The Burlingames

I have several stops near the Northtown Mall for work. On my way to one of them, I was shocked to see a car on my side of the road. This person didn’t simply drift across the center line because there was no center line; there was a median dividing the two eastbound lanes from the westbound. This was my second bad driver encounter of the day.

I’m actually quite surprised that I don’t see more stupidity on the road. One thing that helps is my primary area includes an industrial area with very little car traffic. Not surprisingly, the drivers seem to get dumber the closer I get to the mall. Oh well.

I just got back from the post office and on my way home I spotted yet another stupid driver. He stopped at the red light I was also approaching and then proceeded to turn left through the red. And, before you ask, it was not a one-way street. I wonder if he thinks lights work like stop signs. Moron.

On the way home from church today I witnessed one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen in a car. I exited 94 onto Ruth St. Another car was about two car-lengths behind me. All of a sudden, a car came flying up on the left and cut in right between me and the car behind. He got right up on my bumper because he was going so fast in order to catch up and cut between us. I wasn’t going very fast as the light at the end of the exit was red and there were already about five cars stopped at the light. He rode my bumper a long way up the exit until it widened out and I moved into the left lane. He also moved into the left lane for a moment, but then switched into the right, presumably to avoid the five or six cars turning left. Did he turn right? No. He turned left. From the RIGHT lane. Through a RED light. And to top things off, after making the turn, he looked out his window and flipped us off. What a guy. Where’s a cop when you wanna see somebody get theirs?

I spent today learning some defensive driving skills as well as familiarizing myself with the standard delivery truck at FedEx’s airport facility. One of the things they taught us (which, by the way, we’re not supposed to actually do if we can help it) is how to parallel park. It’s not as difficult as it first seemed. But, really, when am I ever going to find a spot large enough for the truck?

On my way to Wendy’s for lunch (in my personal car, that is) I encountered a roundabout. Having limited experience with them, I made sure to take a good look at the intersection to make sure I didn’t do something stupid. It was then that I realized another car was going the wrong direction in the roundabout. Genius. Fortunately there was only one other car going the proper direction. I have a feeling that, as a courier, I’m going to be seeing a lot of stupid driving. I’ll be sure to share the really special stories here with you.