COLUMN: Where are the courteous drivers?

I recently got my drivers’ license, and I’ve noticed more and more inconsiderate drivers on the road. It’s true that when you shift into the driver’s seat, your perspective changes. When I would sit in the passenger’s seat, I would listlessly gaze out the window at the trees and cars passing by. Now that I’m behind the wheel…it’s a whole new nightmare.

I knew many behind the wheel would drive as if they are in a hurry, and let’s assume they are. Let’s call them the “speedsters.”

They have some place to be at a certain time. This person rushes into their car and onto the road, only to be stopped by a car that is — get this — going the actual posted speed limit!

Angered by this law-abiding inconvenience, these people will ride up on your tail and coax you into driving faster. However, I keep going at my legal pace because knowing my luck I’d be stuck with the ticket.

To those drivers constantly in a hurry, if you have to be somewhere at a certain time…here’s an idea, get up earlier! Trust me, those five extra minutes of beauty sleep will not turn you from Keith Richards into Johnny Depp, or Joan Rivers to Jennifer Aniston. It’s must safer to wake up a few minutes early than to risk an accident on the road.

Now then there is the complete opposites of speedsters…we’ll call them the “Sunday drivers.” They are the drivers without a care in the world, driving 20 miles under the speed limit.

Now, I am all for leisure driving. If that relaxes you, then by all means go for it. But please do so at the speed limit.

Going 25 in a 45 zone is ridiculous. We ride up on your tails and guess what, we start becoming the speedsters we desperately hate! If you are afraid that you will get a speeding ticket and that is the reason you drive so slow…think again. You can get a ticket for going to slow. If a minimum speed is posted and you go below that, yeah you can count on a “slowing” ticket.

Speed isn’t the only thing on the road. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of other irritating habits. For example, making left turns in this town is almost unbearable.

Winder traffic is very congested, but if you travel here then you already knew that. Sitting at a light waiting patiently to make your left turn can quickly turn into a nightmare. One light. Two lights. Three lights. And you are still sitting there.

Too many cars speeding up so that you can’t safely make your turn, and the many cars behind you yell and holler and honk their horns. Finally, you have enough, so you make your turn, giving the very definition to burning rubber. Once you’ve made it past the hoard of vehicles, you check your speedometer to realize you’re still going 10 over the limit and you’re coming up to a red light. You slam on brakes so you don’t hit the van in front of you.

Safely stopped at last, except you have another problem. Another left turn has approached, you have just reached the red light, and part of your car is parked on the train tracks! Now you’re panicked that a train is going to collide into your car at any moment, and that red light is not changing fast enough. All because of one little left turn.

That’s why I’ve adapted the Right way of life. In this way of life, all you do is make right turns and avoid left turns like the Plague. Did you know you actually save money by making right turns? It costs more waiting to make a left than it does to make a right turn and increase your route distance.

I used to think that school was the most stressful thing I had in my life. Now that I’m driving, I realize that class final was no big deal, that project was a piece of cake, and that teacher really wasn’t that mean.

Driving opens up a whole new can of worms. Instead of worrying about that pop quiz on your homework or that presentation you have to discuss at work, you worry about your commutes. Reflecting on everything that can happen on the road makes the other stresses of life seem to disappear.

So let’s help each other out. When it comes to us new drivers, be patient with us. Don’t drive too fast or drive too slow. And please don’t hassle us about left turns. If every driver was just a bit more courteous, we could make driving just a little bit safer for everyone on the road.

Jessica Brown is the photographer for the Barrow Journal. You can reach her at jessica@picsbyjessica.com.