So this past weekend I went with friends to see Ed Sheeran, (insert teenage girl scream here!) It was a great show. On the way home there was predictably a LOT of traffic. In an attempt to get everyone out of the stadium they had opened up extra lanes of traffic using cones and orange barrels. This means people were driving on the wrong side of the road, which feels really strange if you’ve never tried it. It’s really well marked and it makes sense, but it still feels weird. My friend was driving, and it was late at night, (for us.)
We were driving in the right lane, and reached a spot where there was a big orange diamond shaped sign that said, “Traffic permitted in break-down lane from this point.” My friend looked at me and said, “Should we?” I shrugged and said,”Why not? The sign says it’s OK.” So we moved over into the break-down lane and drove slowly. The lane is just wide enough to allow travel, but it’s clearly not intended for that use. We passed a few cars, and one lady was not happy with us, yelling out her window. Again, we talked about it and decided since the sign said we could be in this lane, we would keep on goin’. There were a few other cars using the break-down lane also, but not many.
A little further down the road we we came up to a big ol’ black dually pickup truck with a vanity plate I’ll not reveal. It was hard to tell if he was just big and having a hard time staying in his lane or if he was trying to block traffic in our “lane.” As the car in front of us tried to squeeze by the big truck abruptly swerved right at him. Horns were honked, and the car in front of us tried once more to pass the big truck. Once again the big truck made it really difficult for the car to pass, but he snuck by. My friend decided not to tangle with the big truck so we were able to pull in behind him thanks to the kindness of the car behind him. We then watched as he purposefully swerved towards and almost hit at least five cars who tried to pass him on the right.
Now I understand that the truck driver thought that the people travelling in the break-down lane were trying to pull a fast one and do something illegal and annoying by not following the same rules everyone else does, especially late at night and in really heavy traffic. He was understandably annoyed, and after the concert possibly had a few adult beverages. However, there was in fact a sign permitting the use of that lane, which the truck driver had apparently not seen. We wouldn’t have been in that lane if we thought it was not allowed. The real problem was his response to the situation.
It is not your job to police the roads. You can be annoyed that people are driving badly. You can yell at them from the safety of your car. But, he almost caused several accidents trying to make his point. So at the end of they day, (or really long night in this case,) who was really the problem on the road? I think it was the truck driver. I hate it too when people think that rules don’t apply to them and they try to sneak through life with shortcuts. That does not make it OK to almost cause more accidents trying to get a point across. It says right in the drivers manual that the first responsibility of a driver is to avoid accidents regardless of who has right-of-way. The best thing we can do is make sure everyone gets where they are going safely. I understand frustration, but you can be right, or you can be dead right. Please make safe choices. This is much better than trying to teach someone else a lesson. Let them learn on their own. Be responsible for your own good choices, and get home in one piece.
