Have you ever noticed how other drivers will adjust their driving based on what you do? I've been driving a lot in the last six months, all in my stick shift Mini Cooper. Up and down Route 101 and Route 280 and particularly 19th Avenue in San Francisco, through all those traffic lights. I find it really offensive (I'll take this up with my shrink) that drivers don't stick to their own driving. Case in point: A driver is in the left lane, going more slowly than I want to go, say 60 mph. I move to the right to pass them at 70mph, but just as I draw even, they speed up to 70mph. So I have to go even faster to get past them, then worrying about whether I will get tagged for speeding. As soon as I do pass them, they slow back down to whatever speed they were going before.
I spend the next three minutes wondering what was going through their mind, if anything: Were they conscious of making it harder for me to pass them? Were they sleep driving (a common practice in California) and reacting sub-consciously?
Another case: I'm happily driving down in the third lane (all freeways in California have eight lanes, by the way). There is a car driving at a slower pace ahead of me in the second lane. Even though there is not a car in front of the second-car lane, the driver puts on his turn signal and switches to the lane in front of me. That forces me to slow down or change lanes to go around him.
I wish I could focus on great thoughts while driving, rather than trying to evaluate and control the behavior of all the other drivers.
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