Sunday March 23rd 2025

I put in a lot of driving miles this weekend. It was largely aimless wandering with a few stops here and there, but one thing was constant; traffic. I have been commenting, maybe even complaining about traffic in these blog entries a lot recently. The real problem is the drivers.

There seems to be an absence of patience, preparation and common sense in the drivers on the road. I might exhibit these to other drivers as well, but I think I am not guilty of all of them. The lack of patience is demonstrated by continued weaving in and out of lanes of slow moving traffic in an attempt to gain a few more car positions. It doesn’t seem to work. They still break out of the traffic at about the same time I do after remaining in one lane for the entire slow down period.

Preparation and common sense go hand in hand. If you know that you’re going to have to turn right or take an exit soon, don’t stick in the left high speed lane. You need to get into the right lane long before the turn arrives. You need patience to travel a little slower for a mile or so. If you don’t and remain in the wrong lane, have the common sense not to slow down or stop in the middle of a high speed lane. Know that it is safer and more courteous to proceed forward to the next opportunity to reverse direction or otherwise correct for your poor navigation. This is similar to an airplane pilot doing a “go around” after a failed landing attempt.

While I’m on my soap box about drivers, what happened to using your directional signal before changing lanes. It would be nice to know what the other drivers intent is. This is particularly important in merge situations. It is very hard to know when they are giving up scooting by slow or stopped traffic in the lane that is ending and joining those of us that were prepared and patiently waited in the through lane.

End of soapbox blog post.