a driving lesson

I don't profess to be an excellent driver. I realize that I am easily distracted and reactionary.

Dave however, is an excellent driver. He grew up around cars and driving. He's very observant and is always aware of his surroundings. I always feel safe with him in the drivers seat. He almost always drives when we are together. Due to his exceptional abilities behind the wheel, he gets frustrated with other drivers. Some of these frustrations have rubbed off on me.

So today we are going to have a driving lesson. Title:

Giving up the right of way is not "nice." It is usually annoying and sometimes dangerous.

This week in town they have been repainting the crosswalks on the road. Usually they paint half of it, block off that half for a while so it can dry, then they do the other half. This usually means some interesting maneuverings around the cones. At one such intersection, I was stopped at a stop sign; it was not a 4 way stop. I wanted to turn right, but to do so I had to go around some cones into the other lane, so I had to make sure no cars were coming in either direction. When I got to the intersection, I noticed there were cars coming, so I was waiting patiently for the cars to pass. Like This:

(please excuse the crudity of this model. i did not have time to draw it to scale and paint it.)

Then I noticed that the blue car had pulled to a stop and was waving at me to go. I know they were trying to be nice, but in so doing, the gray car had to stop in the middle of the street to let me go. It would have been easier and less stressful if the blue car would have continued on their way as they should.

Another instance that happened to me recently was when someone had stopped on a two lane highway to let a semi pull out of a gas station. I was in the other lane, and since I had to right of way, I kept going and almost got slammed by a semi truck.

Other places where you should not give up the right of way: stoplights where the left turn is unprotected. Dave witnessed a near crash in Boise when some "nice" person waved the left turner on, but the other lane didn't see it and the left turner barely missed getting hit by oncoming traffic.

I recognize there are times when waving people in front of you is nice - like in a full parking lot, or in a traffic jam, etc. These are exceptions, not the rule.

I now will get off my soapbox. We'll now continue with our regular broadcast of my adorable children and precious moments.