Call me a nerd if you must. . .

. . .but was I the only one who actually studied for my driver's test?!? I am absolutely disgusted with the way other people drive these days. Just today, as I was driving home from the store with my two kids in the car, I had to slam on the brakes for this lady who I guess doesn't know the meaning of flashing red lights vs. flashing yellow ones. She just bulldozed her mini-van right on through the intersection, even though she had the flashing reds and we (yeah, there were several of us) had flashing yellow. I laid on my horn for, like, a million years and felt a little bit better about things, even though it was exceedingly immature of me. I have to be careful not to actually say the things I'm thinking when the boys are with me. So I just honk, and Jackson says, "Oo mong, mommy?" To which I reply, "Oh, people are just making mommy upset, honey." And that's usually the end of it, though I often obsess (and blog) about it later. Thankfully, I haven't actually gotten hit, but there certainly have been some close calls. I want to bawl people out so bad sometimes! And tell them things like, "You know, getting tired of waiting your turn doesn't necessarily GIVE you the right of way." "Where's the fire? I mean, seriously."

There's such a disconnect from human decency when we're out on the road because we're hidden behind our cars and can be as awful as we think we can get away with--there's very little face-to-face accountability.

Uh oh, I feel a full-on rant approaching. . .

A very partial list of other driver infractions that bother me:
tailgating
not signaling
weaving in and out of traffic
not taking their turn
cutting me off
cutting me off when there's no one behind me
cutting me off only to slow down in front of me and turn off in the next 500 yards!
generally being inconsiderate
thinking they're the only ones who have somewhere to be

Gotta go do my Bible study. Maybe I should take some time to prepare my heart first. . . :)

♦