Beware of drivers

Over the years that I have driven it seems like as each year gets tacked on, the more of an asshole I am behind the wheel. I see people do some stupid ass stuff and I am sure at one point in my life (or two) I did some stupid stuff too but I swear not at the level of dumbassery I see now. I am sometimes amazed that people actually get to their destinations with the things I see them do. I don’t think we need to worry about “Beware of new drivers”, it should just be “Beware of drivers” because there really is no way to know how many bad drivers are on the roads anymore.

There is no way I can say that I have driven “forever” because that would be a lie, but I have driven long enough to know better. Maybe they forgot and are too lazy to take a refresher course or even pick up a book to read who really has the right-a-way. 90% of the time I see people who are playing on their cell phones, low-riding in the driver’s seat or are just blatantly not paying attention. Have a cell phone? Yes, please use it while you are trying to pick up your child in the pick-up lane.

I remember one guy was in a pick-up truck, we were both heading down the same road for about two miles and the guy was all over the place. I could not tell if he was having a heart attack or if he just really liked the idea of swinging in and out of his lane for the hell of it. I said a little blessing, kept my distance and went on my merry way. Another time a woman decided she felt like she was in more of a hurry than the rest of us so she decided to “ride the ass” for about a mile.

I don’t brake-check people because having amazing insurance is something I like at my age but I was pretty sure she thought she could drive right through me. It seems people don’t realize that you can only go as fast as the car in front of you. I have also considered putting a decal across my back window that states “Pay attention dumbass” or “Put the cell phone down”.

While I may curse repeatedly within the safety of my car it does make me wonder how many people out there really should never be on the roads in the first place. I am not talking about the “old people” either. I know young people who drive like old people. And most old people who drive slow are doing it because they are not in a hurry. Why are so many people in a damn hurry? If you are in that much of a hurry, get off your ass and leave earlier to allow for what it really is – traffic.

I often bite my tongue when it comes to road rage but I cannot count the several times that I have just wondered what in the world is wrong with these people. Take the woman who cut me off one day about 30 feet from a red light and then decided to lock her brakes up. This happened while I was taking a family member home who was medically drugged and very ill. I politely beeped, not an asshole BEEEP but a quick one like “Hey, what’s up”. The women actually stopped her car, fumbled out of her driver’s seat drunk to hell and become belligerent at the stop light walking toward my vehicle. I mean come on, really? Socrates said it right!

There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.