What Really Grinds My Gears 1
Today’s grinding gears are about traffic. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s noticed the decline in common sense of the average traffic participant nowadays. I’m not really sure what’s going on in the minds of people I come across while I’m driving around. Seriously, the stupidity is sometimes frighteningly close to plain insanity. The thing is, there’s a couple of ‘types’ of people, certain behavioral characteristics particular traffic participants have that clearly disconnects them from what is known as ‘normal and acceptable’. And I think sometimes it’s a bit of a vicious circle, that one behavior triggered a somewhat more extreme reaction which then again triggers a more aggressive response, and so on. Let me try to list the ones that bother me most, and if you know any other, feel free to add them in the comments.
- The ones where turn signals must have been an option on the car they couldn’t afford. Or maybe they’re being economical with the usage of the light bulbs in these times of crisis. I mean really. How hard can it be to hit that little handle when you switch lanes? These are not meant for your own amusement. The turn signal is meant to ’signal’ (get it?) to other people around you that you are about to do something funny like switching lanes, or overtaking someone, or heading for a parking spot. Many other examples. But no. Driving 120km/h, you switch lanes to and fro, not realizing the chaos you cause behind you. You also make everyone hold and wait because you refuse to signal you’re about to leave the roundabout. So the opposite lane moves slower because the first car had to wait and see what you would do.
- The ones who feel privileged and above the rules of traffic. So, it’s rush hour and everyone is lining up, two lanes need to merge to one, or the highway splits directions, as the road signs signal. You pretend to not notice the fact everyone is lining up. All of the sudden, 50 meters before the merging point, you pretend to have forgotten you actually had to go the other way, so you force yourself in the line, ignoring the fact everyone else was queuing. Except, you pass there every day. You know damn well everyone is lining up, but you’re special. You have special needs. I admire you, every day.
- The ones who drive in the fast lane but not at maximum speed. It’s not an attempt to make people break the speeding limits on a highway and get fined, but seriously, if you’re overtaking someone on the middle lane and you move to the fast lane, that means you have to step up a little. Especially when you notice a lot of cars queuing up behind you. But that’s idle hope. You don’t use the rearview mirror anyway, do you? It’s called fast lane for a reason though. If you’re driving 100km/h and you want to overtake a truck that’s driving 95 km/h while he’s overtaking a truck in the slow lane that drives 90 km/h, please don’t do it during rush hour. A lot of people really have to be somewhere.
- The ones who drive 50km/h on a 70km/h road. I just have one thing to say: if the road ahead of you is clear and behind you is a 20-car line, you’re not doing it right.
- The suicide hijabs with a stroller. You’re smoothly cruising around, paying attention to traffic. All of the sudden from the corner of your eye you notice the sidewalk, you see the mother with baby-carriage that was walking straight ahead take a turn and push the carriage firmly forward upon the road area. You hit the brakes and slam it hard. Not even paying attention to what just happened, mother and stroller cross the street, cell-phone stuck between the hijab and their ear, busy talking. It just comes to my attention that – and I assume it’s a cultural thing if you compare the state of traffic between ours and these specific foreign countries – they move through traffic more assertively than you’d expect from a pedestrian. Really unpredictable.
- The ones who cause traffic jams out of impatience. You’re in a slow moving traffic lane and approaching traffic lights. Normal people anticipate with a thinking process that roughly goes like this: hmm, it’s been green for while, might turn red soon. Crossroad is not empty yet, if I move now, chances are I end up in the middle of the crossing, blocking all traffic. But no. You decide to move ahead. The light is green, you are entitled to your progress. Then, as predicted, the light turns red and you are blocking all lanes. You try to ignore it, make your car move very slowly towards the bumper of the car ahead of you, trying to make it look like you want to move but the car ahead of you is not allowing you to. Then the light turns green again for your lane, people behind you have to wait for the crossroad to clear up again and find themselves stuck with a red light again. But hey, you made your progress, didn’t you?
- Cyclists that rule the road. I know cycling conditions are not optimal, and I respect that. Some streets are suicide to ride on. But. Making people hit the brakes because you decided to drive through one-way lanes and then acting like you’re being legit, that seriously grinds my gears. It’s a one way lane. As a driver and user of that lane, I do not have to precalculate you taking short cuts and drive too close to the parked cars on the one side to let you pass on the other. Get off the bike and walk on the sidewalk. Normal people do that. It’s ok, really.
- The ones who are too lame to park. I have all the human understanding in the world you only quickly want to stop at the night store. And I know you’re legally entitled to stop in your lane if you hit your turn signal. But seriously. If you would drive 10 extra meters, there would’ve been enough room to park. But then you’d have to walk back to the store which would at least set you back 15 seconds.
- The ones who need two parking spots. We all imagine we drive limousines once in a while, but seriously, your car ain’t that big. It’s nice you have a parking spot and I recognize the importance of your persona and the fact that such a big ego comes with the rights that entitle you to ‘more space’ to live and thus park. I’m sorry to have brought this up, your majesty. But your short-sighted and ignorant behavior really pisses me off when I’m looking for a place to park as well.
- The ones that cross the road without even paying attention to what’s happening. Coming from behind a bus or parked van or truck, thinking: “cars have to brake, I’m a pedestrian, they have to let me pass anyways”. Yes, theoretically. But there are limits to anticipation. It’s not because you’re too lame to go cross the street 20 meters down the road at the pedestrian crossing I’m focusing on, it’s because you’re expected to not bring yourself in danger by throwing yourself in front of the oncoming traffic just because you suddenly feel the urge to cross the street. And take that angry mumbling look off your face as you cross the street. It’s a road. Cars drive there. It’s not my fault you decide to cross the street without paying attention.
I think that about sums up the things I can think of right now. Maybe just one more, now that it’s been snowing here in Flanders: the ones who blatently ignore barred lanes because they don’t want to queue up and because there’s snow over the lanes, they think: if I can’t see it, it’s not here. Is it just me or are all the examples above a not-so-shiny image of how people are starting to be become more and more selfish and egocentric?
That really grinds my gears.
