I'm sitting in my hotel room three and a half hours from home. After the drive I feel compelled to complain about the bad drivers with whom I was forced to share the road. First, a quick story about my most righteous road rage moment.
A few months ago I was making the same three and a half hour drive with my mom. I was cruising down the interstate, literally with the car on cruise control, at about 80mph (the speed limit was 70 so that's not too bad). On this particular stretch of interstate the road was four lanes wide and there were three cars within sight, including myself. I was in the fast lane, because I was driving fast, there was an SUV ahead of me in the next lane to my right, and an 18 wheeler ahead of me in the far right-hand lane. As I approached the SUV at 80mph (she appeared to be going 55-60mph) she began to slowly creep into my lane. Since I was driving so much faster then her and I was only about 20ft. away from her bumper I laid on my horn. Her response?? She turned on her turn signal and continued to merge into my lane. Clearly left with no other choice, I slammed on the brakes to slow down. But getting into my lane wasn't good enough for this genius. As soon as she got into my lane, she slammed on her brakes and came to a COMPLETE STOP right in front of me...in the middle of the interstate. Keep in mind I was going 80mph about 5 seconds ago. So I slammed the brakes even harder in an effort to stop, swerved my car on to the shoulder missing her by literally a millimeter, and came to a complete stop right next to her. Me in the grass and her in my lane. This lunatic looked at me and then immediately took off, crossed back over all four lanes and exited the interstate. Road rage doesn't even put a dent in how mad I was. Had there been a gun in my car, I absolutely would have pulled it out and shot out her tires without hesitation. WHO DOES THAT? I have no idea why she felt the need to get in my lane...there was no one behind her, no one in the lane to her right, and she never pulled off the road. And why would you stop in the middle of the interstate? Especially when someone is coming up on you at 80mph and laying on the horn?? I briefly considered following her, but like I mentioned, my very frail mother was in the car. The impact of that collision would have broken every bone in her body. Pure rage.
I am aware that people may think I am a bad driver for whatever reason....because I drive too fast, run red lights with a three second grace period, drive with my knees, whatever. But even while doing all of those things, I still try not to be a jerk to the other people on the road.
I think my biggest pet peeve is people who ride in my blind spot. First of all, its dangerous. If you're going to spend 20 miles driving down the interstate in my blind spot then you can't really complain when I decide to change lanes and land on your car. But aside from that, its annoying and idiotic. If you're going to drive the exact same speed as me then get in front of me or behind me. Why is that so hard for people to do? Additionally, if it's only a two lane road, then you're preventing anyone else from getting by as well. Don't be an asshole!
I also find it incredibly road rage inducing when people can't decide how fast they want to go. I drove over 40 miles on the way up here with my cruise control set on 78. I never changed speeds. Yet the truck in the lane next to me got two car lengths ahead of me, then fell two car lengths behind me, the rode in my blind spot, then got ahead of me and repeated the cycle over and over. Is it that difficult to put your foot on the gas and hold it still? (I'm looking at you Casey!)
People who ride my ass in a traffic jam are just asking to be brake checked. I can't go any faster than the car in front of me or the other 500 cars in front of him, do you really think you're going to get there any faster if you ride 6 inches from my tailgate?
I also don't understand why, on a heavily trafficked interstate, someone will speed up when I turn on my signal to change lanes. I do my best not to cut people off and only get over when there is a reasonable break in traffic. But, if I try to be polite about it and use my turn signal, and you treat it as a reason to speed up so I can't get over, then not only am I going to cut you off, then I'm going to slow down and drive like an asshole to give you a taste of your own medicine.
And lastly, people who don't know how to merge make me want to rear end them just to push them into traffic. Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't we have to learn the difference between a yield sign and a stop sign in order to get a driver's license? Merging does not require coming to a complete stop, and doing so drives me crazy! Get it?!?...The cheese stands alone. :)
Whew, I feel better now.
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