Monday, June 09, 2008

If you do it, I will chase you down!

Picture this:

You're in your car, driving down a two-lane highway. Speed limit is 50, though most do 55, a few do 60. You're driving the speed limit of 50 mph, of course!

There is a car in front of you making a left hand turn. They're stopped in the lane waiting for oncoming traffic to pass. You have two choices:

A) Come to a stop behind them and wait.
B) Without slowing and disrupting traffic, move to the right shoulder and pass.

The answer is AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA people!!!!!

Do you KNOW that when I'm making the left turn onto my road, 99% of the people choose B? Do you KNOW why that's ILLEGAL? Because people get KILLED that way!!! But how does that happen if you're being careful when you pass them?

Lets pick up that same scenario at the point where you need to decide what to do. You choose to move into the shoulder and pass the waiting vehicle, but the car BEHIND you couldn't SEE that there was a car stopped there, and suddenly here is this car STOPPED in front of them! Now THIER choice is to SUDDENLY veer off onto the shoulder, or rear-end the waiting vehicle. The car behind THEM is now suddenly in the exact same position!

Now, make that waiting vehicle a motorcycle, and you have ME! Three years ago, my neighbor, while driving her car was rear ended by a car moving at high speed in this exact same scenario in that very spot. Every day, when I take that corner, I watch my mirrors carefully, hoping I'm not the next one, while also watching the oncoming cars so I can hurry up and turn.

Today it happened again, only THIS TIME the woman didn't even slightly slow down, and she was yacking away on her cell phone. She didn't even glance my direction! I'd had it...I was fed up with idiot drivers putting me in this position over and over again. There were no other cars behind her, so I was safe to change my mind and NOT make my turn. Instead, I chased her down.

Ok, if you haven't seen my in my biker gear, I might looks a little scary pulling up to you at a stop light, especially if I'm pissed off. There is a stop light about a 1/2 mile down the road, so I hoped she'd have to stop in a spot where I could have a word with her. She pulled into the left turn lane, and I pulled into the lane going straight. It's a long light...I had time! LOL I turned and gestured to her. Her passenger shrunk in the seat while trying to get the woman's attention. After several attempts she finally put her phone down.

Me: "Do you know why it's illegal to pass on the shoulder?"
Her:"I didn't do anything wrong, you had your turn signal on."
Me:"And I WAS turning, but you passed me on the shoulder. DO YOU KNOW WHY THAT'S ILLEGAL?"
Her: "But you were TURNING! I didn't do anything wrong! You were turning!"
Me: "Go back to driver's ed. One of these days you're going to pass someone like that and get them killed BECAUSE YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY IT'S WRONG!"

She rolled up her window, understandably frustrated. Why shouldn't she be? SHE didn't think she did anything wrong! After all, I had my turn signal on!

So if you're in Eagan, MN, and happen to pass a way cool looking sidecar and decide to pass it on the shoulder, know that it's ME, and I just might chase you down!
If you'd like to verify this law, here's a link. You'll want mn stat 169.18 subd 4.4

Now, if you'll excuse me while I go look up the road rage laws.

2 comments:

  1. ok I know this is a serious issue, but I couldn't help but giggle just a little. Be sure to tell us what the road rage laws are! haha

    ReplyDelete
  2. Todd did that once and got pulled over...we now know it's illegal :)

    ReplyDelete

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