I used to have a sense of humor

There was a time where I laughed and enjoyed my writings which made them more entertaining for myself and, I like to think, for others. As I reread my previous posts I realize that I lost something. I'm not sure if it was my accident and near-death experience or the resulting recovery but something has definitely changed. I will pause any further posts until I start feeling that I can contribute a more entertaining perspective.

Cheers!

Why are you looking at me in your rear-view mirror? Just drive for goodness sake!

I love Monday morning commutes into the office. At least that is what I keep telling myself in the unrealistic attempt to make myself believe.

This morning reminded me of one of my all-time pet peeves. I did a no-no and attempted to get into the "fast" lane before the dotted line came up. It was a two-fold attempted goal:

1. Although the -supposedly- "fast lane" is really no such thing, I get into it because I know that I will be in the middle lane after a freeway split later on and dealing with the merging later is more aggravating. (That and I would love to be able to speed and get to my destination and pass everyone...)
2. I really, really wanted to get out from behind the lady in front of me.

I find it interesting to watch the behavior of people. Everyone seems to forget anything at all about the purpose of the left-most lane on the highway/freeway. It is intended to be a passing lane and, when you are finished passing other vehicles, you are expected to exit that lane. Preferably, you would get into the middle lane of (once again...supposedly) moderately moving traffic or into the right lane with slower moving and on/off loading traffic.

We all want to be in the "fast" lane regardless of the speed we really want to go. The lady in front of me was no exception. As soon as she saw that I was going to cut over to the left lane she jumped right over in front of me again. Heaven forbid I possibly get in front of her.

Now, the interesting part of this exercise. At least to me...

This woman in front of me spent the whole time looking at me in her rear-view mirror causing her to slow down and brake on a really crazy basis. I drive a big black Ford F350 with a steel front brush guard and bumper so I can rightly understand why some people get nervous when I'm behind them but seriously... braking constantly, leaving a huge gap that people just kept going around both of us to fill was just going a bit overboard.

If she didn't like me behind her in the previous lane then why on earth did she put herself into that situation for several miles of slow-and-go traffic?

What's your hurry?

When I was younger I was an impatient man. I wanted to get where I was going and get there quickly. Once in a great while I still feel that urge but the difference in traffic conditions is considerable and I realize after a couple of lane changes that I'm not really making any particular headway.

While on my way into work this morning I got into my normal (usually) moderately moving lane and made my slow stop-and-go way into the office. I'm not sure how much attention most people pay to the traffic around them but I generally like to be aware of as much as possible. If a motorcycle is lane-sharing and coming up I generally slide over in my lane as much as possible to give them room and, if they are big boys I will even close my side mirrors until they get past me. It is the courteous thing to do any it makes me feel better to give them some room.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that my post is going to be somewhat of a controlled rant as well as some insight into how I deal with traffic situations. The rant portion of this post has to deal with a young man in a sporty Mercedes sedan with dark tinted windows that was either completely oblivious of the rider attempting to make his way through traffic or purposely being a total jackass and not allowing him to get through. I honestly hope it was the first...

So, this guy is leaning against his door doing the "I'm too cool for words" one armed draped over the steering wheel pose and driving on the dotted lines next to a car that was obviously either making way for the biker or trying really hard to stay away from cool guy. As the biker approaches he slows down and revs a little to attempt to get cool guy's attention. He does but the guy looks up, flips him the bird and stays in the way. Then the biker gets an opening and gets around the guy which seems to really piss the guy off because he all-of-a-sudden starts trying to zip in and out of traffic to get ahead.

I'm happy to say that a few miles down the highway I am making my way to my off-ramp and the guy still hasn't made it more than a few cars ahead of where he was.

Deep breath folks. No need to get all reckless and crazy on the road. If you are a little late it is extremely unlikely that your world will end. If, like me, you feel that the lane you are in is always the slowest just wait until you get into the next lane and it slows down even more. I'm pretty sure some fella named Murphy outlined the laws of fate that we are all bound to be molested by so just listen to some good music and, if you feel the urge, sing along. It will make the commute go much smoother, if not faster when you stop worrying about the traffic around you. Just remember to keep paying attention to what is going on!

Merging could be quick and easy...

What is it with people these days and their utter lack of consideration for others on the road?

How much effort does it take to be even a little bit courteous? This is something my wife and I both wonder about. Why is it that more and more people these days refuse to let someone merge in when they are doing all the right things. Specifically, they are not rudely running all the way to the end of a merge lane to get ahead and they are using their turn signal to signify their desire to change lanes. I see this all the time and it just screams "inconsiderate ass" to me and most of the people that remember what manners and (un?)common courtesy is.

Merging lanes should be treated like a zipper. The only way a zipper works properly is if each side alternates. It is interesting that this concept is not advertised or posted to help get users to be more aware. The U.K. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure references the following:

It seems like a fairly simple concept but sometimes the most simple of concepts can be difficult for people to grasp. Most of the people that blatantly ignore this concept are the ones that are causing the most congestion and problems on the freeway. And, because they are in a hurry to get where they are going and unwilling to give an inch to another driver, they are actually the ones that are making their commutes longer.

Take a moment to give some space and I promise you it won't make your life any worse and might actually make the commute a little smoother. Especially if more and more people practices a little patience and courtesy.

