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car-ma
I was running late this morning because someone kept me up late last night, so did not want to get out of bed at all. I dragged myself out in time, but after getting into my car I realized that I needed to fill-up, so ended up stopping for gas as well (almost $2.30 a gallon for 87!!) making me even later. Traffic was not much better.
While merging over on the freeway my mind started on a familiar rant about other drivers. It started when I signaled to indicate that I was going to merge into a space that was in the lane to my left then started pulling into said space. The huge pick-up truck that I was pulling in front of was rather offended by my need to move over in front of his vehicle, apparently. He chose to express his unhappiness by pulling up to me so close that I could count the dead bugs on his grill (which filled my back window, btw) if I was willing to give it my full attention. He also honked and proceeded to wag his finger at me as if being a grumpy sour-puss old man made him my driving instructor. Now mind you, we were moving at 5 MPH tops, so he had plenty of time to see that I had signaled and was moving over. It was right after an on-ramp, so the influx of new cars should be expected at this point. But somehow, I was (in his mind) wrong for inserting myself into his lane. I mean really, he drives a huge truck, so it is all about him, right?
Grumpy-puss was so disgusted he had to share the lane with me, that he took the next chance he could to move over one more lane to the left, which was also my eventual preferred lane. I bided my time, and about a mile later, when my lane had actually advanced a bit after than his, someone signaled that they wanted to move from his lane mine, and I really hope grumpy-puss saw how I slowed down to let said car move over. I was promptly rewarded with a perfect opportunity to move over to my preferred lane, 8 or 9 cars ahead of Grumpy-puss. For all those people out there that feel that driving is a race (especially on the highway) I was amused that I ended up ahead of Grumpy-puss anyway, and all while still being polite to the other drivers on the road.
I consider myself a good driver, who considers safety the most important thing in driving. Sometimes that means it seems like I am driving slower than some people would, or that I am leaving more room in front of me than needed. I am by no means a timid-granny behind the wheel, and in fact have been complimented by a friend who's opinion I value that my driving was a good balance between being safe and being assertive. For the record, I have only ever been pulled-over once (when I was 19) and have never received a moving violation, which means I get the California Good Driver discount on my insurance. The only accidents I have been in I was a passenger
My biggest pet peeves with other drivers are tailgating and carpool lane violators (I don't currently carpool anymore, although I wish I still did). I was tickled to find out that my older brother (who learned to drive even later than I did) has the same exception; never putting a bumper-sticker on his car unless it says I Break for Tailgaters. People who speed-up or deliberately try to block you when you signal that you want to move over are high on my list also. There are times when moving forward is the better option when someone signals they want to move over, but too many people seem to do it with the idea that they are racing and should not ever let anyone advance in front of them. This is not a race, guys!!! If you want to race, go play Burnout, and if you want to race and get rewards for taking risks, play Burnout3. But leave it in the game and don't bring it to the real road.
I make a point of leaving enough room in front of me and have found it has saved me many times. Yes, I find it annoying when people see that space an treat it like an invitation to cut in front of me, but as long as I expect it, I am better prepared to deal with it safely when it happens. This is also how I was the 5th car in a 4 car pile-up while driving through rush-hour traffic in LA. I was able to stop in enough time to not only not be part of the accident, but to get around it before anyone behind me was any the wiser.
I think I will take a turn at Burnout3 when my wrist is not so sore and try all those things I carefully avoid on the real road. Like the part of the game where you get rewarded for how big a pile-up you can cause. But for now, I will accept the good karma for having been polite on the real road today as my reward.
While merging over on the freeway my mind started on a familiar rant about other drivers. It started when I signaled to indicate that I was going to merge into a space that was in the lane to my left then started pulling into said space. The huge pick-up truck that I was pulling in front of was rather offended by my need to move over in front of his vehicle, apparently. He chose to express his unhappiness by pulling up to me so close that I could count the dead bugs on his grill (which filled my back window, btw) if I was willing to give it my full attention. He also honked and proceeded to wag his finger at me as if being a grumpy sour-puss old man made him my driving instructor. Now mind you, we were moving at 5 MPH tops, so he had plenty of time to see that I had signaled and was moving over. It was right after an on-ramp, so the influx of new cars should be expected at this point. But somehow, I was (in his mind) wrong for inserting myself into his lane. I mean really, he drives a huge truck, so it is all about him, right?
Grumpy-puss was so disgusted he had to share the lane with me, that he took the next chance he could to move over one more lane to the left, which was also my eventual preferred lane. I bided my time, and about a mile later, when my lane had actually advanced a bit after than his, someone signaled that they wanted to move from his lane mine, and I really hope grumpy-puss saw how I slowed down to let said car move over. I was promptly rewarded with a perfect opportunity to move over to my preferred lane, 8 or 9 cars ahead of Grumpy-puss. For all those people out there that feel that driving is a race (especially on the highway) I was amused that I ended up ahead of Grumpy-puss anyway, and all while still being polite to the other drivers on the road.
I consider myself a good driver, who considers safety the most important thing in driving. Sometimes that means it seems like I am driving slower than some people would, or that I am leaving more room in front of me than needed. I am by no means a timid-granny behind the wheel, and in fact have been complimented by a friend who's opinion I value that my driving was a good balance between being safe and being assertive. For the record, I have only ever been pulled-over once (when I was 19) and have never received a moving violation, which means I get the California Good Driver discount on my insurance. The only accidents I have been in I was a passenger
My biggest pet peeves with other drivers are tailgating and carpool lane violators (I don't currently carpool anymore, although I wish I still did). I was tickled to find out that my older brother (who learned to drive even later than I did) has the same exception; never putting a bumper-sticker on his car unless it says I Break for Tailgaters. People who speed-up or deliberately try to block you when you signal that you want to move over are high on my list also. There are times when moving forward is the better option when someone signals they want to move over, but too many people seem to do it with the idea that they are racing and should not ever let anyone advance in front of them. This is not a race, guys!!! If you want to race, go play Burnout, and if you want to race and get rewards for taking risks, play Burnout3. But leave it in the game and don't bring it to the real road.
I make a point of leaving enough room in front of me and have found it has saved me many times. Yes, I find it annoying when people see that space an treat it like an invitation to cut in front of me, but as long as I expect it, I am better prepared to deal with it safely when it happens. This is also how I was the 5th car in a 4 car pile-up while driving through rush-hour traffic in LA. I was able to stop in enough time to not only not be part of the accident, but to get around it before anyone behind me was any the wiser.
I think I will take a turn at Burnout3 when my wrist is not so sore and try all those things I carefully avoid on the real road. Like the part of the game where you get rewarded for how big a pile-up you can cause. But for now, I will accept the good karma for having been polite on the real road today as my reward.