Texting, Driving and Teenage Girls

I took an hour ride across I-84 on a bus Tuesday.  I'm not often a passenger in any vehicle and the elevated seat on the bus offered a different perspective on the road.  I decided as the bus merged onto I-84  to observe how many people were talking on cell phones or texting while driving a minimum of 65 mph.  It didn't take but a second to catch the first texter and then they passed the bus with stunning regularity.  What was interesting about this little experiment was that not one of these texters or talkers were female.  Every single one that I observed from Meriden to Ridgefield was male. Several of them were driving business vehicles so I would assume they were conducting business as they drove.  I will admit that I have been known to occasionally take a quick call while driving, although rarely, and I have NEVER texted while driving.  What amazes me about the people I observe is the brazen manner in which they break the law. 

I also took a 1000 mile road trip last week covering six states in the process.  I expected to have a lot of fodder for this blog when I got home.  Fortunately (or not, depending on your point of view) I didn't.  The drive south was a breeze and the ride home was not bad until I reached the George Washington Bridge and miles of overnight construction in Connecticut.  The start of the trip however almost set me on a rampage as I was trying to leave town and had to do the alternate merge to get on the good old (almost completed) Arrigoni Bridge.  A Toyota Tacoma truck felt the need to cut me off so he could get one vehicle length ahead of me.  I find that infuriating (see previous blog entries), but was able to let it go when we got over the bridge and he had to stop at the stoplight for those heading down to Route 9 and I sailed right by to go down Main Street.  "So long, sucker!"

My weekend trip also took me across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel.  I've made that crossing many times and really find it a marvel of engineering, but as I was heading south across it this time, I noticed a huge tanker ship about to cross over the tunnel I was about to enter.  I actually had to stop and say a little prayer that the tanker was not so overloaded that it would ride too low in the water, scrape the top of the tunnel and spring a leak while I was down there.  Perhaps I've watched Titanic documentaries a few times too many. 

LeMans in Middletown

I know it was a beautiful day.  I get that you like driving your sporty little Mazda Miata with the top down on a day such as this.  What YOU don't get is that Main Street in Middletown at mid day is not the Indianapolis 500 or the LeMans raceway.

On the other hand the gentleman in the big hulking pick up truck that the Miata cut off needs to understand that while Main Street in Middletown at mid day is not a race track, neither is it a nice little country road for a leisurely drive.

Sending Mixed Signals

Another fun day driving in the Boston area.  Just one quick note to the driver of the Honda Pilot on Rte 30 in Weston with MA plate 69M J55: If you are stopped at a light and have your left turn signal on (score one point) and then decide not to turn, but to proceed straight ahead, look before cutting off the right lane traffic (lose 3 points).

When They Said Speed, He Was Listening.....

Did you hear about the guy in Oregon who got stopped for speeding three times in an hour, once at 105 mph, once at 98mph and finally at 92mph?  He's facing over $2000 in fines, but my favorite part of the story is his reason for driving so fast.  He was on his way to a court date to face methamphetamine charges.  About the only thing that really surprises me about this story is that he apparently wasn't high on meth at the time.

Nirvana

Interstate 95 northbound in Fairfield County.  1.5 miles in 22 minutes.  Enough said.

Distracted Driver Alert

I need to get back to NOT watching the super bowl, but want to give a shout out to the drivers of CT 915 YWL and NY SZS 757.  I know you both think you are perfectly capable of driving and talking on your cell phone, but you're not.  The erratic speed, weaving and inattention to what was going on around you was a dead giveaway.  Emphasis on the word DEAD.  Please hang up the phone and drive...although my guess is you're probably not a very good driver then either.

If You Want To Sit In My back Seat, Just Ask!

I've not been here or a bit, mostly because I seem to have been in a mellow mood and things on the road haven't been bugging me as much as they sometimes do.  Until today.

I had to run home from work this morning to pick something up.  It's about a four minute drive.  As I approached the stop sign at the entrance to the high school I stopped and had to wait for someone who was exiting the school driveway.  She got there first.  She had the right of way.  Simple, right?

Well, not so simple for the driver of the Jeep with CT plate 469 YET.  As I waited at the stop sign for the woman coming out of the high school to make her left turn in front of me, I watched the Jeep in my rear view mirror and braced for impact. I know things in your mirror are closer than they appear, but I swear if this one was any closer, the driver would have been a passenger in my back seat.

I am not sure if the driver was inattentive, simply used to rolling through that stop sign as most people do or testing their braking ability, but I fully expected to be visiting my local body shop this afternoon.

I love my car...and all 271,000 miles that I've put on it, but have expected to get broadsided or rear ended since the day I canceled my collision coverage.  Is it possible to be a fatalistic optimist?  Today was almost the day, but my old RAV 4 has survived for me to drive another day.