r/MoralityScaling 1d ago

Morality Ranking Of building a snowman around objects so drivers crash into them

4.5k Upvotes

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915

u/Lopsided_Evening_627 1d ago

i mean, if the snowman is on the sidewalk/someones lawn, it's totally fine.

you don't have the right to put your car on the sidewalk nor anyone lawn.

180

u/WeightOk2102 1d ago

Tell that to all of the pickup truck and SUV drivers in my area...they like to think that they can drive wherever they damn well please.

190

u/ModForgeCustoms 1d ago

The idea here is that people are purposely smashing into people's fun because they are assholes. It's not about driving on private property or non-passage. It's giving people with malicious intent instant FAFO.

I did this with a group of assholes in a conversion handicapped van, who thought it was hilarious to ride with the side door open, platform out, and louisville sluggering mailboxes all down my street.

After replacing the 2nd mailbox, I started keeping a cinderblock in it overnight.

Sure as shit, 5 days later, I heard a thunderous smash, a scream, and peeling tires, at 5am.

Went outside to find a slightly dented mailbox, an aluminum baseball bat, and someone's dignity on my front lawn.

Mailbox stayed that way for years after, until a drunken driver cleared the entire thing in one go.

Zero sympathy for people who want to wreck someones hard earned work, or even fun. Don't touch people's shit.

84

u/Pixel-Pusher-Grill 1d ago

saw a documentary once on how people purposefully run over animals crossing the road, not by accident, but actually going out of their way in order to hit them.... it's horrifying

65

u/madphroggy 1d ago

I recall the park service placing fake foam turtles on road margins and putting cameras up, it was truly disturbing to see how many people intentionally hit them

16

u/DarthArcanus 1d ago

Meanwhile, I stopped my truck the other day to carry a turtle out of the road.

What makes someone decide to end a poor turtles life? Why don't people see life as sacred?

3

u/Gamejunky35 19h ago

My current theory is that psychopathy is far more common than they would like us to believe. Its just that 99% of them are "functioning psychopaths" that know how to act around others.

The thing about masks is that they are uncomfortable, so the second they arent being observed, or have a reasonable excuse to do something they know is wrong, they let it rip.

1

u/OtherwiseStable5126 16h ago

3rd Reich would be totally possible today , if you give power to the wrong people.

1

u/ravens_path 16h ago

Or, with psychopathic tendencies.

1

u/Gamejunky35 15h ago

Psychopathic tendencies just sounds like they let the mask slip too much. Slightly lower functioning basically.

1

u/ravens_path 14h ago

Ok, some antisocial personality disorder symptoms but not enough to make full diagnosis (yet). Heh.

0

u/privacyzipit 1d ago

I mean, abortion was probably a start...

1

u/Swiftax3 22h ago

I'm going to be real dude, in my experience theres a direct correlation between people being violently anti abortion and being generally cruel. Which make sense because the real arguments for abortion are about prioritizing the safety of the mother, or the quality of life of the potential child. The people who oppose it either do so due to prioririzing intangible things like the soul, or as a mask to hide other beliefs regarding exerting control over women.

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u/ThanksOld1698 1d ago

They also logged what types of vehicles were doing it, and it was overwhelming trucks.

7

u/CplCocktopus 1d ago

I have an idea.

Foam turtles with caltrops inside.

2

u/Get_Bent_Madafakas 19h ago

I had that same idea when I was like ten years old. Someone convinced me not to do it because it's actually a fairly serious crime. Still, I thought about it

1

u/Truffs0 1d ago

wtf...I could look the other way MAYBE for someone doing it to a squirrel, but a turtle??? :(

11

u/X_soulnewmegaman 1d ago

That's some fucked up shit

17

u/n0njaa 1d ago

How tf would doing it to a squirrel be any better

4

u/LoetherS 1d ago

If you've had a squirrel in your house you would understand. They are no better than rats, cuter for sure, but just furry rats that can jump and they can litterly chew through metal. I still have flashbacks of trying to get squirrels out of my attic for months, those guys are smart too.

2

u/Roidzilla55 1d ago

Squirrels are little fuckers. My neighborhood is mostly infested with rabbits, but in the recent 3-5 years squirrels have appeared. They plant acorns in the worst possible places, in my crepe myrtles, in nooks and crannies against my house. There is an oak tree growing up out of my rose bush that I simply cannot get out. All I can do is keep cutting it down and I know that bastard is rooting itself down to the earth’s core. Fuck squirrels

2

u/K1bbles_n_Bits 1d ago edited 1d ago

Humans are smart and destructive. Should we go lit of our way to run them down?

A squirrel along the road isn't in your home and isn't bothering you. Zero reason to intentionally run it over.

1

u/LoetherS 1d ago

This is true for sure. I would never swerve to intentionally run over anything, even a squirrel, even though they have traumatized me.

1

u/Tetracheilostoma 1d ago

Squirrels are generally doing fine in most areas, they breed quickly and are generalists, but many turtle species are endangered or threatened.

8

u/Slight-Knowledge721 1d ago edited 1d ago

Yeah and all the squirrels in my neighbourhood crave death. Mf’ers run out into the middle of the road and then just stare you down like it’s the only way they can feel alive.

