Drivers. What on Earth is happening with drivers? If you are new to TRP, welcome! I’m excited you chose one of the MANY traffic rants to dive into on this lovely day. Despite my previous efforts and curiosities, there is still a pandemic happening on our roadway systems. A driver pandemic. Who is releasing these questionably trained drivers into the world? How does poor driving seem to be spreading quicker than a daily Twitter hashtag? Why is no one stopping this? Where do they keep coming from?

I wish I had answers to these questions, but unlike an English class in school, I am just throwing rhetorical questions into the universe for you, the reader, to ponder as you go about your day. I have no correct answers, but I would like a cure to happen for the disaster that is traffic now-a-days. As a whole, people who operate vehicles are going stray. They’re branching off from the pack of rules designed to keep everyone safe and just making things up as they go. While this can be super productive in business, it’s highly dangerous when operating a motor vehicle.

There are many areas that this applies to in a less than ideal way. Specifically, though, I’m wondering why so many drivers think it’s acceptable to stop in the middle of the road. A road with moving traffic. At speeds greater than 0 MPH … meaning that other drivers are not expecting you to halt randomly. They aren’t expecting you to stop at all actually. Not even to make a TURN. And yet, here we are. Going from 60 to 0 in a matter of seconds because why? You missed your turn? You don’t know where you are? You woke up from sleepwalking and were behind the wheel of a car? What?

Knowing when to stop is a skill. It’s not something that everyone masters, however, but it can be applied to all areas of life. When to stop pretty much anything you can think of.  When to stop talking. When to stop pushing someone else’s limits. When to stop eating. When to stop binge-watching a TV show. When to stop chasing people. When to stop drinking. When to stop napping. I’m pretty sure you get it – most things have a limit and figuring out that limit is the key between crossing a line and walking it like Johnny Cash.

Apparently this is a hard concept to grasp in the traffic world. Designated places were designed for you to stop a vehicle. Places where many other people have also stopped vehicles. Places where speed limits don’t exist because the amount of eligible driving space and tight turns make anything over 11 MPH almost impossible to do without crushing other cars in the process. These places are known as parking lots.

Parking lots are a beautiful thing. They allow you to stop driving and exit your vehicle, should you choose, to go do whatever it is that you need to do. Similar to the parking lot, we have the driveway and / or parallel parking. All of the above are expected places for you to see a stopped car. And should you choose to hit said stopped car that, my friend, is 100% on you. Leave one of the standard stopping areas, though, and all of a sudden absolute chaos ensues. If I’m behind you on a highway, or down a main street in the suburbs where it is illegal to park on the side of the road, or accelerating from a recently turned green traffic light, I can promise you that brake lights are the last thing I’m expecting, or hoping, to see.

What are you doing? Did the sudden acceleration of your vehicle scare you? Did you see a cute dog on the sidewalk? Did you suddenly remember you were supposed to buy eggs at the grocery store? Did an alien take over your mind just to tease other Earthlings? Did you drink too much the night before and suddenly get the urge to purge? Did you eat something questionable at lunch and need to find a place to pump and dump? Literally why? What? When? Where? How did you pass the driving test? Unless you’re hoping for a good rear-ending you’re setting yourself, and others, up for a bad day. So stop it. But not in the middle of the road.

Alright, jumping off my pedestal for now. If you know someone who would enjoy this post and want to share it with them, that would be awesome. Sharing is caring, after all. Don’t forget to subscribe to get these in your inbox twice weekly and follow TRP on Twitter for frequent musings. Thanks for reading!

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