Tuesday, September 1, 2009

How to beat the Traffic

I notice that a lot of people these days suffer from road rage. I am included amongst you and it's OK because I think I may have a solution.
US Route 1 is possibly one of the most rage filled roads I've been on. Often people go way over the speed limit, switch in and out of lanes, and cut people off mercilessly. These methods of driving may gain you 2-3 minutes, tops, off of your trip. The down side to using these methods is that you endanger a number of people, including, but not limited to: yourself, other drivers on the road, possibly the people in your car if you have passengers and some guy who happens to just be a whack job walking or biking on the side of the highway.
Have faith my friends, there is something you can do that will cut time off of your trip and save all these people that you endanger by driving recklessly. It's called PAYING ATTENTION.
This may need a bit of explaining being that it took me a while to realize it and I still don't do it on certain days.
Paying attention consists of watching the traffic lights so that the second they turn green, you go from break to gas. Today, while I was driving, I got out in front of the traffic the minute the light turned green without speeding, switching lanes or cutting anybody off. The light was red so I watched it like a hawk watching a mouse hole. The rest of the drivers on the road had a 5-10 second delay because they were doing things like chatting with their passengers, talking on the cell phone, changing the radio, thinking about how pretty rain clouds are, etc. The light turned green, I pushed on the gas, and everybody else was behind me.
Step 2: Switching lanes doesn't help you. Generally, I notice people love to switch lanes, speed up and get in front of the car in front of them. eventually you're going to have to slow down, unless you have found a way to make your car invisible and are immune to speeding tickets. Stay in your lane. The people around you are going to act like nimrods and eventually you'll pass them anyway.
Step 3: Maintain your speed. People on the road these days don't pay attention so taking a quick glance at your speedometer to make sure you're going within 5 miles of the speed limit or the speed limit seems like an impossibility but it can be done I assure you. If you're an old person and you have trouble following speed laws, or want to go slower, please use the right lane, nobody wants to be stuck behind your old behind. Speed up, get in the right lane or let people pass you. Generally, they aren't passing you out of malice, they're passing you because you're doing 10 miles under the limit when you should have been paying attention and following the speed limit.
Last but not least: if someone wants to pass you get out of the way, Karma's a bitch and they'll get theirs.
To all the people in the BMW's who don't care and can pay off their speeding tickets because they have the money to, thank you for making the rest of our driving lives a living hell, go home and cry because you have no real friends.
Thank you for listening and remember reform yourselves, drive well, it's not too late to do the right thing.

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