Here's another in a series of columns poking fun of the everyday driver in my small area of this road-raged state.
* Potentially constructive conversation goes kaput: A woman & her two daughters came in on a flight today and both were totally lost - they are from Colgate, Ohio and don't know Michigan at all. They were looking for the best way to get home. Having been living here all my life, I was able to tell them to take I-94/I-275/I-75 to get home. My theory got soiled when a co-worker on the bus reminded me that there's construction all the way from Monroe to Toledo on I-75, so she suggested Telegraph Road. Though it's been six years since I've ventured that far, I still remember the area pretty well and thought "well, I've saved the day." We rehashed the route for her three times in ten minutes, and the woman left the bus saying "well, we normally take US-23..." What a waste of conversation and thinking (though it doesn't upset me).
* If you want to be road-legal, here are two spur-of-the-moment cars I suggest you do not buy: later models of the Pontiac Sunfire and Chevy Cavalier. I prefer not to call it coincidence when I was stuck behind each of those cars today, and neither one had any of their brake lights working - not even the third light above the others. I linked this with turn signals on the cars of certain drivers: were they optional in those models & years?
* Older people who are sadly past their prime in driving safely are still on the road. A truck was riding very slowly in the right lane for about five blocks before turning right. Upon completing the turn, he was doing 15 MPH in a 40 MPH zone, looking dazed and confused. No hazard lights on and no car problems were evident. The semi behind me even whizzed past him. If this was a Sunday drive, sorry fella: today was Friday.
* Pulling out of a street, a truck whizzed past me honking my way. Pulling up alongside, she looked out her window and smiled, but just kept staring - and the smile was totally blank. Did I draw a random number or something? That gets me the creeps sometimes, and this was broad daylight!
People often ask why I'm such a hermit and don't get out much. A day like this, where you literally have to drive defensively for two people at once, is part of what I've found to be the multiple choice answer.
