{"id":1982,"date":"2021-10-28T10:48:02","date_gmt":"2021-10-28T15:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?p=1982"},"modified":"2021-10-28T10:48:02","modified_gmt":"2021-10-28T15:48:02","slug":"driving-me-nuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?p=1982","title":{"rendered":"Driving Me Nuts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A recent article in the Des Moines Register, Iowa drivers are the worst in the nation, according to insurance comparison website QuoteWizard<\/a>, was an interesting read.\u00a0 I really didn\u2019t have to read it; I know Iowa drivers are the worst.\u00a0 I do, however, have trouble believing insurance companies.<\/p>\n

A few weeks ago, I had a guy in a fairly new red pickup truck pass me on the passenger side of my car.\u00a0 We were both traveling down a two-way three-lane street, the middle lane for left turns only.\u00a0 He passed me while squeezing into the bicycle lane.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t think there was enough room between me and the curb, but he managed to avoid scratching either vehicle.\u00a0 I saw him coming.\u00a0 Not that long ago, the street was a four-lane street with two lanes going east and two going west.\u00a0 No one likes this new traffic pattern, but the city road engineers claim it will slow down traffic in the neighborhood.\u00a0 Their claim has been proven.\u00a0 Now it\u2019s time to change back to the original four-lane street before the boiling blood of road ragers have it out on the rest of us.<\/p>\n

The worst experience on any Iowa road is a situation in which a driver pulls out in front of you, requiring you to slow down.\u00a0 There was no one behind you.\u00a0 She could have waited until you passed through the intersection.\u00a0 But no, she now must slow down to make a left turn, and the traffic coming your way has no foreseeable end in sight.\u00a0 So, you wait, and wait, and wait.\u00a0 There is a vehicle in sight \u2013 about a half-mile away in the opposite lane, but be patient.\u00a0 Sometime later in the day that opposite lane will be clear as a bell.\u00a0 Meanwhile, twenty or thirty cars behind you are getting pissed.\u00a0 Not at her \u2013 at you!<\/p>\n

If the preceding experience is not the worst, how about the occasion where a person is behind you, passes you and immediately slams on the brakes to take a right turn that results in you having to hit your brakes?\u00a0 Or a left turn?\u00a0 It seems as though passing you gained them an extra eleven seconds.\u00a0 Why does this happen all too often?<\/p>\n

I often see a tailgater in my rear-view mirror who looks like he could take my head off, swerving back and forth to show me that he is going to pass me as soon as he sees an opening.\u00a0 When he sees the opportunity, he guns it past me and practically runs me in the ditch as he cuts in front of me.\u00a0 The next time I see him he is in the inside lane and I\u2019m in the outside lane at the same traffic light.\u00a0 I love it when the light turns green, and he is stuck behind a vehicle whose driver is one of the geeks described in a paragraph above; slowing down considerably to make a right or left turn or to get into the other lane.\u00a0 Be prepared.\u00a0 He will soon be swerving behind you again, ready to pass at the next chance he gets.\u00a0 Don\u2019t look.\u00a0 He\u2019ll probably be fingering you as he zooms past you.<\/p>\n

Last week, as I entered a four-lane divided highway, the woman in a car that sped past me as I entered the freeway was on the phone.\u00a0 She had no idea that I was coming up the ramp.\u00a0 That\u2019s okay, it happens frequently, and I am supposed to yield.\u00a0 However, she began riding on the shoulder of the road, then back on the outside lane, then she ended up on the left shoulder of the road . . . You can\u2019t pass people like that.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think she was drunk or high, her problem was controlling the vehicle with a phone in her hand.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t the only one avoiding her.\u00a0 Why do drivers like that get away with their dangerous antics?<\/p>\n

Driving down Douglas Avenue on the north side of Des Moines, we witnessed two vehicles behind us who were side-bumping each other trying to be the lead car in the single lane after the road became a 3-lane road upon being a four-lane road.\u00a0 This is another example of the city road engineers deciding what\u2019s best for the commuters in Des Moines.\u00a0 From the mirrors, we could see that it was like a demolition derby.\u00a0 One car bouncing off the other.\u00a0 One of the vehicles attempted to make the other stop after the incident by traveling at a higher rate of speed down the middle turn lane.\u00a0 We had to suspect that the incident was caused because both drivers wanted to gain an advantage to be in front on the single lane road. \u00a0It was time to slow down, make a left turn, and get onto the back streets.\u00a0 You never know when one of the vehicles\u2019 occupants might have a loaded weapon.<\/p>\n

I know I\u2019m getting old.\u00a0 I sound like one of the old people I once made fun of.\u00a0 Damn!\u00a0 I didn\u2019t want to be like that, but I am.\u00a0 I am the parent in the Progressive commercials<\/a> that Dr. Rick warns us about.<\/p>\n

Have I ever been one of \u201cthose\u201d people above?\u00a0 Apart from the Douglas Avenue incident, probably.\u00a0 I live in Iowa.\u00a0 We\u2019re the worst drivers, don\u2019t cha know?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent article in the Des Moines Register, Iowa drivers are the worst in the nation, according to insurance comparison website QuoteWizard, was an interesting read.\u00a0 I really didn\u2019t have to read it; I know Iowa drivers are the worst.\u00a0 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1982"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1983,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1982\/revisions\/1983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}