Kick it when you pull out in front of others

I do not like to make a left without a traffic signal to assist.

It may have begun when I was 15. My grandparents would allow me to go maybe a mile or two out of the way by turning right. My father, well, he wanted me to drive the shortest distance and more direct way from point A to point B.

I remember when we were leaving a shopping center in my dad’s black Oldsmobile. He wanted me to turn left and traffic was heavy. As it seems to normally happen, when  traffic clears in one direction, it gets heavy in the other. 

I could have easily made a right turn, but he wanted me to go left. Why? I don’t know except for the fact that it was just slightly shorter route to go that way.

Finally, I had a small window so I eased my foot to the accelerator and the vehicle made its way into the road and into the proper lane. As I made the turn, my dad said, “If you are going to pull out in front of someone, punch it!”

So I hit the gas pedal and put more distance between me and the car that had been approaching us. My father’s point was that when you pull out in front of someone – and you will have to do that from time-to-time – hit the gas and go.

That has stayed with me, though I will try to go the safest way even if that means going a little bit out of the way.

 No one likes it when another driver pulls out in front of them and either slow pokes along or slams on their brakes a few seconds later to make a turn (it doesn’t matter if it is right or left).

When other drivers pull out in front of me, the first thing I do besides tapping my brakes is glance up into my rearview mirror. Because I am always checking my mirrors, I usually already know if there is someone behind me. But I want to see how close they are from my bumper.

Majority of times though, there is no one behind me when another vehicle makes a turn to get right in front of me. This leaves me to wonder: First, why didn’t they wait and let me pass since there was no one behind me? And second, would they want me to do that to them?

Of course not. So then, why did they do that to me?

I am sure this has happened to everyone. And yes, I have jumped out in front of others, but you better believe I put the pedal to the metal to get some distance between me and that vehicle.

About a year ago, I turned out in front of a van in downtown Dublin. I was making a right and it was hard to see around a parked vehicle. Once I started to make my right, I saw the van coming up the road. Well, like an airplane pilot who has already passed the point of no return (called V1) I felt like I had to go so I pressed down on the gas  and created distance.

It wasn’t even close. But that did not stop the driver of the van from holding down on their horn. I couldn’t help but laugh at them as we both stopped at the next traffic light. She was hitting her steering wheel and probably cussing up a storm.

When the light turned green, I eased on the gas pedal and made my way safely home. Which is what our aim for driving should be. 

Back to refusing to make a left. A few years ago, GPS changed our directions because of a wreck on the route. As we were making our way down a subdivision, the GPS kept wanting us to turn right and make a left at the end of the next block. 

As we pulled up to each block, every right led us to another stop sign, and we could see that the traffic on the main road was backed up. We kept proceeding until we could not go straight anymore. At that final stop sign, I looked to the right and saw there was a traffic signal at the end of that road.

By refusing to make an earlier turn, I got the traffic light I needed to make a safer left turn. Yes, I went a little out of my way, but I did it with less stress and issues.

Now, it is time for me to get into my car again. Wonder if that van driver is coming up the road?