Saturday's are always unpredictable as the case here on 494 at France. This guy in the blue Jeep was entering 494 behind a few cars when I crept by the merge point. He decided to travel down the shoulder and squeeze in front of me.
The trouble with that move was I didn't know he was next to me until I heard him blaring his horn and frantically waving his arms as if I was trying to run him off the road. This happens all the time and most people just back off and get behind me. But there are a few people out there who are above the law and everybody else on the road.
The trouble with that move was I didn't know he was next to me until I heard him blaring his horn and frantically waving his arms as if I was trying to run him off the road. This happens all the time and most people just back off and get behind me. But there are a few people out there who are above the law and everybody else on the road.
As I said I didn't know he was there, I looked as I passed the merge point and yes, cars merged in front of me, but he was behind a few other cars waiting to merge. When he moved into the left lane he slowed next to me and I was waiting for a one finger wave but instead was shown a piece of paper with the truck and trailer number on it.
I am sure if he calls my employer he will say what a menace I am and how dangerous I am on the road and how I should be fired while never mentioning where he was at and what he was doing. He will waste a lot of people's time because he tried to drive down the shoulder to get a few feet and a few cars farther down the road while. Blame me for your ignorance.
I wonder if he will report this guy who exited in front of him?
12 comments:
I see people do this every day, and I wish there were some way to get the point across: the traffic already ON the road has the right of way. It's not their job to slow down for you - it's YOUR job to SAFELY fit yourself into the existing traffic! IDIOTS!!! (thanks - I feel better now).
Love your blog (and thanks, RoadGuy, for telling us about it) -- keep it up!
Diana, I agree; the person merging into traffic should accelerate to the common speed of traffic, signal, and enter the flow. However, there have been many instances where I've done just that, only to find the space I was going to merge into disappear, either because someone (driving inattentively) entered that spot from an outside lane, or because someone sped up into the spot so I "couldn't get in front of them". (Apparently for some people, the road is only for them.) So, I'll ask my fellow Twin Citians nicely: when coming up to an interchange where traffic is merging on (and many inner ring interchanges are quite tight, making getting up to speed difficult), please move over if you can, or leave a little space to merge into? I'm convinced the "me first" attitude I encounter accounts for 99% of traffic congestion. It's not always about who has right-of-way and who doesn't, sometimes it's about common sense and common courtesy.
What would I do?
Smile big and wave at the guy.
Then again I always try to be nice to the mentally challenged.
Cool blog by the way.
Thank you for the compliments. This guy probably thought I had the me first attitude myself. I just did not see him on the shoulder. Had I seen him, I would have let him in and been done with it.
What I usually do when someone makes a dumb move like that is "pretend" I'm not paying attention. I "pretend" I'm pre-occupied by something more important than driving. That usually pisses them off, but then they think I'm an idiot, and they GET AWAY FROM ME...
I am sure your employer gets many such calls every day....(not about you - dont take that wrong) there are lots of people with nothing better to do than to try to make trouble. I hope they stand behind you and tell that Jeep guy to get a life. It sounds like he was trying to get ahead of some of the other mergers as well - must have been important - or more important that what anyone else was doing anyway!
Glad to see you are getting lots more fans!
He probably thought that because you are a truck driver, you are omniscient and thus instantly aware of everyone around you, including the folks who have just leapt into your blind spot because they didn't feel that they needed to be polite like the people in front of them.
What's really interesting is that not only did he pass you on the shoulder to get in front of you, but he also evidently passed several other people on the shoulder as well -- after all, you said he was behind a few other cars when you looked. They must've merged behind you. But this guy apparently felt he deserved a more advanced position in traffic. If the cars on the ramp ahead of him had "how's my driving?" stickers, I bet he'd write them down too to complain about how they obstructed traffic by having the gall to be in front of him.
He never called as far I know. Where you been Calli?
god no! not behind a truck! most of these boobs have any idea what a blind spot is. I think our drivers ed programs have pretty much failed. blind spots, stop signs, turn signal use, and right turns on red really need to be pushed much harder. oh I forgot cell phone use, maybe the worst offense of all.
man this is better than therapy. I already sent one comment tonight and feel better already. this is fun but if anybody has a serious way to get this to more people, please do it. thanks for the place to bitch! irrate bus driver.
Bitch away, swear if you want to.
I have become the "new fad", Paula.
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