Of a Similar Mind
Today I drove in front of a kindred spirit, a fellow Roadway Vigilante. One of my super-peeves are people who can't drive worth shit, and I try to do my best to enforce the rules of traffic while on the road, whenever I can. Like, if it's safe, I'll sometimes prevent super-speeding assholes from passing me or merging into my lane on the highway. I've been increasingly honking at fools who make weak turns, drift out of lanes, etc.
But my biggest peeve is merging on the highway. I HATE how so many people riding down the on-ramp think it's their god-given right to merge whenever the hell they want, at whatever speed. When, clearly and technically, the on-ramp must always yield to the traffic patterns of the right lane (which is also why I try to always move to the left lane when passing an on-ramp), necessitating them to slow down to wait for a space in traffic. There is no negotiating about this rule. But so many people just barrel down the ramp, causing a serious hazard.
Today, then, when I was driving home from therapy, I encountered some serious traffic, with both lanes of 422 very slow, and a third on-ramp also merging into them in the same spot. Normally, at that slow, I think it's proper to alternate cars in the right lane, with entering cars from the on-ramp. But then there's those assholes who just drive up the shoulder as far as they can go, before merging. That is selfish and I refuse to ever let those people in front of me (somebody 100 yards up might do so, but it's the principle, for me). So I spotted this fat, daft ho trying to force her way in front of me from the should, and I just tailgated the truck in front of me, probably a foot from its bumper. She tried to drift into my lane and push her way, but I stood firm. Then I saw her keep looking at me and yelling and sneering, but I just stared straight and kept my resolve (smiling inside).
Finally, the bitch had to bail -- I think she ended up continuing on the shoulder until some unethical schmuck let her in. Anyway, the message was sent (whether it was received was in great doubt, however). So after I blocked her, the dude behind me honked. I thought he was honking me for being unreasonable (in which case, I was prepared to flip him off). Instead, I looked up into my mirror and saw him smiling. Then he gave me a thumbs-up. So I gave him a thumbs-up right back. A fellow Roadway Vigilante. I'd never encountered one on the road before, but it was awesome. I'm glad there's at least one guy out there who believes in safety and courtesy.
But my biggest peeve is merging on the highway. I HATE how so many people riding down the on-ramp think it's their god-given right to merge whenever the hell they want, at whatever speed. When, clearly and technically, the on-ramp must always yield to the traffic patterns of the right lane (which is also why I try to always move to the left lane when passing an on-ramp), necessitating them to slow down to wait for a space in traffic. There is no negotiating about this rule. But so many people just barrel down the ramp, causing a serious hazard.
Today, then, when I was driving home from therapy, I encountered some serious traffic, with both lanes of 422 very slow, and a third on-ramp also merging into them in the same spot. Normally, at that slow, I think it's proper to alternate cars in the right lane, with entering cars from the on-ramp. But then there's those assholes who just drive up the shoulder as far as they can go, before merging. That is selfish and I refuse to ever let those people in front of me (somebody 100 yards up might do so, but it's the principle, for me). So I spotted this fat, daft ho trying to force her way in front of me from the should, and I just tailgated the truck in front of me, probably a foot from its bumper. She tried to drift into my lane and push her way, but I stood firm. Then I saw her keep looking at me and yelling and sneering, but I just stared straight and kept my resolve (smiling inside).
Finally, the bitch had to bail -- I think she ended up continuing on the shoulder until some unethical schmuck let her in. Anyway, the message was sent (whether it was received was in great doubt, however). So after I blocked her, the dude behind me honked. I thought he was honking me for being unreasonable (in which case, I was prepared to flip him off). Instead, I looked up into my mirror and saw him smiling. Then he gave me a thumbs-up. So I gave him a thumbs-up right back. A fellow Roadway Vigilante. I'd never encountered one on the road before, but it was awesome. I'm glad there's at least one guy out there who believes in safety and courtesy.