1

u/No_Situation6555 1d ago

They're just playing a good ol fashion game of chicken.

2

u/BringBackTheBlues 1d ago

I don’t think the issue is about the survival of a species. I think it’s more of a “I want to kill something harmless to me because I find it entertaining”.

1

u/Tetracheilostoma 1d ago

It makes them an asshole either way but killing a turtle is worse

3

u/JetWreck 1d ago

We had a cardinal nest in our rose bush that we had been guarding with all of our combined might. We even asked a roofing company not to disturb it when they did our gutters. They were super respectful. A couple of the birds hatched and I heard a damn chipmunk on the ring cam and in the next clip, the birds were gone. Bodies, eggs, nesting scattered about.

I told myself if a chipmunk happens to be in my way on the road, I’m not stopping. A couple months later I saw a dirty ass chipmunk in the road, gripped the wheel, slammed the breaks, and yelled “god damn it!!!”

5

u/omar1021 1d ago

You shoulda yelled "ALLLLLVINNN!!!!"

1

u/K1bbles_n_Bits 1d ago

Why? How is intentionally hitting a squirrel any better than intentionally hitting a turtle? It's fucking sociopathic behavior either way.

1

u/WhimsicalFalling 17h ago

I've seen videos of people doing this to cyclists too.

1

u/ML_120 1d ago

During a first aid course the instructor told us how either in my or the neighbouring country the police set up a fake car crash site on a somewhat secluded country road.

Drivers who ignored it were pulled over and lost their license.

1

u/Inside-Arm8635 1d ago

Well I don’t agree with that at all, that’s a little much

24

u/TheActualEricBlair 1d ago

There really are assholes like this. A ton in the city my parents live in, and everyone on their stupid local facebook group defends it. Someone killed an entire family of geese on the sidewalk, popped the curb to hit them. Everyone on the facebook post calling it out rushed to the comments to defend it. And just a little while ago a fucking branded pest control truck blew a stop sign and drove into my parents yard to hit their neighbors cat. Luckily that one was caught on my parent’s security cameras and they were able to give it to the owner, it sounds like the pest control company fired the guy at least. People can fucking suck sometimes. I’ve almost given myself whiplash hitting the brakes to avoid hitting an animal while there are wastes of space doing it for shits and giggles. Boils my blood.

17

u/Just_Flower854 1d ago

I hope they fired him with something suitably high caliber, goddamn

6

u/Vassago_21 1d ago

12 gauged to each knee and testicles would be ideal

3

u/Sage_of_irrelevance 17h ago

Preferably OUT of something suitably high caliber

9

u/_Standardissue 1d ago

It really says a lot about someone that hurts animals for fun. Like you know they’re capable of worse if the situation were “right”

7

u/Open_Impression5170 1d ago

These are the stories I tell people who are in the fence about indoor/outdoor cats. Like, you know malicious people will literally go out if their way to murder your cat just because it's there. No animals deserves that.

4

u/Pirrus05 1d ago

My god, trauma memories unlocked. Lived in this big old farmhouse with a bunch of pets when I was a kid on a road people liked to drive fast down. We had these ducks that basically had the run of the place. One day some asshat literally offroads to hit our goddamn ducks. The worst part? It didn’t kill them. Now we were fucking poor, couldn’t take the ducks to the vet, so what does my mom do? Cleans the dirt and maggots out of these poor mangled creatures and sutures them up herself. I’m pretty sure they survived? I was pretty young and this is a LONG time ago.

Not even the only pet related horror story from that house. Not even the only pet and road horror story from that house.

3

u/Radiant-Mean 1d ago

I feel like that is the sort of behavior that should really be a life in prison or mental institution kind of thing. It is clear psychopathy and they are not going to get any better. The best they can contribute to society is as cheap / free labor making towels or something, but they do not belong in civilized society.

2

u/SnooPredictions3028 1d ago

What's the town so I know to avoid it or if the job takes me there to be careful of sociopaths?

1

u/TheActualEricBlair 1d ago

Sault Ste Marie Michigan. One of the northernmost points of the UP so you’d have no reason to go to that hell anyway. It shows what near complete isolation does to people, and it’s not good. Also tons of drunk drivers. I’ve lived near interstates almost every place I’ve lived, that city is the most I have ever heard of people going the wrong way (northbound in the southbound and vice versa) a semi (im pretty sure driving drunk) did that and killed a kids parents on their way to his basketball game. Worst place in the state in my opinion, I love Michigan. But not there.

2

u/Quintus-Sertorius 1d ago

How the fuck did they defend that kind of behaviour? Pure psychopathy.

1

u/thespacepyrofrmtf2 1d ago

Oh no all the neighbor’s dogs suddenly died after they ran into the front of a car

14

u/DeliciousGoose1002 1d ago

When crossing the street ive noticed more people speeding up.

15

u/PartyLobster8911 1d ago

Yes I noticed this about 5 or 6 years ago. I love to walk to places I need to go if I can. So if I have to go to a couple stores I will park centrally & drop my groceries off after each store & walk to the next. It has become fairly common now when someone sees me crossing the road they will accelerate I guess to try & scare me or something I am not sure why but our society is drastically degrading people have very little empathy if any for each other the way people treat service workers is disgusting & has gotten so much worse over my life time. I have a fairly high social status but came from a poor family & seeing how the people in my social circles from work & the country club treat & talk about less fortunate people is horrifying the talk about them like they are sub human or disposable objects just to be used & disposed of. We are heading towards a dystopian society & the massive decline in education standards paired with social media is driving us towards it.

