Check Your Blind Spot

You probably think that the title of this post is some kind of metaphor about how you should be more aware in your life, and look for the areas where you are not seeing reality.  That would be a great blog post for the future.  This one is just a rant about drivers.  Is it really that hard to check your blind spot?  Considering the number of times that I've seen people not do it, you'd think it was some kind of Herculean task.

There's one particular individual I'd like to rant about that personifies mankind's inability to turn their head slightly before moving their steering wheel.  I have affectionately named our villain, "GMC Sonoma license plate 2469G".  That's just a name I came up with.  I call her Lil' 9G for short.

A few days ago, I was driving along on the freeway, minding my own business.  Lil' 9G was passing me in the lane to my left.  Here's the thing about passing me.  9G came from behind me, that means there was no way she didn't know where I was.  As she passed me, she got to the point where I was in her blind spot.

A normal person would think, "That person that was in front of me a moment ago is not visible in my mirror.  I bet they are in my blind spot.  I should keep moving forward until I can see them in my mirror.  Then I should check my blind spot to be sure it's safe before moving over."  But that's not what Lil' 9G thought.  Being the wise person she is, her thought process went something like this.  "Just a moment ago I saw a car in front of me.  I went forward a few feet, logic would say that person is now to the right of me, but since I can't see them, they must have magically vanished.  It's like when I was little and I would close my eyes to make everyone else vanish from the world.  Well, I guess I better crank my wheel to the right."

As Lil' 9G began entering my lane, I pondered my options.  To my right was a giant semi, so I couldn't go there.   I did crank my wheel a little to the right to avoid a collision.  I came within a few inches of the semi.  I also laid on my horn.  Lil' 9G said, "I hear a loud sound.  I guess I better keep going."  I slammed on my brake and 9G just came right on in.  I'm pretty sure the person behind me had to slam on their brake to avoid hitting me.  I almost spun out from swerving to avoid 9G and then swerving the other way when I realized I was about to hit a semi.

You want to know the worst part of the whole ordeal?  Well, I suppose the worst part is that I came within inches of death.  But the second worst part is that Lil' 9G was completely oblivious.  She could have actually killed me and been none the wiser.  In fact, I choose to believe that Lil' 9G has already killed countless millions.

The moral of the story is that Lil' 9G is still at large.  If you see her, stay far away, she might kill you.  Also, if you have the option, feel free to slash her tires.

The second moral of the story is that you should check your blind spot.  It's really not that difficult.

The Jerk and the Motorcycle

I don't understand people.

The other day I was driving to work, which is something I do about 5 times per week.  On the way, I came to a four way stop.

As I approached the stop sign, I noticed there was a motorcycle sitting there, as if he was waiting for his turn to go.  There wasn't anyone else at the intersection, so I'm not sure what he was waiting for.  (I'm noticing this from several hundred feet away.)

He was sitting at the stop sign, but was parked way over to the right side of the road, as if he was going to turn right.

While he sat there, pondering the universe and his role in it, a girl pulled up to the intersection.  She wanted to turn left, so she pulled up to his left.

At this point, I arrived at the intersection, the picture below shows the layout of our story, in case my description was faulty.  (I know that, at this point, the motorcycle man has not yet been cranky, and the girl is not yet confused, so pardon the labels for a moment.)

Upon my arrival at the intersection, it is clear that they have both been there longer than me, so I am waiting for them to take their turns and then I will proceed forward.  Based on their locations (and the car's blinker) I assume Motorcycle is turning right and Car is turning left.

Car assumed the same thing and began to pull forward.  That's when Motorcycle decided that A)he was done pondering the universe and wanted to go now and B)the universe needed to know that he was cranky.

He stuck his hand out in front of the car's windshield and wagged his finger as if to say, "no".  He also shook his head to make the same communication.  The car stopped, and the girl driving looked really confused.  That's when the motorcycle proceeded to drive forward through the intersection while simultaneously flipping the bird  back at the car as he drove away.

The girl still looked confused, but she made her left turn and moved on with her life.  I then proceeded to drive forward, and pondered how I wished that I had a dash cam or similar device to record the strange event.

