Austin Drivers STINK!

I was running way late for work this morning, and as I got on the highway I found traffic was very light. I thought this would make for a pleasant commute, but I was mistaken. It turns out, when traffic in Austin gets lighter the drivers are stupider. Those driving in rush hour in Austin will be surprised that such a thing is possible, but trust me it is so.

Refer to the following image (click to see full-sized)



I was on the northbound frontage of I-35 in lane 1 at the light. A white CARTS car was in front of me. We turned left on the bridge across the highway and . . they . . were . . going . . too . . slow . . because they were going to turn left to go down the South frontage of I-35. As they merged into the left turning lane, and I continued straight, I accelerated as they got out of my way. Then some JACKASS in a full-sized green GM pickup cut me off, and then they cut off the white CARTSmobile. There was about 3 or 4 carlengths of clear lane for the CARTS car to slow to a stop, and into this space the green truck cut both of us off. At maybe 25MPH, with nowhere near enough room to stop. Then they decided this was not where they wanted to turn, and boltered back into the #1 lane . . . to where my car was. My instincts told me there was nobody in the #2 lane where the truck had just been a moment before, so I swerved over into the #2 lane and nailed the gas. I proceeded through the intersection and cut the green truck off because [deleted] that guy.

They turned left at the next intersection.

Note the hands in the following image. These point out the different places where the truck could have made a safe "New Jersey left turn" instead of risking my car and my life, as well as the cars and lives of their fellow drivers.



Ass. Hole.


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Next up on the hit parade:



Then I found another TWO of them at the other end of Sam Bass Road. The road turns North, and it is the North/South route intersecting 1431 which runs East-West in the above photo. The left turning cars have a green/yellow arrow and green/yellow/red round lights to guide them through the intersection. I pulled up behind a half-dozen cars as the light turned green-left-arrow. Nobody went forward. Then it sounded like New Jersey as everyone who did not have their heads up their [deleted]s started honking. Not me, it wouldn't have done any good. They were all honking at the female driver in a silver 3rd gen. Mitsubishi Eclipse who failed to drive when her light turned green. As the light turned to yellow-left-arrow she finally went through the intersection. Everyone was going through the light at this point, arrows and red lights be damned . . . except for this one female driving a white Honda Odyssey (with the Honda badge pulled off the backhatch). She saw the green arrow turn yellow and the green circle come on

. . . and stopped DEAD in the #2 and #1 lanes of Eastbound traffic on 1431. In the lanes. This was my turn to honk. Finally TWO cars which had been stopped (because they did not have the right of way as long as Minivandriver's yellow arrow was lit) came South across 1431 and she drove off. I laid down a strip of rubber all the way around her into the #2 lane.

WTFPPL.

Then to make up for letting me survive this morning, TWICE on the same stretch of road on the way home, a car (two different cars) tried to zoom up in the right lane and cut me off to pass. In heavy traffic. I accelerated to prevent them cutting me off. If I can mostly-safely avoid it, I don't let people cut me off. Yes, it means a shorter-than-safe following distance between me and the car in front of me. That, I can control. I can brake when I please or ditch onto the median if the car in front goes nuts and jams the brakes. What I can't control is some jerk who does not know how long the back of his sporty little black Audi or fancy new F-250 is, and they pull a reverse PIT on me at 45MPH in traffic with unpredictably-disastrous results.

Someone please get our Elected Heroes in Austin to put drivers education back on the mandatory high school curriculum in Texas!