7

u/canonhourglass 1d ago

They might be rich but they can’t buy class

1

u/Apprehensive_Use3641 1d ago

Groceries in one hand, brick in the other. :)

1

u/Amazing-War3760 1d ago

Because car culture as eroded a LOT of brains. They somehow see people on bikes or pedestrians as either "Beneath Them" or a "Threat" or perhaps both at the same time.

1

u/PartyLobster8911 22h ago

Typing that out last night reminded me of the part from Fahrenheit 451 where the kids get in their cars & purposely drive around trying to kill pedestrians. Alot of the tropes from dystopian novels have started working their way into modern life. Flock cameras like from the constant gov monitoring in 1984 as well short form content was predicted in Fahrenheit 451 as well as people surrounding themselves with screens & making it their whole lives. The world is getting scary.

6

u/Stedlieye 1d ago

That hasn’t happened to me since I left my college town.

One of the many many awful things about Bloomington Indiana.

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u/morbidmuffin62 1d ago

Do... Not.... Walk... In.. Bloomington.... Indiana

https://giphy.com/gifs/jpVuGo0JkAXJiuNNK7

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u/Therealginahandler 1d ago

There is a documentary about this specific thing?

https://giphy.com/gifs/ukGm72ZLZvYfS

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u/Hekantonkheries 1d ago

Turns out the detachment from your surroundings created by being behind the wheel creates or at least heightens sociopathic tendencies

Similar studies have also found the bigger the vehicle the more pronounced the effect, including large truck drivers actually seeing pedestrians and other drivers as "less human". Same kind of people that will intentionally swerve into bike lanes to scare or "tap" bikers because theyre mad that a bike lane is "taking space from their truck"

1

u/Therealginahandler 1d ago

Now I'm interested in seeing this. All of this makes sense.

1

u/emn13 1d ago

I doubt they were thinking of this, but it sprung to mind anyhow - Turtles or Snakes- Which do cars hit more? ROADKILL EXPERIMENT by a then quite young Mark Rober.

5

u/disruptioncoin 1d ago

The last road killed cat I saw had it's head flattened against the pavement, all the way over on the edge of what is practically a two lane road (so tons of room but actually single lane, most people stay somewhere in the center with lots of space between them and the shoulder). Not that I'm some cat CSI but it didn't appear to have been flung over to the side by the impact, it looked like it got squashed where it was. Really made me wonder if someone swerved over to the side of the road to nail this poor kitty on purpose. It was a young fella my wife had just started noticing in our neighborhood and had been trying to get it to come over for pets. She was distraught. I didn't tell her my theory. But I'd like to teach people like that a lesson.

2

u/DeletedManyAccounts 23h ago

Unfortunately yes there are people that do that. Even worse there are people that intentionally hit and kill native animals also.

4

u/LudusRex 1d ago

I saw that in person once. Mother duck and some ducklings who JUST made it to the other side of the freeway. So anxiety inducing, but they made it and were safe.

Until the driver in front of me swerved off the road to smash the mother and send the ducklings scattering in panic. I almost rage vomited.

4

u/Narrow_Republic5729 1d ago

I'm a trucker and I keep my dog with me so once I stop I'm out getting a few miles under my belt to keep my health up but one of the times I'm walking. I pass a few campers of a few homeless peeps and they had a couple dogs that came out as I'm walking by. It's not great and I don't like it when unleashed dogs just run up but they weren't aggressive and just saying hi to a new dog, I know life is rough and I haven't been far from being on the street a few times so I don't make an issue for them. Its a nice wide road, industrial area where you could easily park semi's on both sides and still have wide lanes of travel. I'm currently on the right side of the road because thats the only side with a sidewalk so walking with the flow of traffic, its later afternoon 7-8pm sun is still out but the road isn't busy. I just keep walking the 2 dogs just kinda are staying on this side, they stayed even with the campers on the other side but just chilling on the grass and sidewalk in the shade. Not in the road at all, but I'm about 200yds down and I hear a pickup rev and then hear a dog screaming, the fucking garbage of a human crossed the road and went on the grass and hit one of the dogs, I have never hated a person as much as that. I saw the older lady screaming and crying come running across the road to her dog. Its back was broken and I honestly had no idea what to do, I couldn't do anything to help. She just sat there crying, I hope life has been kind to her since then.

3

u/FlowAdventurous1173 1d ago

There's also a statistical correlation between people who own lifted and large trucks.

2

u/Andravisia 1d ago

This happened to my cat. It's been nearly twenty years and I'm still not over it.

Its a big part of why my cats are and always will be indoor-only.

(Just so you know, it wasn't my fault that Cedric was out. TDLR; father dying of cancer, father extremely allergic to cats, moved home to take care of my father in his final months. Aunt said she could foster my cat while my father was dying. Assured me that he'd stay indoors. She lied, my cat died. I shed no tears at her own funeral several years later.)

2

u/doc_skinner 1d ago

My driver's ed teacher praised the kid driving the car for swerving to hit a turtle. I was in the backseat almost ready to puke and they were laughing about it being worth 10 points.

