Main Page
Welcome to the explain xkcd wiki! We already have 12 comic explanations!
(But there are still 2920 to go. Come and add yours!)
Latest comic
| Driving PSA |
 Title text: This PSA brought to you by several would-be assassins who tried to wave me in front of speeding cars in the last month and who will have to try harder next time. |
Explanation
|
This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by a CLUELESS BOT DRIVING AT 72.42048 km/h (20.1168 m/s) - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. |
A PSA is a Public Service Announcement. Some drivers, when given the right of way, will let others take it before them. This comic is saying that people who exhibit this behavior are actually Terminator-style assassins, sent to kill people by sending them into oncoming traffic and making it look like an accident.
The title text explains that Randall made this PSA because he has experienced this multiple times in the last month. Although, since he believes this behavior to be done by time-travel assassins, he has not accepted the right of way, and thus believes himself to have evaded death. He then says that he already knows this trick, the assassins should try harder. Such a claim that assassins are actively trying to murder him using "right of way" would be treated as a conspiracy theory by most people.
Despite the PSA's conspiratorial presentation, this is good advice. This habit is sometimes called "the wave of death", because it is common for such "generous" drivers to forget about other lanes that also have right-of-way over the crossing driver or pedestrian, and cluelessly wave them through right into the path of another car which is traveling at full speed. Always check for yourself that your way is clear, and if your view is blocked, sit tight. While Randall likely exaggerated this for comical effect, it could actually be helpful in making the advice more memorable and therefore more likely to save lives.
Transcript
|
|
This transcript is incomplete. Please help editing it! Thanks. |
- Driving PSA:
- Random drivers can’t grant you the right of way as a gift.
- [An H-road intersection with the main road going from top to bottom and the leading road coming from the left]
- [A car is parked to the right of the left road]
- Your car: You, waiting to turn left
- [A car is parked to the left side of the right main road, with another car, a truck hauling cargo, and a car lined up behind it]
- First car [in speech bubble]: You go ahead! I’m feeling generous.
- First car: Time traveler pretending to be polite
- [To the right of the line of cars is a black arrow pointing upwards, with text beneath it reading 45 MPH and a car behind the text]
- Clueless car: Car that they are waving you into the path of
- If someone waves you out, assume that they are an assassin sent from the future to kill you and make it look like an accident.
New here?
Feel free to sign up for an account and contribute to the explain xkcd wiki! We need explanations for comics, characters, themes, memes and everything in between. If it is referenced in an xkcd web comic, it should be here.
- If you're new to wikis like this, take a look at these help pages describing how to navigate the wiki, and how to edit pages.
- Discussion about various parts of the wiki is going on at Explain XKCD:Community portal. Share your 2¢!
- List of all comics contains a complete table of all xkcd comics so far and the corresponding explanations. The red links (like this) are missing explanations. Feel free to help out by creating them!
Rules
Don't be a jerk. There are a lot of comics that don't have set in stone explanations, feel free to put multiple interpretations in the wiki page for each comic.
If you want to talk about a specific comic, use its discussion page.
Please only submit material directly related to—and helping everyone better understand—xkcd... and of course only submit material that can legally be posted (and freely edited.) Off-topic or other inappropriate content is subject to removal or modification at admin discretion, and users posting such are at risk of being blocked.
If you need assistance from an admin, feel free to leave a message on their personal discussion page. The list of admins is here.
Logo
Explain xkcd logo courtesy of User:Alek2407.
