Friday, November 9, 2007

Why do certain people feel that they are so special that they don’t have to wait in the same line the rest of us have been waiting in for thirty minutes? This morning on my way to work there was a car accident that had the 2 middle lanes of a 4 lane highway blocked. This is at a place on the highway where you have another one merging with it. As I am approaching my exit, I see everyone ahead of me braking so I do the logical thing and start braking also. The thought never once runs through my head to get out of the lane and see how far up I can get and still have some one let me in. Now, the way I look at it is if you see everyone slowing down and forming a line and it happens to be the lane you need to be in, then you need to get over as soon as possible. If you forgot that you needed to exit there, then you need to keep going and turn around elsewhere when you have the chance. You should not drive to the front of the line, stop, put your blinker on and expect someone to let you over. I don’t know about the rest of the folks waiting, but I’ve patiently waited my turn for however long it took and there is no way that I am letting you over. What makes you feel entitled to skip the line? I have to be a work also and I have to drop my kid off at daycare first. You’re not the only one trying to get there, so stop trying to cheat. I see people doing this kind of this quite often as the area I live in is constantly under construction. I was heading up to my parents house one time and they were repaving one of the highways. For about five miles there were signs telling everyone that the right lanes were closed and only the farthest left lane was open. As soon I have this information, I get into the left lane. Sure enough, the right lanes start to dwindle, and the traffic in the left lane slows down. There are people in the right lane passing me and some are actively trying to change lanes. Now, I have several rules when it comes to letting someone get in front of me in traffic. The first is that you have to be using your blinker. Just because you slow down and start trying to stick the nose of your car in front of mine does not signal a lane change. Stop trying because I won’t let you over. Second, if they have been advertising for about five miles that all lanes except the one I am in are ending, I will not let you over if you speed past everyone and try to get in at the last minute. At least I won’t willing let you over. I will not risk my life, my kids’ lives, or my cars life because you want to get somewhere 30 seconds faster than everyone else. Third, I will not let you over if you were behind me and got into the next lane and are now rapidly approaching the car that the rest of us are trying to pass. You can wait like the rest of us. I one time had someone actually get out of their truck to come yell at me because I wouldn’t let them in front of me when all the other lanes ended. The signs were up for about 10 miles. He knew the lane was ending. I had been stuck in the traffic for about 20 minutes. He wants to skip to the front and I was the car he came to to try to get in. I guess he though that since I have a little car and he had a big truck that I would succumb to the whole he bigger, he’s first mentality. Well, it was 10 at night and my daughter was asleep in her seat so I just wanted to get home. He keeps trying to edge in and I keep not letting him. So finally, there is no room left and he had to get behind me. Everyone is slowly creeping along and we stop. He puts his truck in park, gets out (on a major highway!!) and comes up to me to yell. I just yelled right back at him. I asked him who he thought he was to think that he had any special privileges to get in front of me and that I had been waiting in that lane for 20 minutes and that there was no way I was going to let someone like him get in front of me. Right then, the traffic started to move a bit and I told him to get in his f-ing truck and drive. I do have to let you know that most of my tirade towards him included the f word multiple times. I bet y’all want to know what he said. I will be honest with you and say I have no clue. I truly didn’t hear a single thing he said to me because my blood pressure shot up and I don’t think anyone could have said anything to me that I would have heard over the sound of the blood rushing through my head. He did get in his truck and drive and tried to pass me, but we got stuck in more traffic and I never saw him again after that. But seriously, why do people think that they don’t have to wait when everyone else is? I would just let them hit me when they try to weasel their way in, but there is a very high rate of uninsured drivers and with my luck, that’s who would hit me. Ok, that’s it for today.

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