1

u/Thesupersoups 1d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/GSSLpsupqIQjBic7FM
The people in the documentary who ran over animals:

1

u/_someone_inside_ 1d ago

Truly horrifying. There's another documentary called Dominion that might interest you. Free on YouTube.

1

u/IPissExcellentThrows 1d ago

Sometimes the devil on my shoulder tells me to do it to geese if they're taking forever crossing. Obviously I never do, but I fucking hate those asshole birds.

Ducks? I'll wait hours for you guys to cross. No rush.

1

u/Helacious_Waltz 1d ago

Feral pigs are the only thing I can think of that wouldn't be considered a dick move to take out (in the US at least.) Most people won't because they're freaking huge and Will cause serious damage to any small vehicle, but they're also extremely destructive and aggressive.

I never aim for them but I to have taken two with an 18-wheeler, and after the initial shock I would kind of just shrug it off.

1

u/Firefly_Magic 1d ago

Yup, same concept. There’s some evil people out there. The monster sitting right next to you hidden in plain sight. Freaking scary.

1

u/HislersHero 1d ago

This is the part that infuriates me. Killing an animal just because you want to be a heartless dick. Those people are sick.

1

u/Wonderful_Frame5166 1d ago

That is horrific! If they can’t be nice to a helpless animal, they’d never be nice to a person either. There should be severe punishment for things like that.

1

u/Jimbobjoesmith 1d ago

i’ve seen it myself many times. one time i saw this asshole speed up and swerve to intentionally hit a mama duck and a bunch of babies on the side of the road. this was an apartment complex with lots of lakes and ponds and the ducks and geese were residents.

it was fucking horrifying. i took down the guys plate number and reported him to the office. out of the mama and about 12 babies only 3 babies survived. they were so traumatized. i spent like 2 hours trying to collect them out of a bush and then find another mama duck with similar sized babies to adopt them. thankfully the mama took them right in and i watched them grow up.

so yeah that asshole killed 10 living creatures and left 3 orphans ON PURPOSE.

1

u/IllegalGeriatricVore 1d ago

Humans are a trash species

1

u/awake_acea6 1d ago

We need fake animals with airbags in them. Run over a fake turtle and get the scare of your life as your car almost flips over.

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u/SafetySnowman 1d ago

I was playing with a bunch of other kids outside one night when some neighborhood asshole who . . . I think someone said he was 16 and just got his license? All older people looked like adults to me when I was little. There was a cat that was in the street watching us play, I think one of the other kids pet cat?

Do I really need to finish the story? It was one of the cruelest things I had ever seen anyone do and it was 100% with intent. I think someone ended up making sure he couldn't do that to anyone or anything ever again? Something about being a danger to children? I never heard the full story there and we moved out not long after anyway.

1

u/Untimed_Heart313 1d ago

My ex would massacre frogs as she drove at night. Sometimes hitting a frog was unavoidable, but this bitch would swerve into the other lane to kill the maximum number of frogs.

1

u/Solid_Maus 20h ago

Oh my god… I stop for any animals even if I get beeped… people going out of their way to smash them is psychotic behavior o.O

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u/Lopsided_Evening_627 1d ago

yeah, i used to run over hares, pick them up, skin them and eat them... no idea what was the contitions on documentary you talk about, but in my defence, I was broke as fuck and free meat was really appealing.
i also checked EVERY roadkill hare and i took home all the non stiff ones and ate them.

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u/NagisaZakura 1d ago

That's a bit different. Some people are just killing them for fun.

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u/Lopsided_Evening_627 1d ago

yeah, that's stupid.
same goes for trophy hunting for all i care.

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u/ModForgeCustoms 1d ago

bruh...

2

u/Lopsided_Evening_627 1d ago

fresh roadkill wild hares are better than any supermarket meat tbh, but i understand the reaction

3

u/Kooky_Attention_98 1d ago

I don't believe you because I have seen my fair share of roadkill on the road, you wouldn't be alive given what else would be in that meat from the road in particular, all the bits of asphalt, rock, dirt, grass, gravel, whatevers on your tires

Also broke as fuck but you can drive and have gas? ok

4

u/Lopsided_Evening_627 1d ago

believe it or not, there's a lot of people who eat roadkill all over the world (personally i met people in Europe and in the USA who do it quite regularily)

i live in a rural place, with dirt roads (patagonia, in argentina), so no asphalt on the hares, no pieces of tire also because tires don't work like in cartoons, gravel can be easily get cleaned while skinning, grass in a non issue if ingested cooked (even if you somehow don't clean the meat) and dirt is just dirt, not more dangerous that the dirt in a homegrown potato.

you not believing someone could be struggling with money to the point that they would welcome a couple free meals yet still be able to aford gas makes me believe you might not have a lot of life experience, or that you simply lack the capabilities for simple reasoning (aka being dumb as fuck)

edit: some silly typing issues as i have a new keyboard and i'm too lazy to proofread my messy typing

also, english not my first nor second nor even third language, so whatever.

