To the Guy Driving Behind Me
Yeah, hi there. I see you're in a hurry. No need to drive that closely, you know. It won't make me go any faster. Yes, I realize that I'm driving the speed limit. I have my reasons. Care to hear them?
My brother and my sister-in-law were both killed in vehicles. My grandfather died from complications following a car wreck. My dad was in the car with him. I was 2 years old at the time.
I watched in my rearview mirror as my sister plowed her Oldsmobile Omega straight into a guardrail at 60 mph. See, she reached down to get her cigarettes from the floor of the car and accidentally jerked the wheel to the right. She lucked out. She got out without a scratch.
The speed limit is 30 mph on this street. That's as fast as you can legally drive here. It's also what the street was designed for. See, when engineers design streets and roads, they place signs and traffic controls in a certain way relative to the speed that cars will supposedly be travelling. You kinda throw a wrench in the works when you drive 45 mph in a 30 mph zone.
See that big building off to the right? That's an elementary school.
About 12 or 13 years ago, I was driving up a residential street a lot like this one. I saw a ball come rolling out from between 2 parked cars and slammed on the brakes. I missed the little boy who came running after that ball by no more than half a foot. If I had been travelling any faster, I would have hit that little boy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's funny. I love to drive, but cars scare the living hell out of me. I managed to make it through my wild teen years without any automotive disasters, which is a miracle. I've only been in 2 accidents in my entire life, and both times were when the person behind me was unable to stop because they were driving too fast on slick roads. Neither one amounted to much more than a scratch on my bumper.
This morning, on the way to work, I picked up the inevitable tailgater. I don't break the speed limit when I drive. As a result, I almost always have another car following too closely.I fully realize that this annoys everyone else on the road, but I'm sticking to this strategy. The person this morning was REALLY close - close enough that sometimes I couldn't see their headlights in my rearview mirror. When I turned onto a 5-lane street, they roared past. I watched them as they weaved in and out of cars, ran a stoplight, turned left right in front of an oncoming car, and pulled into the parking lot of my workplace. See, after all that effort, and endangering who-knows-how-many people, they never made it out of my sight. They made it to the same place I was going no more than 10 seconds before I did.
Folks, it isn't worth it. Leave earlier. Slow down. There are no valid reasons for driving like that.
My brother and my sister-in-law were both killed in vehicles. My grandfather died from complications following a car wreck. My dad was in the car with him. I was 2 years old at the time.
I watched in my rearview mirror as my sister plowed her Oldsmobile Omega straight into a guardrail at 60 mph. See, she reached down to get her cigarettes from the floor of the car and accidentally jerked the wheel to the right. She lucked out. She got out without a scratch.
The speed limit is 30 mph on this street. That's as fast as you can legally drive here. It's also what the street was designed for. See, when engineers design streets and roads, they place signs and traffic controls in a certain way relative to the speed that cars will supposedly be travelling. You kinda throw a wrench in the works when you drive 45 mph in a 30 mph zone.
See that big building off to the right? That's an elementary school.
About 12 or 13 years ago, I was driving up a residential street a lot like this one. I saw a ball come rolling out from between 2 parked cars and slammed on the brakes. I missed the little boy who came running after that ball by no more than half a foot. If I had been travelling any faster, I would have hit that little boy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's funny. I love to drive, but cars scare the living hell out of me. I managed to make it through my wild teen years without any automotive disasters, which is a miracle. I've only been in 2 accidents in my entire life, and both times were when the person behind me was unable to stop because they were driving too fast on slick roads. Neither one amounted to much more than a scratch on my bumper.
This morning, on the way to work, I picked up the inevitable tailgater. I don't break the speed limit when I drive. As a result, I almost always have another car following too closely.I fully realize that this annoys everyone else on the road, but I'm sticking to this strategy. The person this morning was REALLY close - close enough that sometimes I couldn't see their headlights in my rearview mirror. When I turned onto a 5-lane street, they roared past. I watched them as they weaved in and out of cars, ran a stoplight, turned left right in front of an oncoming car, and pulled into the parking lot of my workplace. See, after all that effort, and endangering who-knows-how-many people, they never made it out of my sight. They made it to the same place I was going no more than 10 seconds before I did.
Folks, it isn't worth it. Leave earlier. Slow down. There are no valid reasons for driving like that.
posted by ptooey at
7:10 AM
4 Comments:
I am in agreement. Although I have to say, its the thrill of driving that gets me going faster than the speed limit. Only on the open road.
I have not been in very many accidents. Only one serious one, a guy ran a light and plowed into the passenger side where I was sitting. He ran a red light through town.He cussed the entire time about being late to his job. Then, He found an old black man on the side of the road to lie for him, and tell the insurance company that he had a green light, when he didn't. Thankfully no one was hurt!
Slow down people. Enjoy the ride.
By
Mermaid Melanie, at Thu Nov 16, 09:21:00 AM
Our first driving lesson from Mom & Dad (both of whom were professional drivers, Mom of commercial and school buses and Dad with a full articulated license) was simple.
"The car is a lethal weapon."
I'm very happy to live here, where drivers stop for pedestrians (well, it is the law), very few cars pass on the right when someone is turning left, and folks just generally don't seem to be in a hurry. It's taken some adjustment, coming from New Joy Sea and all, but my stress levels? Way down.
By
bhd, at Thu Nov 16, 11:24:00 AM
I've only been in one accident, and it was just me, skidding off a very snowy I-79 at about 30 mph. No damage to me or the car. It scared the shit out of me, though.
And yeah, I've noticed the cars that pass me to get ahead, and then all of a sudden I'm right behind them at that red light.
By
Anonymous, at Thu Nov 16, 09:54:00 PM
Thanks for the reminder.
By
Anonymous, at Fri Nov 17, 08:35:00 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home