Driving, how I despise thee...

[Apex]

So I was in a pretty good mood when I got up a few hours ago. I woke up, got ready, made my lunch, and headed out on the road. A normal day, and pretty laid back driving. Little did I know how things would end up...

Pulling out of the side street onto the highway, this Roush F150 was on my tail, big time. Now, I will admit, I am not the fastest accelerator out there, but I will get up to speed. This guy was just flat out impatient. Zig-zagging between lanes, trying to gain as much time as possible. The guy was either on the gas hardcore, or on the brakes hard. It was amusing me, but I wasn't trying to block him in or anything, just going my own pace and keeping an eye on him making sure he didn't cause an accident.

Anyway, I have to change highways half way through my trip to work. Guess who is next to me? Yup, that F150. He is saving so much time!

So I am cruising along, just minding my own business, then two vehicles pull out in front of me doing 5mph, to get around a van with hazards on. They totally did not look in their mirror. Luckily I used to ride a motorcycle and I can see these things coming. I already had the brakes covered when I saw them move. I pressed the brakes much like you do emergency braking on a bike...steadily increasing pressure, no sudden jerks. I locked up an ABS car without the ABS kicking in. I was rather impressed with that. Anyway, everything in my car flew forward. Ugh, not too hard to check your mirrors before you pull out in front of someone doing 55mph!

I also experienced several people who could not maintain a steady speed to save their life. So I go to exit that highway and hop on the frontage road to another, and guess who I see? Yup, that same F150. He is really saving tons of time and wasting so much gas to get nowhere fast.

So I pull onto the frontage road (feeder, service, side, whatever you want to call the road that runs along the highway), and I am pleasantly surprised by a Mercedes that pulls out of a parking lot, right in front of me, causing me to hit my brakes, and then proceeds to turn right back into the same parking lot. WTF? I just lost it at that point and busted out laughing. I guess Mercedes do not come with a reverse gear anymore?


Oh, and then I get stuck behind people who want to travel 15mph under the 45mph speed limit. Joy. I am a patient person, I just cruised along. Then I arrive at work, and a Mazda Miata, driven by an older gentleman, almost hit me in the parking lot. He was not paying attention to what he was doing and almost t-boned me on my front fender. He locked up his wheels and stopped. No expression to apologize, not friendly gesture. Nope, he just stared at me like, "are you going to get moving so I can leave?" Ugh.

So yeah, not a good day to be on the road apparently.

I have come to the conclusion that if I could get to a point where I don't have to travel far to get to work, I will ditch my car right away and just take my bicycle. That way I don't have to deal with this BS anymore. Plus, driving is like 80% of my stress. I love racing, I enjoy racing, but I hate driving in a commuting sense. It can kiss my butt. Really, I do not like to drive anymore. People paying attention more to their cell phone, the food in their hands, the beverage they are drinking, the GPS, or whatever...instead of paying attention to the most important task...DRIVING, it makes me sick. I cannot stand it. IF I check my phone, it is at a red light...and that is if you are lucky. I have ignored my wife on several occasions because I don't like answering a phone call while behind the wheel. She gets mad at me, but honestly, I could care less. To me, being safe is the priority, not chatting on a phone.

Be safe everyone.

[Alex]

Commuting via car is mindnumbing.

[oblivion007]

Originally Posted by Alex

Commuting via car is mindnumbing.

This, and dang that sucks I'm glad my daily commute isn't like that. My worst problems are when I get off the highway onto campus (where I work and go to school). The round about on campus I would say is the scariest thing because people don't know how to use it. People in the round about yield to the people already yielding to them wanting to get on the round about, and the rest don't yield for people on the round about.

[Jiggles]

When I'm in my car I just use the cruise control since controlling my speed with my right hand feels so much more natural.

Cars suck

Motos rule