Man. You know it's been a long driving day when you get mad at the nice woman who let you turn left at a T-intersection even though she had the right of way. I apologize for saying that such an act was "useless."

I also apologize to any other drivers that I might have expressed strong feelings towards. Except for you, awkward-Honda-Station-Wagon-driver.

You were short, stubby, and accelerated painfully slow to a max speed of 40 mph in the left hand lane at a speed limit of 50. I hope to never encounter you again.

Why I know God exists: Driving tales

How can I say I know God exists? By the shear number of tremendous accidents that should have happened in front of me but didn't. I know that sounds a little conceited, especially because I've been driving for less than half of my life (if you're nerdy enough, you can figure out that makes me less than 32 years old). But please, humor me for a moment.

You would think on a Friday since I don't have to commute, it would be peaceful day. That I wouldn't encounter a number of AMAZING drivers on the road. You would have thought as I had. And ultimately, you and I would be wrong.

In a fairly impromptu decision, my brother who is visiting this weekend decided to cancel his bus ticket and bum a ride with some friends to see the Army vs. Rutgers game. Knowing this would be my chance to see a game for cheap (ie: free, since I made my brother buy my ticket before I got there), I volunteered to drive up and shuttle him back. I knew it was going to rain. I should have already prepared myself for the driving I was going to encounter. You know, the "get angry at everything, release, and just remember that people are pretty stupid in general" technique. It's what I use to avoid road rage, but sometimes your jaw just drops in awe of what has happened in front of you anyway.

Background: There is a long line of cars in the passing lane (caused by "the slowpoke" and a few cars interspersed in the right lane so that it wouldn't make (normal) sense to ever switch back into the right lane. There is always that rule-breaker though.

Car 1 is coming up quickly on my right showed no signs of slowing down as it approached Car 2 in front and to the right. Car 3 right in front of me was just about starting his pass on that Car 2 when Car 1 decides that he can defy physics and somehow manages to weave between the space between Car 3 and Car 2.

I've included a rough animation of the events for clarification:


I should become part of the next big animation film, right? I know. I'm super talented. I try to be humble, but it's hard when you're this good.

Honestly though. How does an event like that not result in an accident? God. Yep, must be it.

Other events of the night included getting free parking at the game because of the nice parking lady and an extreme version of the "last minute mind-changer" but I've already used up all of my blogging energy making that insanely awesome animation. So that's it for today. Happy Weekend!

On people who have no right to switch lanes

That's right. This first one's going to be a doozy.

And you read it correctly. I'm going to go ahead and say that not only are these people annoying, but they should actually not have the right to switch lanes especially if it's the same that I'm in (which I'm inclined to say is "mine" since I was here first, after all). There are actually several different scenarios that this can be applied to.

The cutoff:
You're driving along in your lane when suddenly you find there is no longer open road (or a normal following distance from the previous car) in front of you but a new bumper inches away from yours. Sir, at that distance, I don't care how fast you'll be following with traffic, that's just a no-no. On the other hand, perhaps this scenario is the first driver's fault as they shouldn't give such a "wide" opening for someone else to squeeze into. Obviously, the preemptive choice is to be tailing the person in front of you to begin with.

The slowpoke:
You're driving along in your passing lane and you notice another car getting frustrated with the car in front of them. He in turn decides to enter in front of you, but does not do so at the lane's average speed, but instead just a few mph's faster than what he was previously traveling. Usually this happens when the passing lane is going 15 mph over the speed limit and the entering car only wants to go 5 mph over. You're not allowed to do this either. If you do, you better go back into the lane which you came from or there's going to be some serious right lane passing coming your way.

The wanderer:
This is probably my favorite (the one I dislike the most). You're driving along on open road. Let's say for this example, there are 4 lanes. Ahead of you a car in its own lane at its own speed, albeit significantly slower. Suddenly, they decide they don't like that lane and enter yours. Excuse me? Do I have a magnet in my car that attracted you to this lane? You're not passing anyone and I'm not in any intermediate lane for you to get to an exit. Why are you here and why are you making me change lanes also?

The last minute mind-changer:
This is actually fairly dangerous, especially if it's a left-lane exit. Their mind: Oh! I need this exit! Wait, no. Not this one. The one 6 miles down the road. Better change back into my original spot even though I'm already slowing down and 3/4 in this other lane!


I know I must be missing a few, but that's what I can think of for now. Whoo, first entry!