Commuting To and From Work

I thought I would write about something that I spend way too much time doing that is necessary but not that fun. Driving to and from work, which I’m sad to say takes up almost 2 hours of my precious time each and every weekday. Certainly other people have it worse than me, so I’m glad I’m not one of them.

I can easily write all kinds of stories about my daily commute and the things that have occurred to me or the things that I’ve witnessed. But I don’t want to be more boring than I already am. So I will just jot down a story from time to time about some aspect of my commute.

Today’s story will be about the idiots I encounter all the time. You know the ones I’m talking about, the ones that have nearly hit you because they can’t drive. Have you ever had someone pull out in traffic in front of you? I have, more than once. The worst situation is when the other motorist is heading the opposite direction you are and makes a left turn right in front of you. Sure it might be legal to do this, but it sure isn’t safe. Why should I have to slam on my brakes to avoid T-boning this idiot that couldn’t wait 10 seconds for me to pass? And of course, they didn’t look behind me to see there were no other cars coming.

Then there’s the idiot intending to travel the same direction as I am who pulls out from a driveway or makes a right turn in front of me from a side street. This is almost as dangerous as the opposite direction left turn. The most recent time this happened to me I wasn’t even commuting to work. I was on vacation pulling my 5th wheel trailer. Do you have any idea how many feet it takes to stop a fully loaded pick-up truck with trailer in tow? This idiot almost ended several people’s lives that day. Luckily for everyone involved, they accelerated fast enough and I braked fast enough.

Another version of this is when you’re on a freeway, and some idiot is trying to merge on. Now I always try to “time it” to let them in ahead of me, or accelerate so they can drop in behind me. It’s when the merging driver is oblivious to you that causes the problem.

The last situation I will vent about today is the idiot who is ahead of you traveling the same direction, and doesn’t realize he’s about to turn. This driver makes an abrupt right (or left) turn and you’re forced to slam on your brakes to avoid rear-ending him. Yeah, I know that one would probably go down as “your fault” by the good folks at the insurance company. My point is the other driver should be paying attention to where they intend on turning for the safety of the motorists (like me) behind them.

More not-so-interesting commute stories to follow in the future. Thank you for allowing me to get that off my chest.