When the weather is good (ie. traffic is flowing pretty well), I'll use the Beltway around D.C. to get home from work. Although it's a little longer than other routes, I like it because there are fewer stoplights, and I turn right at all the intersections. There is one particular intersection that has been posing an interesting dilemma, however. I turn right, so when the light is red, I stop and then pull forward a little bit so I can see around the cars in the other lanes. For the last several days, I've noticed that when I pull forward, the cars in the other lanes inch forward, too, so they're blocking my view again. If I move forward again, they do, too. The light is still red for them, so they have no reason to move forward - and they only do it after I've moved. Maybe they don't think it's fair that I get to move and they don't, so they're taking their anger out on me by keeping me from seeing past them. I can just imagine their thoughts: "Oh, you want to see past me? Well, take that! And that!" Or maybe they think it's funny: "heh heh...now what's she going to do?" Meanwhile, the cars behind me, who can clearly see that no one is coming, are wondering what my problem is. I wonder how far forward the cars in the other lanes would go if I kept inching forward. There's a thought for tomorrow.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
perverse motorists
Posted by Shawna at 1:24 PM
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5 comments:
I have noticed that people do this even when they're in an SUV or a truck and can see over my car. It annoys me, because they block my whole view for no reason! Ugh.
It's true. And what makes this even more humorous is that there is nowhere for these cars to go - they're at a red light and don't have anywhere to go until the light turns green. And it's not like they are anticipating the light turning green - there's still a long time to wait.
This reminds me of a trick I learned from my high school physics teacher but never tried. At an intersection, you go into neutral (manual) or reverse (automatic) just a little so the person next to you think they are going forward and gets freaked out. Maybe some reverse psychology like this could help.
Vickie, I love your idea. Maybe I'll try it on them!
That is really funny! I like the idea from Vickie....then when the other driver becomes alarmed, what do you do, start laughing? It would be fun if everyone would start laughing. I am now, just thinking about the crazy episode. I can see it all now, you move up, they move up, you move back, they move back, you move up they move back, it would be such great entertainment at a stop light. Imagine, some people read or eat, but not you, you are doing the Bunny Hop with the neighboring vehicle!!!
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