Someone must have put out a memo that today is Raleigh’s “let’s T-bone a Traverse” day and didn’t bother to let me in on that little secret.
I’ve noticed over the past few years that the quality of driving round here has gotten dramatically worse.
Not that it was particularly good or less harrowing with all of the people apparently trying out to be the next big NASCAR star by showing off their tailgating (my apologies…their “drafting”) skills and having little to no clue what the true purpose of the *OVERTAKING LANE* is to those of us who know what the hell we’re doing.
But today’s adventures whilst fetching Alex and Katie from school this afternoon really have me wondering if there really is a conspiracy to kill me afoot.
There was the bozo who couldn’t grasp that a U-turn does not in fact have right of way over someone turning right.
Then there was the aspiring rally driver in the white Ford F-150 we encountered as we were making the left turn at the signal from the New Hope Rd on to Rogers Lane. Last time I checked, left turn into leftmost lane and that’s what I was trying to accomplish only to see said F-150 not only refuse to even look in my direction or slow down as they were approaching their right turn but yes…they drifted all the way across the lane they should have turned into right in front of me.
The only thing that saved us was that I had the presence of mind to lift my foot off the accelerator.
Of course, after he’d done this…then he decides to do the “I’ll drive exceptionally slow” thing until I try to overtake him and all of a sudden he finds a few more horses in that Ford 302 eight-cylinder engine.
But my favourite of all had to be the Amazon truck driver who was backing out of a driveway halfway down my street and not only didn’t notice that I was already *IN* the street heading toward my house but he also failed to hear the horn that I sounded long enough that my radio actually paused the music which takes at least three to five seconds to activate that feature!
I had to dump the brakes hard just to avoid ramming him!
As luck would have it, my house was actually the second stop after his lack of attention and situational awareness may well have destroyed my Traverse and injured the three of us in it.
So he pulls all the way into my driveway to deliver a small package which is kind of unusual as the cul-de-sac is actually empty (which granted is even more unusual!).
As he’s stepping out of his big blue Mercedes lorry with package in hand, it’s instantly obvious why he might not have heard the horn I was blaring at him with all of my might. You could hear the music in that cab in the next neighbourhood without much difficulty!
He hands me the package and I ask him the obvious question “did you not hear me sounding my horn for several seconds when you backed out of the driveway and nearly hit my vehicle?”
The vacant stare followed with “No, I didn’t hear it” didn’t exactly inspire my confidence in him being able to operate that lorry safely.
Something about my Traverse’s horn…it’s very loud and obnoxious. Much more than I am capable of being to put it mildly. It doesn’t give a little toot like some of these four-cylinder saloons running about…it’s loud enough to wake nearby dead people.
In other words, you have to really work hard at *NOT* hearing it particularly when it’s a continuous blast of a few seconds!
I try as diplomatically as I possibly can in as calm a voice as I am capable of to suggest to him that he might just want to turn down the music in his cab and actually give situational awareness a much higher priority than he currently seemed to be doing.
That’s when he raises his hands in a defensive gesture that clearly indicated that he had no intention of listening to my feedback much less acting upon it.
I find that unacceptable and disgraceful.
His lack of attention to detail and degraded sense of situational awareness darned near wrecked my Traverse had I not reacted quickly to avoid the collision he was about to cause and somehow I’m the asshole for pointing out to him his gross violation of safety standards and disregard for the general public as well as a consistent Prime customer?
That’s why it wasn’t particularly shocking when he drove away and then back to a nearby house about five minutes later and I could still hear his music in the cab as clearly as if I were standing next to his lorry.
There is a respect and a professionalism that comes with the position he is lucky enough to have.
Frankly, his lack of respect and professionalism suggests that something ought to be done about that before he actually rams someone with that blue coloured lorry and really causes Amazon legal and PR problems they really don’t want.
Work Hard. Have Fun. Make History.
For some strange reason, I don’t interpret that slogan to include “drive like a maniac and darned near kill other people”. 🙁