The Dangers of Driving

My son knows that when I get behind the wheel, a few choice words come out of my mouth even though I strongly dissaprove of bad language. I promise this is almost the only time that I swear. Most of the time the words come out when someone cuts in front of me. I am normally a courteous driver so if you just turn on your blinkers (the one that came included in the car you paid for) I will most probably let you in.

The other thing that drives me nuts is when a person beats the red light. If each intersection was photo enforced, you would see this decrease considerably. Who wants to pay for a $450 ticket? I would not fear for my life each time. I would not yell "you freaking idiot" at all. I would not then be scolded with a "MOM!" It became so frequent that I would finally yell "you nice person, you" sarcastically so as not to offend my son's ears.

In fact, just the other day we had this conversation about a woman driver who would not let me merge onto her lane. She had never heard of "taking turns" when two lanes become one. I was right behind her so she could see me through her rearview mirror. I then asked Jason "Can I blow her a kiss?" since I knew I could not do what I really wanted to do in front of him. He replied with "Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss, Mommy." He is no fool, he knew exactly what I wanted to do. I could not help myself and said "So, she is Jesus now???" I did get the point but I refused to acknowledge it.

Have you ever seen an intersection with a "No Turn on Red" sign? On my daily commute, when you exit onto Telegraph Canyon Road from 805 South, the stop light has not one, not two, not three, but four of these signs. You have to be either blind or illiterate to miss the signs, or just plain stupid. What is so important that you have to break the law to save on a couple of minutes commute?

Speaking of a couple of minutes, why don't some people take the time to eat or put on make-up before leaving for work? I have seen a woman actually eat off a plate while driving and another one putting on makeup while going 70 mph on the freeway. I say wake up 5 or 10 minutes earlier.

I think that because people feel that they do not get recognized while in their vehicle, the rules of courtesy fly out the window. It is not personal, it is not you I am being rude to. I saw this commercial of two people racing their grocery carts in the supermarket and cutting each other off. It ended with a statement emphasizing that since we would never do that, why on earth do we do it with our cars?

I am not even going to start with the teenagers who just received their licenses and are driving their parent's luxury car. Worse, the twenty-somethings driving a souped-up Mazda or Honda. Mix in some bikers into the equation and you understand why it is safer to fly.