Re: Driving, and dealing with anxiety

[billd]

Give me open roads, Interstates (skip KC, Twin Cities, etc.), small towns, etc. I’m a decent driver, but I speed, get VERY irritated at stupid drivers, those who can’t make a decision and skip across 3 lanes to make a last-minute turn, etc.

I’ve hauled my show car around quite a bit – long hauls/drives, hours, miles, no issues, but put me in rush hour – ugh, good thing I’m not a violent person.

Brakes – brakes on my cars tend to last longer than normal/average. My wife goes through brakes like crazy. I don’t false-brake. I can anticipate what traffic and other drivers will do by observation. I can tell if they’ll pass, change lanes, etc. just by being observant. I’ve amazed more than one person with my “watch what this person is going to do” and be right about it. They look at me and ask “how did you know that?”

If others followed the rules, drove correctly, by the law and by the book – blending/merging would be easy. It’s because folks do NOT drive wisely, or by rules and laws today that there are “issues”.

My favorite is one my father told me years ago. He used to car pool to work at the factory. Involved 2 lane roads and Interstate. One day one of the other fellows was driving and coming out of Des Moines merging onto I80. He was having trouble and just pushed out, cutting another fellow off. My father pointed to the yield sign on the acceleration ramp and asked if he knew that that yield sign meant.

The other fellow who was driving said “sure, it means they are supposed to yield to me”

LOL – WOW, this guy was SERIOUS! What a complete idiot. People like that need to either go back to school, or have their license yanked forever for being such an idiot.

Acceleration ramps are so that you can get up to the speed of the prevailing traffic on the Interstate and BLEND IN.

You do not pull into the Interstate at 30 mph THEN get up to speed. That ramp is called an Acceleration ramp for a reason.

Deceleration ramps are exit ramps – you MAINTAIN your Interstate speed until you are on the ramp, THEN slow down. Do NOT hit the brakes and slow while still on the Interstate. It’s called a deceleration ramp for a reason – but today it’s commonly called an “exit ramp” and folks forget the true intent.

Wow, how many people don’t get it? most.

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