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!