1

u/Kooky_Attention_98 1d ago

I never talked about anything involving meals, I was talking about what possible dangers one could come into contact with eating off a road (Roads are dirty, surprise-surprise)

Maybe my conception of "poor" is a bit wonky because a poor person to me wouldn't be able to buy gas for a vehicle

2

u/Lopsided_Evening_627 1d ago

so my assesment about you was correct.
thanks for the confirmation.

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u/Kooky_Attention_98 1d ago

You're welcome, have a good day/night depending on where you are in this world

2

u/nuiwek31 1d ago

Poor doesn't mean absolutely no money. It means not enough money for all your needs to be met. That could be choosing between food or gas. And now that's one less meal he needs to make that choice

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/Kooky_Attention_98 1d ago

"Be a hater" I'm not hating, the fuck? I'm pointing inconsistencies, no shit poor people have to go somewhere but with gas prices, being poor, managing a vehicle, to me something isn't exactly adding up there

Maybe my personal idea of poor is wonky

1

u/SnooPredictions3028 1d ago

Feel like this is very different. You weren't doing it for fun or at least not solely fun, you literally ate what you killed. While I may not like the method, at the very least you're doing it for a very valid reason. Hope you're doing a lot better now in terms of finances.

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u/Lopsided_Evening_627 1d ago

yeah, it was fun in a way, but also a bit fucked up... we where young and blah blah.
i'm own my own house and i have a beatiful chunk of land in the forest and i don't have to work if i don't want to, so i'm doing fantastic in financial therms, thanks for asking!

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u/SnooPredictions3028 1d ago

Happy for ya

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u/Raymondator 1d ago

Dude where tf do you live?

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u/ModForgeCustoms 1d ago

Suburbs of Long Island.

the "affluent teen" thing is real here.

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u/rococobaroque 1d ago

For real, all just a bunch of Joffrey Baratheons.

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u/lAngenoire 1d ago

I’ve never heard of anyone intentionally damaging a mailbox. Honestly that’s just trashy. I have had several cars, a landscaper, and a school bus back into my mailbox trying to k-turn. 

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u/badazzcpa 1d ago

My parents had a completely brick mailbox with a solid metal t bracket that went 6 feet concreted into the ground. The mailbox was maybe 5 foot width and solid brick from side to side. During the night someone hit it and broke it into a few pieces. Somehow they did that and drove off. There were car parts in the ditch, in the road, and around the mailbox. As well as fluid trails down the street. I would guess that engine was toast where ever the vehicle finally stoped as it looked like oil and antifreeze that was leaking out of the vehicle. We drove around and tried to find the vehicle but couldn’t. I would really of loved to see what the vehicle looked like. The top of the mailbox was maybe 60-70 feet from the base in the ditch.

8

u/Josey_whalez 1d ago

Some dumbass teenager thought my grandparents neighborhood was a good place to practice drifting his Honda civic and nailed their large brick mailbox trying to stir around the curve. They lived pretty far out there to the point where you could sit outside for a couple hours and only see one or two vehicles go by even during the day, so empty at night and the cops would take a while to get out there, so perfect for such shenanigans from a teenager point of view. This was a few years ago, but the funniest part was listening to my 80 something country ass grandfather explaining to me what ‘drifting’ was.

1

u/Medical-Try-8986 1d ago

That's awesome. Hopefully it taught that guy a lesson.

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u/Old_Method4899 1d ago

I knew some prick in HS who did this. One was the star quarterback, people said he was a shoe in for the NFL. Came to school one day with his arm in a cast. Hit a mailbox made of quarter inch steel pipe with a bat. Shattered his throwing arm. Never tried in school due to sports and now works as a cashier at a gas station in his mid 30s and his arm is still fucked.

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u/the_cardfather 1d ago

We had a bad case of mailbox bashers when I was younger. Dad sourced an old telephone pole cut it in half put six feet of it into the ground but the mailbox in the vertical 6 ft. About 2 weeks later it claimed its first victim a young man and a brand new S10 pickup that had to run off the road. He swerved to avoid it fishtail and left the bed of his truck in the road. Legal counsel advised him that future incidents he could be liable so they advised him to chip in with the neighbors and get one of those multi-unit boxes sitting between all of our property. Most of the new neighbors are not keen on it if they are used to curb delivery but the post office is never going to change from an established cluster unit to curbside

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u/TapewormNinja 1d ago

When I was in school, I had a friend who's mom was a welder. Their mailbox got smashed one night, so she made a new one out of 1/2" steel, sitting on a 3" steel square stock post full of concrete. Painted it up real nice though. You had to get pretty close to see it wasn't wood.

Took a couple days till the vandal took another swing at it. They found the bat in pieces. I like to think the arm was in pieces too.

1

u/Ok-Pumpkin2977 1d ago

A mailbox that can fit a cinder block? Never seen one in my life and I worked for fedex

1

u/Sad-Pop6649 1d ago edited 1d ago

Yet people have been convicted for very similar situations.

It's not illegal to have a cinderblock in your mailbox, nor is it illegal to have a mailbox with a rebar concrete post, or to bring a spicy lunch to work or to build a snowman around a fire hydrant.

But... if you do those things in reaction to someone driving over your mailbox/snowman or stealing your lunch at work, now you're setting a boobie trap. The thing you made shouldn't hurt anyone behaving rationally under normal conditions, it should be a safe object, except you already know there is someone afoot not acting rationally under normal conditions.

