Monday, September 18, 2006

Scribbles and Scrambles - Driving Pet Peeve

I interrupt this normally scheduled program to bring you a Monday whine.

I do realize there is no normal schedule, by the way.

Drivers...grrr.

Did I miss some highly touted change in legal driving moves? Because apparently I’m the only one who didn’t get the memo that right hand turn right-away has been dropped and that anything goes.

Three times this morning I attempted to turn right while some aggressive, impatient left hand turner decided we could share the road.

Not a problem if I had psychic abilities, or even the ability to read body language really well. Big problem if I need to immediately get into the left hand lane and they need to go right.

Not much better is the gunner who will wait, but is going to make sure there is less than three inch clearance between my back and their front bumpers.

Of course, it’s really hard to judge which ones are going to try to beat me, simultaneously waltz with me, or wait with an edge.

And really, in the desire to drive defensively, don’t we assume that when someone guns it and heads straight toward us that they intend to follow through come high-water or crushed metal? I do.

I’ve been in a few accidents, and they are fairly low on fun and high on inconvenience. So when a super aggressive vehicle shoots out into the intersection, I stop, then we both wait until one of us makes a move. Hmmm. Why not patiently wait until it’s your turn, you might actually get there quicker. I’ve shared the next red light with a lot of aggressive drivers who made it there before me.

It doesn’t help when the other driver is obviously otherwise occupied – do they see me? Or if they are attempting to impress someone else with their hormonally souped-up skills.

Just for the record. I googled driving rules, and I found out that left turners are supposed to wait for a break in traffic flow with a solid green light. Or they get their own little green arrow, and they can wait for it.

And if you can’t deal with that little rule of the road – could you at least avoid tangling with green minivans?

Any pet peeves you need to vent? You know what to do.....

3 comments:

Heather Smith said...

LOL! I'm totally with you on this one, Kelly! The bad thing is when they flip ME off for not knowing that they were going to break a traffic law! Uggh!

batgirl said...

I hate the way my stupid van keeps running out of gas and I have to pay A MILLION dollars to fill it up again!

Kaye Dacus said...

There are so many stupid things other drivers do that there isn't room here to ennumerate them! But just this morning, as I was flying down the road out of my neighborhood (flying=42 in a 40 mph zone), someone from a side street decided she just HAD to get out in front of me, so executed a right turn onto the main road, barely stopping at her corner before doing so. Which would have been fine, had she gotten her speed up to at least the speed limit. But she was in such an all-fired hurry that she got up to about 30 m.p.h. and just squatted there. Running late and being a very impatient person, I kept my speed up until I was right behind her--and she had the gaul to put her brakes on and slow down even further. I could see her face in her side-view mirror and could see she was cussing me out. When the lanes split at the stop light (which I had to sit through because we missed it by mere seconds), I felt like rolling down my window and letting her know just what I thought of her impoliteness--but then regained my sanity and went on to work.

And I'm with you on the left-turners-don't-yield-anymore rant--I've been in two accidents due to this phenomenon in the past 18 months!