I Shake My Head At Thee

Last night I had a work dinner and used GPS to get to the location. Due to an accident on the highway, I took some side roads that led to the dinner from the other side, the side I had never driven on. For the most part this was all good and dandy until my four-lane road quickly turned into a left turn only, two forwards, and a right turn only lanes. I was on the right side, and I needed to go straight. Luckily, I was able to switch lanes but got stopped at the light. Once the light turned green, this dude on my right sped up to get ahead of me. I. Was. Livid.

For that split second, as I was driving and I saw this guy come up beside me, I thought about not stopping. Maybe if I wasn’t going to a dinner I already said I would attend, maybe I would have kept going, letting the guy hit me. Dude was in the wrong, he was in a right turn only lane. I literally know this because I was in that lane a cycle ago. Past the light, there are only two lanes, no space for this dude to squeeze in beside me. With the speed I was going, he definitely would have hit me if I did not slow down. Funnily, I drove behind the guy for a good ten minutes. He ended up turning right when I needed to, and I was hoping he thought I was trying to follow him. We even stopped at a light, where I switched lanes to be right next to him, so I could see who this idiot was.

Every time another driver cuts me off or does something unfavorable while driving, I shake my head at them. My windows aren’t tinted either, so I’m hoping they’re looking in their rear-view mirror, watching me shake my head at them for endangering everyone around them. There’s one specific location where I give the finger to drivers who use the right exit lane to try and get ahead of others for the left exit lane. This is a very specific situation so let me explain.

Imagine there’s a highway with five lanes. The three on the left continue straight ahead, slightly veering left. Right two lanes are exit lanes, and once you take the exit, they split again into two different exits. Left lane going up a hill to a highway going left, while the right lane exits to a highway heading right; I always take the far right most exit lane. Most of the time, this lane isn’t as crowded, because most people who take the exit take the left lane after the split. Since this is the case, a lot of people try to skip the line during traffic, using my right lane to take the exit, then slow down trying to switch lanes, usually coming to a complete halt. Now firstly, I don’t mind if you use my lane and can easily switch over without me slowing down for you. Good job, you did the thing. But, if you stop traffic because you need to switch lanes, you’re a terrible driver. I don’t care if that’s the exit you need, you’re in the wrong lane, suck it up, take the wrong exit and do a U-turn.