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| Tuesday, July 17, 2007 |
| Hate It! Hate it! Hate it! |
What makes people think that just because they have a vehicle (car, truck, SUV, etc) and a license (hopefully) that gives them the right to make up their own rules for the road? Seriously in what manual does it say "In case of a long line or vehicle merging left in the right lane the right shoulder may be used as a passing lane." It happens on city streets, bicycle lanes or just wide enough shoulders used as a right turn lane. Even though the intersection is a good 1,000 feet ahead of you. Why should bicycles get their own lane all to themselves right? Hell if I road a bike around town I'd want my little lane to have a fence around it. And people wonder why so many bikers get hit. It's an odd thing, yes a bicycle is small enough to use both their little lane and standard car lanes, but last time I checked SUV's are just a smidge biker then a 10-speed.
Oh don't get me wrong I could write another blog on stupid bikers who like to bounce between using pedestrian rules and the rules of the road. They're annoying too, but they’re the ones that are going to get hurt in an accident. My issue is with the people who are driving the vehicles that could hurt my daughter and me.
The danger really hits on the freeway, and it almost hit me this morning. There was a huge back up on 217 south. You have two freeway lanes, and then the far right lane, which is a merge for cars coming from 26 East and 2 exits down turns into an Exit only lane. While everyone from 26 is trying to merge to the left all the impatient people start jetting by using the right shoulder. True it's a large shoulder BUT IT'S NOT A LANE!!!! My plan was to avoid the back up by taking the first exit, my usual exit was the third one down so I could easily use city streets to get there without the stop and go stress. Of course with all the merging traffic and lane swapping of cars that wanted to get on-and-off 217 all three lanes were backed-up. But still people zoomed by on the shoulder to the first exit. So what happens when the actual exit comes up? You know the exit with the solid lines that break off to the right. Those same solid white lines that are ill awful to cross? I poke the nose of my car into the exit LANE (the official one) and I nearly get side swiped by a green sedan darting past on the shoulder. Our side view mirrors must have been inches away from each other. And even though it was an exit lane YES I had my right turn signal on.
GEEZE PEOPLE WE HAVE LAWS FOR DRIVING FOR A REASON. IT'S NOT TO MAKE YOU LATE IT'S TO MAKE SURE YOU AND EVERYONE ELSE MAKES IT TO THEIR DESTINATION IN ONE LIVE PIECE!!!!
Personally I'd take being 15 minutes late to wherever then taking a trip to the hospital or sending someone else there.
Have you ever talked with someone who's been in an accident that killed and/or hurt someone? I have. I've been joking with them one minute, and then an hour later being told of the horror that just happened. Knowing that someone I had just met that day I'd never meet again. So next time you're late and can't stand waiting in a line of cars for another moment, remember that each car you see is a life. Wouldn't it just twist in your stomach if your impatience sent a child to a hospital, caused a pregnant women to lose her baby, caused any major harm to come to any man, women, child and even pet traveling on the road that day. No you can't get lost time back, but you can't give a life back either.
Take a moment to think past yourself and consider everyone else your actions could affect.Labels: Rant |
posted by Heidi @ 11:55 AM  |
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