Today was an incredibly miserable rainy day in Columbus which, compounded with the glut of Christmas shoppers on the roads, virtually ensured that I was going to see some entertaining maneuvers on the road... and it did not disappoint.
First up, I was driving to work at about 7:45 on a main road with fairly heavy traffic. All of a sudden, I nearly drove up the ass of a mid '80s 300ZX who's creeping along at 10 mph in a 35. As soon as a window opens up in the next lane, I gas it and get on with things. But I have to say, if you're too petrified to exceed 10 mph in the rain, you probably shouldn't be on the road at all. Hell, you're a lot more likely to get into an accident doing 30 mph less than the speed of traffic than you are by simply driving the prevailing speed. I'll go ahead and give this guy the benefit of the doubt and assume his throttle cable had snapped and he was forced to idle along in 1st gear.
Later, when I was out driving on my lunch break, I saw something that nearly inspired me to resort to physical violence. I was on a major road, where the prevailing speed is 45-50 mph. I'm maybe 100 yards ahead of a large pack of traffic, when all of a sudden a newish Lexus SUV brakes suddenly and comes to a dead stop in the right lane. I swerve into the (thankfully clear) left lane and unleash a nice, long horn blast. Seems the soccer mom in the Lexus didn't want to risk life and limb by driving whilst on the cell phone, so she decided to stop and take her call... right in the path of 50 mph traffic. I look in my mirror and watch as pandemonium ensues as the pack reaches the stopped car. It's amazing nobody actually bit it. Where are the effing cops when you need them?!!
After seeing shite like this, I'm even happier that my future house in Missoula is within walking/biking distance of just about everything I need. Hopefully I can just save the car for road trips and weekend blasts out in the boonies.
