Drives Me Crazy...

Ok, it's my Thursday rant. (Heh. Maybe I'll start a regular post on Thursdays!)

Last night and this morning I was almost killed by four bad habits of drivers. (OK, maybe that's an exaggeration. But they did really annoy me, and could actually be dangerous.)

My top four list of flagrant violations of polite driving?

1. Driving Without Headlights (in dense fog)
2. Not Dimming Bright Lights (when meeting an oncoming car on a dark road)
3. Tailgating
4. Not Using a Turn Signal

My examples of such Bad Behavior:

1. The fog this morning was pea-soup-thick. Maybe quarter mile visability. I live just off a major highway. As I was turning onto the highway, I nearly got rammed by a truck zooming past because I didn't see him in the fog. Fortunately I had *my* lights on, and he was able to move to the left lane to avoid me. I wonder, whose fault would that have been?

2. I drive down a dark county road every evening on my way home. And I am convinced that no one knows the courtesy about dimming your brights when you meet an oncoming car. So last night as I'm toodling home, suddenly... BRIGHT LIGHTS! I'm BLINDED!!! It's one of those cars with the super-dooper high intensity headlights with the lights on high beam, and I can't even see the road. I flash my brights (the international sign for "turn your lights down, you doofus!"). What does the driver do? Flashes me back (so now I know they're on high) and returns them to high beam. I slow down dramatically until they go past and I can see again. Now, I know sometimes a person can forget, or make a mistake about the high beams. But this happens to me several times every night. So I must conclude that folks who drive along this particular county road just don't care. At All.

3. Tailgaters on this road are also common. I drive the speed limit. (I know, I'm wierd.) So folks who think I should go faster get right on my back bumper and try to push. And sometimes, they even combine that with high beams. Argh!

4. And finally, it's amazing how many cars in north Alabama have malfunctioning turn signals. Simply amazing. Either they don't work at all, or they never turn off. ::sigh:: Maybe we could apply for some stimulus money to repair all these cars!