Cars: Weapons of Mass Destruction

This afternoon I drove the 150-odd miles from outside Portland to my aunt and cousin’s home in Auburn, WA. During that three-and-a-half hour commute, I was reminded again of one of my greatest pet peeves: terrible drivers.

Very few people are idealistic operators of heavy-weighted, fast-moving motor vehicles, but there are a few small acts that we can all routinely perform in order to make the roads safer for everyone involved, namely maintaining a safe distance between cars and using turn signals. I admit that I am far from perfect when it comes to driving, but I am always especially careful when I travel the well-populated highways. I’d like to avoid totaling my sole mode of transportation, not to mention being part of a fatal car crash for as long as humanely possible. I also believe in karma, which is why I try to let cars from the on-ramps on as smoothly as possible; usually this means in front of me as I slow down to an annoying speed.

On today’s journey, I was disappointed to see these basic courtesies completely disregarded multiple times. The worst offense was the silver Suzuki SUV that tail-gated me for a good half hour before exiting on the Carrolls Lake off-ramp. What was totally ridiculous to me is that I was putting along at least five miles below the speed limit in an effort to conserve fuel as well as protect my beloved Subaru from unnecessary wear during the hot weather—I didn’t want my car to over-heat like a patient’s had the previous day—and as I was driving slower than the posted norm, I was in the far right lane so that other cars could easily bypass me. And yet the rude and dangerous driver in the Suzuki behind me was so close to my back bumper that I could not see his/her license plate. If I had stepped on my brakes, much less slammed my food on them, I surely would have been rear-ended by the jerk.

Perhaps I should have moved over to the “fast” lane to let the irresponsible car pass me, but I felt that as I was already in the slow lane, it was his/her responsibility to go around me, not vice versa. Additionally, there were cars passing me frequently in the left lane which left few to no opportunities to move over and give the Suzuki lee-way. And yet the ominously-close car continued to follow me—no, it was more like stalk me—for a good twenty minutes. I was at the point where I was becoming increasingly nervous and felt threatened by the Suzuki, so I decided to take the nearest exit and pull over, hoping for a rest area in which I could spend a few minutes so the SUV would be long gone by the time I resumed my travels. Fortunately, as soon as I made the decision I saw the Suzuki had turned on its right blinker (shocker!!) to take the next exit. I took a deep sigh of relief and was shocked to find myself close to tears of frustration.

I still wonder, was I justified by remaining in place in the slow lane during this period of intense following? Should I have tapped my brakes to signal my discomfort? Was the driver of the Suzuki crazy and intentionally trying to make me feel anxious? No matter, it is drivers like this that should not be allowed to traverse our roadways and endanger other travelers. And drivers like this that really get my goat, if you catch my drift.