R- Really‽

R- Really‽

My wife and I were driving in our car on a beautiful Sunday afternoon to a friend’s house not far away. We live on Long Island in New York. We were on a two-lane road, one lane in each direction with a solid line between them. You know where the rule is you’re not allowed to pass over the solid line. As we were driving, someone in a van behind us decided that we were going too slow, actually, we were going about 5 miles over the speed limit. Driving about a foot from the rear of our car, I guess was their signal to us that we were hogging the road and should speed up. Our choices were to ignore the van behind us and hope we didn’t have to make a sudden stop, speed up to increase the distance between the two cars, or try to pull to the side of the road and let the idiot pass us. The decision was taken out of our hands when the driver decided to pass us anyway at approximately 15 m.p.h. over the speed limit. Really‽ Are you f-ing serious? Why did they possibly need to go that fast on a pleasant Sunday afternoon or any afternoon, morning, or night for that matter? Were they late to get home for the start of a baseball game?

Unfortunately, this is the way of life here in New York. This is not an isolated incident. All these drivers, who obviously don’t remember what they were taught in driver safety school or what the actual laws about driving are, lie to themselves by thinking, “What a good driver I am.” It’s the attitude of, “I’m the most important thing on the road, so get out of my way. If you don’t floor the gas pedal when the light changes to green, be assured my horn will remind you of exactly who has priority here.” 

These speedsters join the yellow/red traffic light runners and the “What Stop sign?” drivers that frequent our travels in the car. 

My wife who was born and raised in Iowa, says that it’s only in New York that this type of driving exists. At least these types of drivers didn’t exist in Iowa. Is that true? Am I living in an isolated area of egoistical, lunatic drivers? Let me know in the comments.

I’ve ranted about these types of drivers before in a 2017 A to Z Challenge and even came up with some fun solutions back then. Feel free to read that blog if you’re interested. https://www.hdhstory.net/Storyblog/?p=875 

The longer I drive a car and the more irresponsible drivers I come in contact with (figuratively not literally), the more my brains seem to dream up new ways to deal with them.  Here are some new devices coming to a car near you:

• The M.P.H. Regulator will be installed in every motor vehicle starting in late 2021.  This new device which will be mandated by law is able to read speed limit signs and lock your car’s engine so that it can not go over that speed limit. No matter how fast you want to go, your car just won’t let you. Certain exceptions to this will be made for emergency vehicles such as ambulances, fire and police cars, and me if I’m doing an ice cream run. 

• The Floater – This device is not set to be employed in cars until 2022. This allows a driver who is driving at the correct speed to activate a switch on the steering wheel which will direct a short cushion of air burst at any car that is getting too close to them or passing them at excessive speed. That burst of air would surround the speeding car and lift it off of the ground, frozen in position above the other cars in the road until the speed of the tires either matches or is less than the maximum speed limit and then will slowly release its hold on the offending car, lowering it back to the road when it is safe. Unfortunately, this method requires another shot by a safe driver, should the speeder try to speed up again.

• And finally, The Homing beam. Utilizing this device on an offending driver basically returns them back to the initial place that they started, or to the local police car pound, depending on the number of times the car has been hit with this beam over a period of time. 

These are but a few of my wishes and dreams I would like to have as options at my disposal every time I am out driving in public in addition to the ones from 2017. Granted, I might even be caught in one of those situations from time to time, by some other driver, but I’m a quick learner. I’ve already learned not to roll through stop signs and make a full stop when I’m making a right on red (the only two times I’ve been ticketed). 

Having these options might make our world a little safer and people might even get to enjoy the scenery on their rides. 

Hey, you never know.