Give Up Drivng

I think it's fair to say that the majority of people who drive their chosen mode of transportation will tell you they're a good driver. I'm here to tell you that that is complete crap for a vast majority of them!

While I feel I am an excellent driver overall, there are times when I do falter in this department. I've been guilty of driving too close or speeding, although I don’t drive nearly as fast now as I did in my younger years. I rarely speed within city limits by more than 5 km/h and on the highway when its smooth sailing I might be 15 to 20 km/h over. Judging by the number of vehicles that pass me like I'm standing still, that doesn't seem so bad. 

My biggest annoyance on the roads today is how so many drivers feel their destination is more important to arrive at than anyone else's.

This need to be first usually results in people running red lights, excessive speeding, dangerous lane changes and the general disregard of most common sense and safety concerns.

Racing to beat the traffic lights is so common in my town that instead of policing this problem and nabbing these scofflaws, the city has added delays to the most accident prone intersections. These morons now know that when they go through a red light, the delay of four seconds before the light turns green the other way means they can break the law safely. I can see the added safety by instituting these delays but this does nothing to deter this illegal practice which has reached epidemic proportions.

A few years ago I was stopped at a red light and once it turned green I slowly proceeded through the intersection only to have a woman fly through the red and sheer off the front of my new car. Had I been faster to move forward she could have T-boned me and left me seriously injured. As it was it took over $10-thousand to fix my car. Sadly, a year later a tire came off the front of a truck approaching me and demolished the front of my car again. That also cost $10-thousand to repair but luckily the tire didn't bound through the windshield and kill me. 

Speeding within the city limits is out of hand as well. Nobody likes to get where they're going more than I do but getting there in one piece and safely is most important. I'd like to say I've slowed down as I've matured but the truth is I see aggressive drivers of all ages today. To be honest however, these speed demons seem to be more often of the female persuasion and of all ages. This isn't sexist, it's a fact. I've had women agree with me on this. The majority of male speeders seem to be younger in age.

The stats speak for themselves and between speed and distracted driving these are the most likely causes of accidents today. In a province where using a hands free device is the law, I'm shocked by the number of people I see every day with phones to their ears or texting while driving.

Before the law changed and the fines became so severe, I would be one of these people and I know from my own experience that this was a dangerous practice. Once the laws against distracted driving came to be, I went 100% hands free and it was the best decision I ever made. And with the new operating system on my iPhone, I don’t get any notifications while I'm driving so I'm not even tempted to look at texts or alerts. In today's vehicles with Bluetooth a standard feature, there's no excuse to break the law.

Some days I dread leaving the house because I know I'm going to have several near misses or witness numerous illegal and dangerous examples of driving and it frustrates me beyond belief. One thing it allows me to do however is use my horn more and curse a blue streak at these menaces to society.

Driving Is Bad For My Health

I used to love getting into my car and going for a drive. Lately, that hasn’t been the case as I find myself becoming more and more stressed behind the wheel.

Admittedly, I do have a bit of road rage but it’s never been more than just cursing at other drivers or pedestrians. OK…I usually don’t actually curse at them so they can hear me, it’s more to myself, but on the rarest of occasions I will let someone have it with both barrels.

I mean, they deserve it! Bad drivers and people who either don’t know the rules of the road or just refuse to follow them really irritate me. In fact, I would say that every time I travel some place, someone will do something stupid to make me want to force feed them a driver’s handbook.

Now I’m not suggesting that I’m a perfect driver and never do anything wrong but I know how to use my signal and I always drive at least the speed limit and turn into the proper lane.

The examples of how people annoy and frustrate me are endless. Some of the most common annoyances lately include:

- drivers treating stop signs as yields and blowing right through them.
- turning into the wrong lane at multilane intersections.
- Not using a turn signal or waiting until they’re starting to turn before activating it.
- Women drivers in general are the absolute worst in all areas. I’m sure some are OK but most I’ve seen have a lead foot and talk on cell phones.
- Riding the brake. One foot on the gas and the other on the brake so their brake lights are on constantly. How the hell do I know if you’re actually going to make a stop?
- driving 60 km/h in an 80 km/h zone. Just driving too damn slow all together.
- pulling out without looking for oncoming traffic.
- cars flying by you on the highway and then cutting in front to take the exit.
- using the high beam lights but refusing to put them down until you flash your lights. Some still don’t put them down.
- drivers who have high beams on during daylight hours.
- drivers who can't wait for one car to go by before pulling out but would rather cut you off and force you to slow down.
- the list goes on and on.

It’s not just people behind the wheel that stress me out. I don’t know why but lately I’ve noticed more and more people walking on roads and refusing to move over when I approach them in the car. They have the room but I guess they feel as though they are entitled to the road and I should go around them. Of course I do because I don’t want to hit them but they’re putting their lives at risk just to be stubborn. They don’t even move to single file but remain walking two or more side by side out into the road. Sometimes I’ll pull right up to them just to see if they will get over. It’s one thing if there’s no sidewalk or walking / biking lane for them to use but when they’re walking where they shouldn’t be, I just want to pull up behind them and blast the horn to give them a wake-up call.

Speaking of cyclists, when did the law change that states they must ride with traffic? Lately I’ve noticed more and more riders driving on the wrong side of the road heading into oncoming traffic. I’m pretty sure that’s still not allowed.

Oh the things I see every day that annoy me to no end. I don’t like to let it bother me but stupidity and ignorance are two things that really get under my skin and lately they’ve been stressing me out. Maybe I need to see my doctor to get some time off work. Of course I’d have to take a cab and keep my eyes closed the whole way.

Power Outage Causes Brain Damage

I was both terrified and baffled on Wednesday night (July 28th) as I drove home from an evening of golf.

A storm earlier in the day had knocked out power on the east side of town which meant the stoplights at all intersections were not working.

As I approached the first intersection, which is normally quite busy, I saw no police presence to direct traffic. Therefore, as is the usual procedure and I'm quite certain the law, I proceeded to treat the intersection and the next six I came to as four-way stops.

It became painfully obvious and at the same time horrifying that many people don't have a clue what they're supposed to do in this situation. The majority of drivers weren't following this procedure and were just flying past me in both directions. I was nearly hit from behind three times and almost broadsided twice. If we made it through the entire outage without an accident in town, I'd be amazed. Actually, I probably wouldn't be surprised since most of us are used to dealing with these same bad drivers every other day and always have our heads on a swivel.

I've known for quite some time that the area is filled with some of the absolute worst drivers around. They either don't know the proper procedures when behind the wheel or just choose to disregard them. But this was reckless and dangerous behaviour and not a single member of our local OPP force was in sight to control the intersections or even ticket the offenders. At least if they're given a ticket and fined, they might learn something for next time...but I doubt it.

Every day I pull out of my driveway I feel like I'm putting my life at risk having to share the road with these impatient, law-breaking and clueless drivers. They'd be wise to pick up the latest edition of the drivers handbook and brush up on the rules of the road. Of course that would take time and obviously they're in too much of a hurry to get some place despite the number of lives they put in peril on the way.

(Also submitted to the local newspaper as a Letter to the Editor)