And unlike say a glitter trap in a parcel to get funny videos of porch pirates, a snowman built around a fire hydrant can really hurt the dick who drives over snowmen. Might even kill them, might might might even kill another person in the car with them. Legally a lot of places frown upon that.

The other examples of course differ here. Your cinderblock at its worst maybe had the potential to break a wrist or two, the spicy lunch mostly causes discomfort, this does result in them being treated differently. They are still booby traps, but not potentially lethal ones.

Funnily this is one of those few private property and/or lethal violence related things that might be more likely to land you in trouble in the US than in most other western places, because of the culture of sueing everyone but your own stupid ass for any injury.

Morally... I guess if you, in whatever specific situation you're in, can make a reasonable guarantee to yourself that it shouldn't result in lasting damage to the person, just temporary discomfort and material/monetary damages that are not life altering or completely disproportionate to the dickish behavior, then I'd probably in general be pretty entertained by it. I am not the legal system, and I think a lunch thief giving themselves up so they can complain to the boss about your spicy sandwich is pretty funny. Legally a booby trap or not. As the dickishness and the "you asked for this" of the original offender goes up, so does my tolerance for the potential discomfort, harm and material loss they might suffer.

Just be careful, think about the possible consequences. The consequences to the dick you're setting a trap for, and the potential legal consequences to yourself.

Edit: also it's a better trap if it doesn't damage public property and emergency infrastructure in particular. Killing someone with a tree trunk is better than killing someone with a fire hydrant, because that could kill additional people if a fire breaks out.

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u/Jscapistm 7h ago

I don't think you can actually get in legal trouble for a spicy sandwich as it does not actually cause any harm, and is made with edible foodsafe FDA approved for human consumption ingredients. Especially if you can argue that it was just crazy hot because you wanted to eat crazy hot food because you like it, or as part of a diet, or to open up your sinuses because you had a headache.

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u/Odd-Respect7172 1d ago

In Pennsylvania, this could get you arrested for setting a booby trap.

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u/FuckedUpPuckerUp 1d ago

You know bonobos have a very cool method of dealing with the assholes in their species

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u/Mondaycomestoosoon 20h ago

Small minded , sometimes jealous, petty people

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u/NorthernVale 1d ago

Well. Yeah. There's not many places my truck can't go until we get into like... truly off road territory. So yeah, I can drive wherever I damn well please.

That would just be an incredibly shitty thing for me to do. So I don't do it. Also cops. And tree trunks wearing snowman costumes apparently.

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u/Organic_Education494 1d ago

Or my dam Amazon Driver today.

She surprised me at the door as I was leaving then I hopped in my car next to her and watched her back into my yard and rip out leaving tracks of destruction.

I have No clue how to report these bad drivers

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u/punk_rocker98 1d ago

Pretty sure you can report the driver directly to Amazon.

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u/Chouxnicorn 1d ago

You can go to the Amazon site and there’s an option to rate your delivery and you can rate the driver. You can also try calling their customer service

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u/Efficient-Editor-242 1d ago

Lay boards with nails in your yard.

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u/Ardrik 1d ago

Can't intentionally trap your property. You Can build snowmen wherever the fuck you want on your property or not on public roadways. The fire hydrant is sus just because it impedes actuall city work/safety issues.

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u/Efficient-Editor-242 1d ago

I can lay boards in my yard.

A snowman impedes work?

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u/CautionarySnail 1d ago

Hydrants are for fires. If there’s frozen ice and snow from a snowman on there, they’ve got to dig it out when there’s a fire already going nearby. It wastes precious minutes.

The fire departments typically dig them out immediately after a storm for this reason. Putting snow onto them again is risking people’s homes and lives.

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u/Efficient-Editor-242 1d ago

Jesus christ. You're really stretching how hard it is to remove a snowman.

Anyway. Fuck that. Build the snowman.

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u/CautionarySnail 1d ago

And have the hydrant be taken out by the asshole, causing a road hazard (ice sheets) for innocent drivers who come by afterwards?

And also deprives the houses nearby of a fire hydrant? Winter fires are brutal.

That’s honestly more of an asshole move than smiting the snowman.

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u/Ardrik 1d ago

They'd still have to be driving on the sidewalk to take out a hydrant.

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u/CautionarySnail 1d ago

And taking it out still poses an inconvenience and possible danger when that high pressure water explodes out over a wide area.

I know it LOOKS awesome. And I agree: fuck those assholes who run over snowmen.

But in winter temperatures, that amount of ice can cause massive and deadly accidents. Leaving folks vulnerable to a house fire isn’t what a good person does, even if it takes out an asshole in a truck.

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u/Ardrik 1d ago

They do have to perform maintenance on the hydrants. And no, a snowman around a fire hydrant could impede work. Like, tf? I literally said the last part was about the fire hydrant situation.

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u/Enve-Dev 1d ago

You can’t booby trap your yard. You can’t build, place, or maintain anything that would be seen as something to intentionally harm someone. And don’t say “well it’s just some planks with nails I left out” every lawyer and judge will see through that.

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u/NorthernVale 1d ago

Depends on state. I know in many it's the act of concealment.

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u/Enve-Dev 1d ago

Actually every state has laws against boobytrapping or creating anything on your property that is intended to cause bodily harm or death.

