Bay Area Drivers: a relatable moment

[breathedout]

Tfw you're stopped at a light and the car in front of you does something so outrageously oblivious that it would never have occurred to you to consider it as an action someone might potentially attempt with an automobile on a modern thoroughfare. Mouth agape, you glance around the intersection and accidentally catch the eye of the driver of another car, who stops gesturing angrily at the bananas driver in order to share with you an incredulous look, becoming a "can you believe this?" smile, and turning at last to the "I got you, girl" hand gesture in a moment of profound solidarity and understanding, just as the light turns green.

Comments

[shinysherlock]

RIGHT? omg.

[aphilologicalbatman]

My working theory of why the drivers in the Bay Area are so terrible is that they've all cheated their way through the written driving test, since the answers can be found online. (Unlike LA drivers, who are simply experiencing the long term effects of living near the Hellmouth, which is obviously under LAX.)

Also, I recently spent a week driving through northern Greece, a place where all highway entrances have signs telling you not to drive in reverse or make a U-turn (so you can get back to the exit). Bay Area drivers would thrive here.

[teaforlupin]

My mind is boggling

[eatingcroutons]

Hahaha, the first time I ever drove on the right hand side of the road was when I picked up a rental car in San Francisco to drive around the Bay Area for a few days and then down to LA. Not the craziest place I've driven, but it was definitely an... interesting place to start.

[chestnut_pod]

Wow, talk about getting thrown in the deep end!

[verymorstan]

waaaaaat

i am so sorry you were driven *cringe* to have this moment, but so glad that someone was there to have it with you.

and now i'm curious what the 'innovative' driver did, heh.

[whitefeatheredtrico]

Right? I wonder what exactly happened there.

[anelith]

Self-driving cars have got to be an improvement over humans. But then we won't have as many horror stories about bananas drivers...

[sarahthecoat]

This exact thing happened to me the other day. A big silver pickup truck pulled into traffic suddenly, almost hitting the car in front of me, who was just able to pull way over to safety. Off goes the truck. At the next light, the other car and i were side by side, and traded the gestures and expressions of incredulity.

[dcbrierton]

Hahaha, at least there's a moment of human connection!

Meanwhile, the more I drive in Boston, the less my ire is directed at Massachusetts drivers, and the more baffled I am by Massachusetts road planners and highway engineers. I mean, yes, the drivers do have a bewildering array of practices that seem to be more-or-less designed to get them where they want to be regardless of concerns of life and limb. But everyone makes questionable choices in the moment! Meanwhile the highway engineers have decided things like "this road should basically be a highway, but with the ability to pull off/onto it directly from the parking lots of big box stores," presumably through some kind of actual planning process. It's a much more premeditated, and to me much less understandable, contribution to the general chaotic driving climate.

[sarahthecoat]

well, see, what you have to also understand, is that Boston is the center of the universe, so time and space are distorted. There are squares with five sides, and sometimes you have to cross the river to go around the block. I don't have to drive in town that much anymore, but it helps to have my route pretty well planned out in advance, and to practice mom-levels of zen calm, and not be in a rush.