As I've posted before, I do a fair amount of driving in my daily life. Mostly freeway driving, but still, a fair amount. Because of all that driving, I have the opportunity to see all types of drivers, vehicles, pedestrians, and road conditions. And, as I stated in my first posting about driving pet peeves, this is my blog and if someone reading this has a problem with what I'm writing, get your own blog.
I want to start with potholes. They are a fact of life in Wisconsin, and I give credit to the crews that work hard to keep them filled in. However, the City of Milwaukee seems to excel at not filling them in. And, they waste money on senseless projects that could easily be forgotten and use that money instead to build the roads back up to level. Two weeks ago as I was driving west on Capitol drive, lanes were closed off for what I at first thought was road repair, but was for island clean-out. A crew of five people were doing flower bed maintenance. Raking, cutting dead plants down, mulching, etc. Meanwhile, I bounced out of a pot hole so big that my car bottom scraped the edge of the hole. Why is that crew not FILLING IN THE POT HOLES? I don't give a rodent's buttocks about the island flower beds. As far as I'm concerned, pave the stupid islands over and FIX THE POT HOLES! How much money is wasted on employees, equipments, supplies, water, and electricity for something that no one really cares about? When was the last time you even THOUGHT about the flowers in the island dividers? And, there were three teams fixing these islands along the way of my drive back to interstate 43. What a colossal waste of taxpayer money.
My next gripe is with motorcyclists and bicyclists. This time of year brings warnings from every media outlet that (usually "cage" or four wheelers) drivers should be on the look-out for these individuals. I come back to the same thought every single time. Shouldn't EVERY driver, no matter the vehicle, be on the look-out for things they could hit? As with everything that relates to humans in life, there is a broad range of good to bad. But, for some reason, we are expected to accept that ANYONE who rides a two-wheeler as the PERFECT embodiment of road safety and perfection. That somehow the cyclist is NEVER at fault, and that they can do no wrong. That this romanticized notion of the cyclist is somehow above the law. Two years ago as I was driving to work in the summer, there was a traffic jam on south 43 that had both lanes of traffic stopped. As I waited for the traffic to start moving again, I heard a motorcycle moving. And sure enough, I looked in my driver's side mirror and lo and behold here is Mr. I-can-do-no-wrong motorcyclist driving BETWEEN the two lanes of cars. Right on the dotted line. I have seen this several times since then, and it absolutely infuriates me because all that needs to happen is for someone to decide they are going to switch lanes and butt their car out and Mr. Motorcyclist is history and the car driver is at fault.
I have also observed on several occasions young kids on sport bikes going incredible speeds on the freeways. They weave in and out of traffic and have absolutely no regard for traffic laws, safety, or anyone's lives, including their own. And what makes it really exciting is when a car driver makes a lane switch and because these cycle-jerks are going so fast ends up accidentally cutting one of them off. And yet, it's the "cage" drivers who are expected to be the only ones responsible for road safety.
I work across the street from UW-Milwaukee, and this last Tuesday when I was making a right turn onto Oakland ave, a bicyclist came rolling along on my LEFT side, cut in-between me and the driver in front of me, scooted along the curb and then crossed the street in the crosswalk while riding his bike. Traffic was stopped for the red light, but when the bike person cut in front of my car, I had just tapped the accelerator to start moving forward before making my right turn as the light had just turned green. I blared the horn at him, but all he did was turn and smile and wave at me. I really want to know when in our society the rules stopped being applied to everyone? As a side note, I'm really tired of pedestrians taking advantage of the crosswalk rules. While I was trying to avoid bike boy, there was a group of kids who were jumping back and forth between the cross walk and the curb. What this effectively did was make the drivers who were going straight slam on their brakes and the ones who were trying to turn right, not. And these are the kids who will be running the country in a few years. The best they can do is play "red-light, green-light" with traffic? They would jump back to the curb, laugh, and when the cars started moving again, jump into the crosswalk and make the cars stop. Infuriated doesn't even begin to describe my level of road rage at that point. It took me two light cycles to get through that intersection. I was already late for my class as I was leaving work late to drive to school, yet these yahoos had the law on their side and knew that the car drivers couldn't do anything about them being in the crosswalk. Once they did start to cross the street, they STOPPED half-way through the intersection to tear-around and have a chat. Just stood there laughing. Future leaders of America....
My last peeve of this blog is parking lots. Why do the traffic rules not apply in parking lots? Drivers that cut across the lanes, parking areas, and cut other drivers off so they can get ahead by one second are never in short supply. A parking lot is not a free for all! Rules still apply there. And, put your carts in the cart returns or I'll send my husband after you....
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