Having relayed that story, I want to take you back to my first statement.  I don't understand people.  They don't even make sense.

I've tried to put myself in Motorcycle Man's brain, and try to figure out what made him so cranky.  He obviously felt he was entitled to go through the intersection first, since he was there first.  But he had been sitting at the intersection for at least 30 seconds that I saw.  In addition, it's not like her turning left made it so that he couldn't go straight.

What is the etiquette he was expecting her to follow?  If someone is pulled over at an intersection, almost on the sidewalk, are you supposed to pull over behind them while they ponder and pray about when they want to proceed through the intersection?

Obviously there was a misunderstanding between the two.  She didn't do what he expected, and he didn't do what any normal human being would expect.  But why get cranky about it?  Why flip her off?  Why can't we all just be nice to each other?

I don't understand people.

An Open Letter to Everyone Who Drives a Car

Dear Everyone,

We haven't talked in a while.  How have you been?  How's that thing you've been worried about?  I hope it's doing better.  How about that thing you're excited about?  Is it still making you happy?

Enough of the small talk.  The reason I've gathered you all here today is to discuss a little subject I call, "don't run into other cars while driving."

This seems like a pretty basic idea.  But, in my experience, there is some sort of amnesia that kicks in whenever it snows.  Apparently, people get up in the morning and see white stuff falling from the sky and think to themselves, "Am I supposed to run into other cars or not?  I can't remember."

You're not supposed to run into other cars.  Even if there is white stuff.

I'm glad we got that cleared up.

I think there may be some of you out there who actually know that you're not supposed to run into other cars, but you do it on accident.  I'd like to discuss some things with you.

There are lots of things we could talk about, such as, if your car starts to fishtail, you should turn the wheel into the fishtail.  That means the wheel should turn the same direction that the back of the car is drifting.  If you turn it the other way you will do what is called a donut.  This move is considered awesome if A)you are in an empty parking lot doing it on purpose or B) you are in an action movie and you are spinning around so that you can shoot the gas tank of a car that is chasing you and cause it to explode.  In all other situations, doing a donut is not awesome.

There are other techniques you can learn that are helpful for driving in the snow.  But the most important principle I'd like to go over is so simple that it can improve your snow driving instantly.  Are you ready for it?   It's going to blow your mind.  Here it comes.

Slow Down!

It blew your mind didn't it.  I marvel every time I drive on the freeway when it is snowing.  There are always people blowing past me at 80 mph.  They always have a smug look on their face as they blow past all the wimps who don't drive fast in snow.  Then I usually pass them a few minutes later as they sit on the side of the road after spinning out.

It should be understood, I like to drive fast.  I'm usually going a good 10 mph above the speed limit on the freeway in safe conditions.  But when conditions are not safe, is it really worth risking your life to get to work 5 minutes sooner?  (Not to mention that when you spin off the road it slows down traffic for the rest of us and we all get there 20 minutes later.)

This past weekend there was a bit of snow.  I've noticed that when it snows, it takes a few days for people to remember how to drive in it.  If it snows several days in a row, by the third day you don't see as many accidents.  But if it's dry for a week or two, when the snow returns it's as if they've never seen snow or driven in it before.

The following pictures are not from this past weekend.  It's from a couple months ago.  But I had to share what happens when people don't remember the age old wisdom of slowing down.

They closed 5 lanes of traffic on I15 for this little wreck.

Important safety tip: don't park a semi sideways on the freeway.  People may run into you.

I don't know what happened here, but I'm willing to be that semi was driving too fast.

For those of you who have been in wrecks recently, I do recognize that there are some accidents that happen through no fault of the driver.  You can be driving a speed that is safe for the conditions when the conditions suddenly change.  Perhaps that's what happened with our semi driver above.  My brother recently got in an accident that sounds like it was no one's fault, from his description.

I would just prefer that we all get to our destinations safely, whether there is white stuff on the road or not.  If you don't feel safe at the speed you are driving, don't feel ashamed to slow down.

Love,
Jeff

P.S. I ended with "love" so you know that everything I said was filled with love and you can't get offended at me for telling you to slow down.