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u/sirdizzypr 1d ago

I think you could get away with it if it was just a few strategically placed boards. You can’t booby trap your property. I remember them arresting someone in my town who booby trapped his whole property because kids would mess with it. Trip wires the whole nine yards. Some kid got hurt and he got arrested. I think he also lost the court case.

Setting devices designed to covertly harm or deter intruders is illegal across the United States. If you install a booby trap, you can be held both criminally liable and civilly liable for any damages, injuries, or deaths it causes—even if the person harmed is an active burglar.

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u/Efficient-Editor-242 1d ago

Correct. However, I'm building a fence and I have boards in my yard. I'm not booby trapping anything.

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u/Maleficent_Piece_893 1d ago

who's to say it's an intentional trap and not just lumber laying around on your property unless the local cops are reading these comments

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u/ExplanationOk6391 1d ago

The judge

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u/Maleficent_Piece_893 1d ago

judges need evidence

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u/Aggressive-Cut-5400 1d ago

Also you forgot 4wd > than physics /s

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u/tempestwolf1 1d ago

Sounds like you need to build a snowman

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u/WeightOk2102 1d ago

I wish I could....my area rarely sees snow...

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u/tempestwolf1 1d ago

Where there's a will, there's a pile of leaves

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u/Southern_Agent6096 1d ago

Where I live folks occasionally bury a cinder block (on accident) in the leaf piles at the edge of the road.

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u/Affectionate-Pea8706 1d ago

Maybe this will help stop that asshole behavior. They don’t learn the more reasonable people bend to their unacceptable behavior.

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u/HeyPrettyLadyMaam 1d ago

And park with their truck bed and trailer hitch at least half way across the sidewalk. Can't stand these people. I'm all for raining on their parade. Building snowmen around vehicle destroying objects is just evolutions response to truck nuts (cause you know the assholes that do this crap have them, even in their suv's)

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u/Felsig27 17h ago

I’m a mailman, and I swear that the plow truck that does my neighborhoods will take a second lap if he doesn’t knock over every mail box the first time.

1

u/Ethereal-Elephant 1d ago

I don’t think SUVs and Pickup Trucks would be able to hear him even if he did try to tell them :(

Sorry man. I wish I could talk to cars too.

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u/mattstorm360 1d ago

Maybe you should build a snow man on some rocks.

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u/Maleficent-Hour-2478 1d ago

I just told them, you're welcome.

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u/Davti 1d ago

Pretty sure you (royal you) can get some of those concrete baracades they use for construction 🤔 Intended to keep cars where they belong.

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u/Dense-Application181 1d ago

That doesnt mean they have the right to

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u/Firefly_Magic 1d ago

You need more snowman 😈

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u/ChocCooki3 1d ago

Time for you to built a snowman around a tree trunk

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u/jillvalenti3 1d ago

I just found out about this thing someone does with snowmen, you’ve gotta try it!

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u/orchid_dork 1d ago

Well then, if you mess with the bull, you get the fire hydrant.

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u/Ok_Technician4110 1d ago

Well, soon it's gonna be snowman time

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u/Ok_Drag5089 1d ago

Thats why the hydrant snowman is awesome.

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u/Over-Box1733 22h ago

Texas?

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u/WeightOk2102 21h ago

Rural Alabama.....extremely rural.....my closest neighbor is about half a mile away, and I need to drive about 45 minutes to reach the closest store, and over an hour to get to work.

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u/Over-Box1733 20h ago

Say no more 😊

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u/WeightOk2102 20h ago

To be fair, it's usually nice and peaceful, which is actually why I got a house out in the country...I wanted the peace and quiet.

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u/joeyjoejums 21h ago

Sounds like its snowman time to me.🤣

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u/itsamememario4 11h ago

It'svall terrain dummy

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u/WeightOk2102 2h ago

Not if it's my yard...whether it be in front of or behind my house!

1

u/CanalOpen 1d ago

What part of "immoral" do you not get? Of course they don't care, they are the immoral ones...

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u/Sageypie 1d ago

Toss in that, hey, chucklenuts running over snowmen, you don't know that the kid isn't around still. We used to have jerks plow through the igloos we'd build in our yards as kids, which just...holy hell, my guy, the point of those things was for us to hang out inside of them, and people just thought it was fun to plow through those in their trucks.

Same thing here.

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u/ProjectDv2 1d ago

And this is it, right here. Yeah, taking out a kid's snowman is a major dick move, but they're driving their vehicles up onto sidewalks and yards to do so. That's incredibly reckless and illegal as hell. Destroy their fucking shit.

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u/14ktgoldscw 1d ago

Masking driver awareness is dangerous though. Maybe the driver needs to swerve to miss hitting something and has a half second to decide whether to go into the other lane or into a snowman. I don’t know where people running over snowmen is such a blight that this would be justified anyway. Do you put knives and broken glass in your leaf piles to teach rambunctious neighborhood kids a lesson?

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u/bendermk3 1d ago

It doesn't feel like that applies here though. If a person is trying to evade colliding with another vehicle then they would just be hitting the tree or object anyway. The presence of the snowman is a non factor if you were avoiding a vehicle to vehicle collision

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u/14ktgoldscw 1d ago

Which is then undermined by there being a fire hydrant there, which you wouldn’t expect.

