Crosstown Traffic
Feb. 7th, 2020 09:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jon_chaissonIt's Friday and my WAH day, so I drop into the usual schedule: start the week's laundry, listen to KEXP's morning show while I do my usual day job stuff, and take a look at what new music releases are dropping today (new Green Day and Stone Temple Pilots, by the way). I kind of treat it as an early weekend start as I get to relax a bit more without having to worry about commute or anything else.
I realize that since I've started the commute again, I've turned into That Masshole Driver, and I'm not happy at all about that. I'm barking at the UberLyft drivers blocking lanes and Gappers* in the middle lane going slower than every other car on the road. I'm shaking my head at the driver ahead of me going slow in the fast lanes. I'm honking at the cars that are trying to sneak into my lane without a signal. I'm frantically gesturing at the other car at the four-way stop sign that just stares at me when they have the right of way, then decides to go when I've lost my patience and pull forward. Every other driver is an idiot.
[* - Gappers are what I call that driver that leaves 2-3 car lengths ahead of them on a slow-moving surface street for no reason at all, thus letting all the other cars cut in front of them, causing our lane to go even slower (and all those behind us to get into the faster lanes to pass us and cut in front). It's even more aggravating when they stop at a light (on a flat grade, mind you) and don't pull forward. It seems to be a CA thing as I don't remember Boston drivers ever doing this. I could be wrong, though.]
I realize that since I've started the commute again, I've turned into That Masshole Driver, and I'm not happy at all about that. I'm barking at the UberLyft drivers blocking lanes and Gappers* in the middle lane going slower than every other car on the road. I'm shaking my head at the driver ahead of me going slow in the fast lanes. I'm honking at the cars that are trying to sneak into my lane without a signal. I'm frantically gesturing at the other car at the four-way stop sign that just stares at me when they have the right of way, then decides to go when I've lost my patience and pull forward. Every other driver is an idiot.
[* - Gappers are what I call that driver that leaves 2-3 car lengths ahead of them on a slow-moving surface street for no reason at all, thus letting all the other cars cut in front of them, causing our lane to go even slower (and all those behind us to get into the faster lanes to pass us and cut in front). It's even more aggravating when they stop at a light (on a flat grade, mind you) and don't pull forward. It seems to be a CA thing as I don't remember Boston drivers ever doing this. I could be wrong, though.]
So what I'm saying here is I'm turning into That Aggressive Jerk Driver and I'm really not happy with myself. I need to calm down and get rid of that mindset. It's kind of hard when you drive in the Bay Area, but that's no excuse. I don't want to be a Masshole Driver. I need to work on this.
