Lane Closures

10/13/2015

Today, on my way home from the dentist, I saw a mile or so ahead a notice that the right lane was going to be blocked due to road construction.  I, being a sensible (more or less) person, took the first opportunity I had to move to the left lane.

Unfortunately, not all drivers are paying attention, or maybe they don't care that the lane is ending.  So when the lane finally ends, we had a long line of people who had moved over, and then we had all those people who either thought: (a) the sign and blinking arrow was wrong; or more likely (b) they believed they didn't have to wait in line, like the rest of us, and were comfortable with cutting in.

I'm generally very patient about letting drivers in or out of my lane.  But, I do get just a little bit (or maybe a lot) annoyed when people know they should move over, and they just don't.  I don't think that cutting in before a lane closes, gets you faster up the road.  We all, do in fact, wait at the same speed!

I did allow a car or two to move in front of me, but I became a lane hog after those two cars.  If you let everyone cut in front of you, you'd be in line at the stop signal for a long time.  And in case you're wondering, I'm not a saint and eventually do get tired of being the nice guy.

When I first moved here from California in 1986, I was explaining to my bosses that it seemed like everybody wanted to cut in front of me, which hadn't been much of a problem for me in California.  They then explained that I wasn't in California (or Kansas) any longer, and it was every man/woman for themselves.  So I took their advice and became a bit, but not a lot, aggressive about defending my place in the road.

It also helped that for many years I drove a Lincoln Navigator and when I was merging onto the highway, people could either have me in front of them, or my headlights shining into their car.  For the most part, people allowed me to get in front of them and the Navigator was a big girl, and somewhat intimidating in size.

Okay, hoping off the soap box now and going to the movies.  

P