My story so you understand what prompted me to write this blog

A little about me
I'm a Desert Shield/Storm era Marine Corps veteran. I went into the Marine Corps immediately after graduating High School and then went to college in Butte, Montana at Montana Tech of The University of Montana (Montana College of Mineral Science and Technology was its name back then and the Montana School of Mines before that).

While younger I went out of my way to do as many different activities as I could both for fun and for the adrenaline rush. Here is a quick list of some of those things I did until I finally damage my back enough to make them all too painful to continue in my 30's:

• Extreme Skiing and Snowboarding (i.e. double black diamonds and out-of-bounds areas with snowshoes)
• Kayaking (up to Class 4 rapids)
• Sky diving
• Mountain biking
• Mountain climbing

Although I shouldn't say this, I had been riding motorcycles all my life and street bikes, in particular, for over 32 years. Until this past year, I thought I would continue to be riding on into the sunset of my life.

Life changing event
In October of 2015 I was riding home on my Harley after a normal full day. I was on the median-side of the carpool lane following a white Toyota SUV. It's odd that I remember that specific detail. The last time I looked at my speed we were cruising along at around 65 MPH while the other lanes were going much slower. The reason I was on the median-side of the lane was specifically to have time to adjust and avoid other vehicles that might possibly start coming into the lane. Little did I know that someone was going to make an erratic lane change at the last second right into me...

After waking up and speaking with some eye witnesses about the events I found out that the guy driving the Ford F-250 Harley Davidson Edition pickup (I state that for the irony factor...) was driving erratically well before causing the accident. He was apparently in a hurry to get home and was going into the carpool lane illegally to pass groups of vehicles in the non-carpool lanes. It was obvious to one other driver that he was not paying close attention to the road conditions so, when his lane began to stop quickly, he was unprepared and attempted to avoid an accident in his own lane by cutting over into the carpool lane quickly. By his own testimonial account to the officers on the scene he did not check to see if anyone was in the lane.

The last thing I remember was a flash of orange truck right in front of me before everything else about the accident was black. Just to give an idea of how much of a speed differential there was; my Harley and I ended up taking out the whole front driver-side axle of his truck. After the initial impact nobody I have been able to speak with could tell me exactly what happened but it seems that I flew over the truck and struck the metal railing that separates the East-bound and West-bound traffic breaking my femur in two places, causing fractures from my skull on down my body and shattering my left elbow.

One of the people that was immediately in front of the guy that took me out was a nursing student on her way home. When she saw the accident in her rear-view mirror she stopped her car and got out to check on me. By her account I was not breathing and my heart had stopped. She resuscitated me and stayed with me until the ambulance arrived. Interestingly enough, she also worked at the same hospital I was taken to so I was able to meet her and hear her story about the accident and the state I was in. I have since taken her and her boyfriend out to dinner and have taken her out to lunch as very small tokens of appreciation for her taking the time and effort to keep me alive.

Another eye witness happens to be a childhood friend of my wife's that saw the driver of the truck's erratic driving behavior prior to the accident but was too far behind to see the actual accident. Of course, she did not know at the time that it was me. However, social media can be a good thing sometimes. She quickly realized from my wife's posting on Facebook and made sure to send a picture of the truck and my bike along the side of the highway that she took while she was passing.

Aftermath
So, as you can tell, I lived. I'm a broken, but mending, version of my previous self but I am truly lucky. A year prior to my accident the son of one of my good friends from the Marine Corps was in a terrible accident and was still having small surgeries and therapy after more than a year. He was in the hospital for weeks and in a wheel chair for quite some time after leaving the hospital. I actually left the hospital to recover at home eight days after the accident. After a few days I was getting in and out of a wheelchair mostly on my own and rapidly started pushing myself back up onto my feet. I made a fairly miraculous recovery considering the extent of damage and continue to push towards full functional use of all my body.

During all this recovery effort I pushed to get back to work to be productive as well and then in February one of my good friends and coworkers got into a motorcycle accident and died at the scene. The posts I leave after this will be specifically regarding traffic situations that both myself and my wife see or deal with on a daily basis. Some of it will be tragic and some will be comedic. Regardless of the style I end up using to describe the situation I sincerely hope that anyone reading them will take some time to do the following:

• Please, please, please stop using your mobile phones or other electronic devices while driving. Especially stop texting and reading posts!
• Be patient. If you are already late getting where you are supposed to be a few more minutes taken in driving safely and sanely really won't matter especially if you make it there without injury to yourself or others.
• If people are driving erratically and trying to get ahead, let them. Better to give them some space to make their own mistakes than to be stuck in the middle of one of their mistakes.
• NOTE: You could always take note of their vehicle type and license plate number and have a passenger (or SIRI?) call the police and notify them of the vehicle and the behavior. It is in their best interest to find and resolve the matter in the hopes that it will prevent accidents and/or death further down the road.
• Be aware of your surroundings! Take the time to look in your mirrors and around you and notice other vehicles and their driving patterns. It could help you avoid a potentially disastrous situation.
• If you feel you absolutely must speak on your phone be sure it is on hands-free which does NOT include holding it in your hand and turning the speakerphone feature on. If you don't have an hands-free device or built-in capability in your vehicle then take the time to pull over and speak safely.

For any single person that reads this far and says to themselves "This doesn't apply to me. I'm better than most people at multi-tasking" or something similar I call "BULLSHIT"! You are the idiots causing accidents and road rage and are just to oblivious to the people around you to notice. Get your heads out of your asses and focus on the world around you!