I know this has been done before. Blog entries railing against bad drivers are as common as “I (heart) NY” t-shirts in New York City. Normally I'd be hesitant to post on this topic, but today I saw a driver who was just so shockingly bad that I decided to risk it.
Here's the situation. It's Saturday afternoon, two days after Thanksgiving. The highway is packed with people heading home after an peaceful holiday with their families. Most everyone is going the speed limit and sticking to their lanes, but travelers are only four car lengths apart: close enough to make things dangerous should an accident happen.
Suddenly, I hear the roar of an engine being pushed about as hard as it can go. A lifted silver Dodge pickup speeds past us on our right hand side, going at least 15 miles per hour over the speed limit on the crowded road. The driver, male and young-looking, swerves right, nearly clipping the front of a Honda minivan. He then steps on the gas and passes an 18 wheeler with a full trailer (after tailgating it) before disappearing out of sight.
Any one of these impulsive actions could have resulted in multiple deaths. When he first cut us off, he could have driven us into the next lane if he had hit our front bumper. The same thing might have happened if he hit the minivan, except it would have flipped and rolled at 65 mph given its higher center of gravity. If the 18 wheeler had stopped when he was right behind it, the force of the collision could drive the pickup's fancy Chrysler V8 engine back into the cab. Had he hit the 18 wheeler and caused it to swerve, the damage would have been terrible.
The point I'm trying to make is this: that reckless motorist could have easily torn a family apart with one careless jerk of his steering wheel. Why was he speeding? I'll never know. Maybe he was showing off. Maybe he was late. Maybe he was operating under the influence of some illegal drug. In the end, there's no excuse for putting other peoples' lives in danger. Drive safely, for the sake of everybody else on the road.
I see your point jeep_fan, I feel that especially during the holidays people begin to feel the "rush", which will only result in more car accidents during the harsh New England winters. The law enforcement seems to be cracking down on speeding laws; you can only hope that drivers like you mentioned will realize the harsh realities of speeding, and hopefully in a non-fatal manner.
ReplyDeleteI guess the lesson to learn here is, "Don't drive vehicles with a high center of gravity." Or are you instead suggesting that Chrysler not sell V8 engines to Dodge?
ReplyDelete@shopaholic: I also hope these people will realize what they're doing wrong, but we're often hesitant to acknowledge our own faults.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous: The message I was trying to send is basically "speeding is dangerous." Certain cars are unsafe, but it's mostly up to the driver to prevent accidents. And I'm certainly not against trucks or SUVs. I drive a Jeep, and I drive it safely.