Pet Peeves and a little bit of Road Rage....

I will be the first to admit that I am not yet a Saint.

And I will also be the first to admit that I talk back to the TV, and to other drivers on the roadways. Road rage? Sometimes, I guess.

Oh, all right, yes, more than just 'I guess'. Today.

I laid on my horn at the car ahead of me that SUDDENLY slowed with no brake lights, and then, SUDDENLY at the last minute with NO turn signals...took the off ramp. I do not follow closely. But I almost ended up in the back end of that vehicle, and yes, I sounded the horn, and glared at the back of the car. And I swore at the driver. And I was VERY glad that the other lane was clear because the only other car was in that lane, just ahead of my car.

I have some pet peeves, and drivers on highways that slow down without warning, take off-ramps after slowing down instead of maintaining speed, and slowing down in the off-ramp are one of them. Add the not using a turn signal, and it is not pretty~

My Dad taught me to drive. My Dad said that there is a right way and a wrong way to enter and exit highways. That driver this AM was definitely in his category of "WRONG".

I can hear him ... calmly, firmly, repeatedly...

"When you enter a highway from the ramp, you get your speed up BEFORE you get to the highway!!... MOVE IT!"

"When you exit a highway, you put your signal on well before that ramp, and you do not slow down until you get ON the ramp.... If you slow down before that ramp, some day, someone will be in your backseat before you know what happened"....

Now he isn't speaking of the ramps with a separate exit-only lane that turns into a 15 MPH, sudden curve kind of exit. He is speaking of the longer and straighter, or LARGE and gentle curve that one can take at 40 or more...

As long as I am griping about pet peeves on the highway, I may as well be totally honest.

Curves. Dad said... and so did my driver's ed instructor... take your foot off the gas a little as you go INTO the curve, and as you are coming out of it, accelerate again slowly... he is NOT talking about drastic speed changes, just very slight. AND he impressed on me that on a curve to the right, oncoming traffic will be near the center line, so you move OVER to the right...and you watch it on the curves that go to your left, so you don't go near the center line. That was for two lane roads... so translate that to a four lane... and you STILL stay away from that center line!!

On a four lane (two in each direction)... WHY DO SO MANY in the slow lane CROWD THAT CENTER LINE, and nearly enter the left lane when they are on a curve to the left??? Hey, if I can watch out for where I am, why can't THEY, too?

Another pet peeve is those semi's... who think they own the road in snowstorms, and breeze past, leaving a wall of swirling snow behind them, and have NO idea that they have just caused ME to be in a total WHITE-OUT.... or heavy rain, and leave you in a tidal wave!

And last, but not least are the ones who insist on driving in the fast lane side by side with the car in the slow lane for ten miles or more, in spite of more and more cars behind them both, all wanting to get around the offending cars.... when they finally pull over, a stream of cars glide past, and probably give very angry signals... or looks. Or both...

Can you tell that at least ONE of these happened to me today?

Now I probably need to go to Confession....sigh....

God bless~