Niki Cheong

Bad drivers are: “Damn rude!”

Jul 28, 2008 Rantings

Before I get to the point of this post, allow me to vent.

I was having a good morning today, until I met this cow of a female driver (no offense to other female drivers out there). I was driving up a 2-lane hill and was not even going that slowly, when her little MyVi tailgated me (because there was an even slower car in the other lane). I hate being tailgated.

So anyway, once we pass that car, she tries to overtake me except we come to a traffic light and there are more cars on her lane than mine. So she swerves to get behind me (and I could have sworn a car honked at her for her sudden movement).

Then, past the lights, we were going downhill and she follows me all the way until I get a gap to get into the left lane (I needed to turn left). I had signaled left but the moment I started moving in, she does the same too but accelerates so basically, I was almost going to ram into her. Thankfully I didn’t but she again tailgates me. Which annoys the shits out of me, so I start going real slow for about 100metres until the road expands into 4 lanes.

Naturally, she accelerates to overtake me (I could just feel it) and so I told myself that if she even dares glare at me, I’d, well, flick her my finger. She did.

I hate unreasonable drivers. Even if you were in a rush, it’s probably not worth the risk and I don’t think I’d have delayed her by more than a minute, max.

My other peeve is when there is a jam, and people go onto the outer lane which is clear and then try to cut in. I think it’s fine if they can find a gap, but those who actually stop to wait for the traffic to move so they can squeeze in gets on my nerve, mainly because they are causing a jam on the outer lane.

So imagine my thrill when I found this article today. I know, I know, it’s more than three years old, and it’s about traffic in the United States, but I can feel the joy of the drivers there who are “victims” of traffic lane jumpers.

Basically, in 2005 Seattle, two cops became local “celebrities” when they would fine drivers for cutting in lines. The article, in The Seattle Times, reads:

Seattle Police officers Lyndell Jones and Jeff Rodgers carry out a unique mission: They’re the only cops in the state who can bust drivers for simply cutting in line.

The pair stand near a freeway ramp from the West Seattle Bridge corridor to northbound Interstate 5, where commuters in the one-mile queue resent the minority who nose in front just before the ramp.

Whenever the crackdown is on, people honk, wave, give thumbs up and sometimes stop to tattle on the cheaters.

“They love us here,” says Rodgers. “Not many people love a traffic officer. We get public reinforcement, and we come back.”

I wish we had such cops in KL. I could tell them a few places where they could head over to, hide and bust drivers!

8.54pm Malaysian time (+8 GMT)

Tags: lane jumping, seattle times, tailgate, traffic, traffic police