking to me?”
No, no danger. Seriously. Whacko.
Was your passenger below the age of 6?
Oh, wait. Passenger.
I thought you were talking about the driver in the car next to you.
Not so much the “Frak off” comment then.
Since you were stopped at the time – where the driver behind you (if one even exists) will also have to be stopped – there is surely no danger whatsoever. In fact, even if the ice weren’t going to melt, the danger is minimal.
The driver behind you will have to be already decelerating to come to a complete stop at or very near the same place where you were. Assuming that he doesn’t notice the wet spot, and even assuming that his wheels are a foot to the left of where your track is, he should be at a near-zero velocity by the time his front wheel hits that spot. Even if he couldn’t stop “on the spot” (given the assumptions above), he’d slide maybe – what? – a foot or less?
No danger. (In any case, it’s unlikely that the driver is going to be so wide of your track or fail to spot and avoid the wet spot anyway.)
No. And you might want to choose not to be a passenger in this person’s vehicle, since he doesn’t appear to know anything about driving. What does he do, swerve for every wet patch just in case?
The danger is your passenger.
I see a bumper sticker here…
I brake for ice cubes. lol
LOL, what a moron. Really? A car slipping because of some ice cubes?
I wouldn’t do it most likely. I wouldn’t empty a soda into the street. Water yes (unless it is wintertime, then still no). Soda is sugary and sticky and I would not just dump it anywhere feeling like nature will get rid of it, unless you were actually in a rainstorm.
Is it so hard to just wait to get to where you are going and pour it down a drain?
I totally agree with @JLeslie! Furthermore, I submit that it’s an example of the insensitive disregard for others and the environment which, sadly, has become the norm.
@JLeslie @Pachy The OP is only asking about whether it would be dangerous to other drivers. Probably a number of us would agree that it’s in poor taste, regardless of whether it is dangerous or not.
as @dappled_leaves notes, my question was about danger and safety, not about politeness.
Although I have to wonder about the over-the-top environmental concern espoused by @pachy and by @JLeslie . We’re talking 15 ounces of some sort of soda, being poured on to asphalt. I’d say that the paving has already ruined the environment. The soda is going to evaporate in a matter of minutes. Is that really an environmental threat? I don’t see it that way at all.
By the time your car had moved away from where you poured the soda,the liquid had been absorbed into the pavement, leaving only ice cubes. And any car whose tires hit the ice cubes would crush them and liquify them from the heat of the tires. Any water remaining would then flow into the tread of the tire.
Your passenger is a whacko.
@JLeslie Ants and other insects will probably do a decent job cleaning up the sugar, besides, some sugar is far from the worst thing that we dump around or leave for animals to eat.
Also a question for OP, do you live somewhere that gets ice/snow during the winter?
I don’t think of it as an environmental concern. I guess since I was raised by people who were raised in The Bronx, we don’t throw anything on the ground but water. I’m not saying everyone in the Bronx abides by that. Add that I live in FL and here it would even bother me more in the heat to throw soda on the ground.
Why can’t you throw it out when you get to your destination?
Sugar attracts animals.
Your passenger is too stupid to live. That amount of ice isn’t going to cause anyone to slide. The sugar could be an annoyance, but that’s about it.
Sugar attracts animals, the sugar does not evaporate. Animals can cause a car to swerve. There you go, A+B can = C.
No, dumping your soda on the road was not hazardous in any way, shape or form that I find credulous.
This is no win. If I suggest that you drive to a large park, walk your cup to the middle, and empty it someplace where any animal attracted will be risk free, then someone is going to say “You’re wasting gas!” How is pouring it down the drain so that it can be mixed with fecal material and treated in a waste water facility more environmentally friendly?
or throw it in a garbage can
@Adirondackwannabe “Your passenger is too stupid to live.” hahaha
There’s a lot of those passengers out there.
@Coloma And even more drivers like that!
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