聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 When I got my licence my parents told me something along the lines of, 鈥淧ay attention, be a good driver and watch out for everyone else because they might not be watching for you.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I try to be as attentive as possible when driving, and have been involved in a very minor at fault accident, but that just leads me to wonder about what other people are thinking behind the wheel. 聽An incident that I鈥檝e vowed to never let happen again.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 So, although I鈥檓 not one to complain nor am I one to anger easily, these are three of my pet peeves while driving, which actually spur a bit of road rage in me.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 When you鈥檙e driving along the highway and see someone stopped at a stop sign who then pulls out in front of you without enough time. This annoys me ever more when I check my rear view mirror to confirm, 鈥榊up, there鈥檚 no one back there.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Had they waited the few seconds it would take for me to pass them the entire worrisome situation would have been avoided. Though some think they鈥檙e being kind when they pull out, keeping to the shoulder of the road you鈥檙e now forced to choose to pass the vehicle while another one is approaching and be sandwiched between two other vehicles, or slow to speeds less than the speed limit and wait for the proper time to pass.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Another one that gets me is speeding. I travel the speed of the majority on the road and when someone comes flying by me, I鈥檓 astounded at how fast they鈥檙e likely going, which gauging the seconds it took to pass me and cross referencing that with my own speed is likely 140 km/hr.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Then because they get caught behind a convoy of traffic just ahead we end up in the same place at pretty much the exact same time, because the only time going that fast actually makes a difference is if you鈥檙e actually travelling for an hour or more. The 10 minutes it takes from Carlyle to Arcola though a difference of 20 km/hr is negligible.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Another road rage moment for me comes with people who don鈥檛 stop behind stop signs. There鈥檚 almost nothing worse than watching someone come flying in from a grid road as you鈥檙e on the highway and thinking, 鈥楾hey鈥檙e not going to stop.鈥� So you start slowing down, wondering if they鈥檙e going to stop or not. Usually they do, but it鈥檚 just as the front end of their vehicle is nearly at the highway and sometimes you even watch as the tires skid.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Not only does this bother me when travelling at high speeds on highways, but I鈥檓 livid when I see it happen in town as well. Driving along Main St. for example you鈥檒l meet someone trying to turn onto the road. They stop after the stop sign paying no attention to that area which is where the crosswalk is making me always think, 鈥榊up, you鈥檙e going to hit someone one day.鈥� Because not only do they stop after the sign, but usually these people are so focused on oncoming traffic that they never look right, they鈥檙e intently watching to the left checking for vehicles and have paid no attention to the possible pedestrians wanting to cross the street.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 You stop first BEHIND the stop sign then check left, forward, right, forward, left, EVEN if you鈥檙e only concerned about traffic from one direction. You then creep ahead if you can鈥檛 see properly from where you鈥檙e situated to gauge if it鈥檚 safe or not. You don鈥檛 blow by that area, looking just to the left because you鈥檙e only concerned about what鈥檚 coming from that direction, while barely stopping before the front end of your vehicle is in the street perpendicular to yours.
