By: Jim’s Wife
I understand that a lot of people have been social distancing by staying safely at home and maybe the driving skills have gotten abit rusty. I admit that I enjoyed being one of the essentials that got to drive to work without a crowd. I would get through just one red light without sitting through two or three. It was nice getting around town quickly without a lot of traffic.
Now it appears that people are getting out, and the real world is back. I know this because my road rage has kicked back in. Not really road rage; let’s call it road aggravation. I probably will not honk at you or gesture to you inappropriately. But I will be thinking it.
To the person who is lagging behind at least 10 mph less than the speed limit, stop it. If you are that person feeling no stress and in no hurry to get where you are going, you should drink that extra cup of coffee at home before getting out and then go with the flow at the speed limit. When I have to go around you blocking the flow of traffic, I am the person looking over at you to make sure you are not clutching your chest or in some type of distress. When you do not appear to be, it stresses me out.
When a red light turns green, that means go. I have heard it called red light stupor where it appears people go to sleep at a red light and it takes a beat or two or ten to get moving. Then there are the people who are engrossed in their cell phones and have not noticed the light changing. FYI, there are people behind you that actually did not go to sleep. We are going to wait until we get where we are going to check our emails and texts, and thus, we want to get on with our drive and get to our destination. It takes all I have not to lay down on my horn. Do not make me lay down on my horn.
On that same note, if a green light turns yellow that means the red light is right behind it and so start stopping. It is not the raceway flag saying go, go, go as fast as you can to beat that light. The people at the red light on the other side that went into a stupor may appreciate the extra time to move but the rest of us are watching you. The least you can do is give us a wave. Don’t go stiff-necking us like you don’t see us.
Also on that note, many of you have come to rely on the red light stupor too much. When your light turns red, I have noticed one or two cars carrying on through, sometimes even more! Here is a bit of information: We all did not go into the red light stupor. We are revving our engines ready to go when we see the green light. If you get a red light, stop. Again, don’t stiff-neck me and pretend you do not know what you did. Give me the courtesy of a wave to acknowledge you that you took my green light time.
This is as far as I can go in preaching on driving etiquette. I do not like to drive. I was not the teenager begging to get my driver’s license. If I could afford to, I would hire someone to take me everywhere. I expect my husband to do all the driving when he is in the car with me. I have the opinion that if there is open space front of you, the speed limit signs are just a suggestion and you can go as fast as you want to. But my family says that is not a rule. If that is true, then the joy of driving has been sucked away, and I prefer to do something else.
But if I have to live in the world with the rules of the road, everyone else should have to also.
THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED IN THE June 12 ISSUE OF FOCUS SB - THE INQUISITOR.