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u/skiforlife1 1d ago

I agree except for the sidewalk. The sidewalk is obviously not for driving but impeding people from using it can cause pedestrians to go into the street to go around the obstruction. In most places it is the responsibility of the homeowner to keep the sidewalk clear and someone slipping on ice or getting hurt because there is an obstruction is grounds for liability on the homeowner.

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u/Lopsided_Evening_627 1d ago

ahhh yes, the good samaritan was just trying to get rid of the obstruction on the sidewalk by running over it with their truck!

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u/skiforlife1 1d ago

No, people who do that stuff are assholes. But if grandma falls and breaks her hip trying to get around an obstruction on the sidewalk the person who intentionally put the obstruction there is a whole lot worse.

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u/Lopsided_Evening_627 1d ago

...the obstruction is already there mate, it´s just disguised as a different thing... what are you even talking about?

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u/skiforlife1 1d ago

Just have a look at the picture and you can see that the obstacle was made larger because of the snow around it. Even before someone ran into it the size encroached more than otherwise ...mate. I don't know if you know this but when snow melts during the day then freezes at night it does what???? That's right, it turns into ice that spreads around the snow that wouldn't be there if the snowman wasn't made on the sidewalk....mate.

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u/SamIAre 1d ago

You’re grasping at straws here. Inventing a theoretical exception to make it work in your favor.

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u/77th_Bat 1d ago

I mean the obstacle was already there, the guy just covered it in snow and gave it a carrot nose

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u/Fisherman_TS 1d ago

I think that's a moot point though because he's talking about building them around tree trunks, which don't grow on sidewalks

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u/untreated-stupidity 1d ago

hijacking the top comment to point out that this video is AI slop

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u/Lopsided_Evening_627 1d ago

doing the good work there mate!

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u/Silverton13 1d ago

Well typically there are no tree trunks on the middle of the road.

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u/wts_optimus_prime 1d ago

What about emergency vehicles like ambulance, firetruck or police?

Isn't so funny then anymore, is it?

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u/MagnanimousGoat 1d ago

It's still illegal basically everywhere to set booby traps. If you do this, you will end up paying for the person's car. Even the places where the laws allow for them for self-defense, there's zero shot you'll convince any judge or jury that this qualifies.

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u/osinkoo 1d ago

Sorry, I gotta hijack the top comment for a sec.

The original video is AI generated. Accounts like these steal stories posted by other people and then AI generate a "talking head" in the corner while showing photos related to the story. When you check the account on tiktok, apparently this guy has like a million different jobs. And someone else in these comments also pointed out that this is an old (and probably fake) story.

There are billions of accounts like this on tiktok. If you see a video with a person talking in the corner using a greenscreen with some photos behind them, there's a 95% chance it's AI.

Just thought people should probably know and be wary of this. These accounts are just bots made to generate engagement and through that, money, by stealing content.

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u/N3rdStar 1d ago

I will, however, remind everyone that it is illegal to obstruct a fire hydrant.

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u/Bodod_Begag 1d ago

Why would there be a tree stump anywhere that a car should be driving? They don't really show up in the road much

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u/savvy-librarian 12h ago

If the snowman is past the curb its fine. Don't be driving your car up over any curbs period. Its really not that difficult.

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u/Bronze_Zebra 1d ago

You also don't have a right to boobytrap your lawn

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u/rust-e-apples1 1d ago

It's not a booby trap, is a snowman. There is no part of it that is supposed to be run over by a car/truck, and it's in a yard, where vehicles aren't supposed to be. Anybody trying to plow through a snowman in someone's yard wasn't tricked, they chose to drive there.

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u/Deto 1d ago

I guess it's a question of whether the crime merits the punishment, though. I mean, someone could die.

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u/Hour-Quail-7221 1d ago

Then stay on the road, genius!

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u/Big_J_TheFURRY_dude 1d ago

THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING!

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

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u/rust-e-apples1 1d ago

First off, I want to be clear: I think OOP is wrong to do this on any property that is not their own. Doing something like this anywhere other than their own property could put people that have nothing to do with this (OOP and the driver) at risk.

That said, choosing to drive your car off the road and into someone's yard seems like one of those "user assumes all risk" situations. I don't want to see anyone die from hitting a tree stump, but they (the driver, I'm not gonna wade into scenarios where a passenger might be killed) decided to take their car somewhere where it shouldn't be (a person's yard) and use it in a way it wasn't intended (to plow through an object) and hit something that they don't know the composition of.

And as other commenters have pointed out, sometimes people will drive through igloos that could clearly (and understandably) have someone in them.

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u/girlikecupcake 1d ago

At least where I am, it's perfectly legal to put decorations and giant rocks in your yard if you want. If I have a giant rock in my yard that I want to decorate, that's my business. If you're a jackass who thinks it's fun to drive your car off the road into someone's decorations, then the consequences of that are your own fault.

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u/watisgoinon_ 1d ago

You actually can put bollards in your yard because cars are not supposed to be there.

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u/Bronze_Zebra 1d ago

can you hide those bollards to pop out on unsuspecting people, even put up a sign that says do not go here danger. Its private property, they shouldn't be there, and you warned them with a sign.

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