Here in my car, I feel safest of all...

Funny Car Accident Old Lady - Click here for more home videos --------- So, I determined it was high time I posted about cars and driving. You know, since 1) a few years ago I came to the realization I was very opinionated, and 2) I really hate other drivers. A great combination indeed. I speed. Sure I do. Most people do. I've received four tickets in my day for speeding. And I've been pulled over at least twice more and warned. On the freeway, I rarely drive less than five miles more than the speed limit. I feel comfortable driving less than 10 miles more. When I'm running late, I will at times go just less than 20 miles more than the speed limit. This also happens when I'm listening to some good music and not really paying attention to my speedometer (a scary thought, indeed). I occasionally tailgate, but that's because I'm provoked. That's it. That's the extent of my potential moving violations. (Don't listen to my wife when she says I don't stop at stop signs. A clear attempt to smear my driving record.) I don't cut people off (usually) or run red lights (on purpose). I don't pass in a no passing zone or fail to use my turn signal. I stop before turning right on a red light (most of the time) and never turn right at a red light if the sign says I can't. I only make U-Turns if there is no sign forbidding it. I try to be curteous when I drive, waving at those who let me out in front of them, ceding the right of way to mergers, and slowing down when someone attempts to pass me. I pull to the left lane when passing a police officer on the right shoulder and slow down to the speed limit in work zones. I think those who don't do the things in the above paragraph are either awful drivers or jerks. Or both. Never has this become more apparent than at the intersection of Rosemont Garden and Nicholasville. Nicholasville Road is a tricky road because of the reversible lanes. Yet there are some things that are very clearly marked. For instance, their are two lanes on Rosemont where it intersects Nicholasville. One always turns left onto N-ville. The other turns left and right or just right, depending on the time of day. This is because in the afternoon/evening rush hour traffic, N-ville has only one lane heading into Lexington. There is one left/right turn lane and four lanes heading out of Lexington. (This is the opposite of the morning rush hour.) There is a sign a couple of hundred feet back from the intersection stating the hours. I can understand missing that. However, clearly visible even several hundred feet before that is a large sign hanging next to the traffic lights at the intersection. The sign is digital. It shows that you can only turn left and right in the mornings and only right in the afternoons. It has a nice bright arrow curving to the right and nothing curving to the left. It's big. And bright. And clearly visible. And bright. Anyway, every afternoon (not to be confused with occasionally) some idiot jerk decides to turn left from that right lane, which means that basically two lanes are trying to dump into one lane. This is problematic on many levels, not the least of which is that every lane on N-ville is full of cars. And the jerks on N-ville are already sitting in the intersection gridlocking (like they didn't know of the high likelihood of the light changing while they sat there.) You can always tell a person knows they are being a jerk because they refuse to make eye contact. If they thought they were innocent or at least clueless they'd be looking at you wondering why you were trying to cut them off. I refuse to yield the right of way to those morons, and have almost forced them into the curb on the side of N-ville. And yet they still don't look at me! Aggrevating. Other driving annoyances: - The guy at the light who refuses to inch forward so cars can get in the right turn lane even though he has half a car length of empty concrete in front of him and the guy behind him is revving his engine and very clearly can fit through with just another inch. - The person who passes in the no passing zone. - Tailgaters in the left lane who are tailgating a person who is already exceeding the speed limit by more than 10 miles an hour. - Drivers who don't get in the turn lane to turn left. (Why else would it be there???) - Drivers who weave in and out of lanes of traffic. I'm stopping because I'm getting frustrated. -------- On a more positive note, here's a good tip I read in e-mail. If you have a remote control with panic button for your car, keep it beside your bed. If your in bed at night and you here a prowler in your house, just press the panic button and pray it wakes the neighborhood. This doesn't apply to people who live in the country and miles from neighbors. You didn't want the neighbors to hear your late night parties or loud music or marital contentions, so you'll just have to live without this nice tip.