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Saturday, June 25, 2016

A latter day Blanche Dubois

I was driving down the left hand lane of a highway this past Monday when I saw that the cars in front of me had come to a sudden halt, so I jammed on my brakes.

I then saw that the car at the front of the line had come to a dead halt. I was wondering what was going on when it slowly moved into the middle lane, it's right turn signal flashing. The cars in the middle lane then had to come to a similar screeching halt.

The car then moved slowly into the right lane, and then to the off ramp which was a few yards ahead. I was seething, and if my thoughts had been public, well, I could have been convicted in the court of sexism.

As the cars on the highway slowly started up again I looked to my right to see if my suspicions would be confirmed, and, sure enough, they were. And not only that, but the driver was holding her phone up to her ear.

She had evidently been chatting the entire time.

I'd never seen anyone just come to a dead stop on a highway like that before.

Anyway, the spirit of Blanche lives on.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, this post made me laugh. Thankfully, no-one was hurt. People can be UNREAL at times.

-birdie

John Craig said...

Birdie --
If anyone deserves to get hurt, it would be someone who drives like that.

Quartermain said...

I would rather see a doobie in another driver's mouth than a cell phone to their ear.

John Craig said...

Allan --
I think it's texting rather than talking that's the real danger, though both are illegal.

That said, that woman shouldn't have a driving license.

Anonymous said...

Maybe, another disgruntled driver (using his/her cell phone) reported the driver to law enforcement. I agree - the driver shouldn't have a driver's license -she's a menace on the roads.

- birdie

Runner Katy said...

I really thought you were going to write that everyone was braking for a family of animals crossing the road...but nope, just an idiot. For what it's worth, in the insurance industry here, I see more men causing accidents with hasty driving than women. Then again, this area may be skewed based on the type of people surrounding our territory.

John Craig said...

Runner Katy --
I have no doubt that men cause more accents with their drunken driving and their speeding and general recklessness. But there's a certain type of depending-on-the-kindness-of-strangers type of error that women are more likely to make, the the behavior described in the post falls into that category. Another thing I notice is that whenever there is a car waiting to pull into the road which sticks out into the road, sort of forcing you to let it enter, it's almost always a woman. And when someone pulls out into a highway and doesn't accelerate quickly enough, so that ally he cars behind it have to brake, that's usually a female as well. But yes, the types of accidents that men cause are more likely to be fatal.

Runner Katy said...

Very good points, yes! I have to agree. The phone usage while driving always gets me. Looking forward to it being illegal everywhere someday.

John Craig said...

Runner Katy --
Yikes, just took another look at my reply to your comment above, I guess I should proofread.