Friday, May 15, 2009
Driving on the wrong side of the road.
You might think from the title of this entry that it's going to be about driving in England, but it's not. This morning on the way to work I encountered a car driving the wrong way up a divided highway. Being the abrasive person I am, I stopped him and challenged him. His excuse was that he "just needed to get in to the back entrance to the post office". Rather than go to the end of the road and do a legal U-turn, he'd crossed the centre divider and started driving up the wrong side of the road because it presented a shorter route to him. One long, heated argument later, and I got the police involved - more because he was trying to call my bluff than anything. After a couple of minutes, we had assembled quite the audience, listening to the argument, and when the police turned up, it was immediately obvious to them what the problem was. The guy was given a ticket for dangerous driving based solely on the various eye witness reports, and the fact that he was parked facing oncoming traffic. He was also ordered to go to traffic school or face points on his licence and a ding on his insurance notification.
So here's the thing. It really doesn't matter what excuse you think you have, driving the wrong way down a road is never acceptable. You're not that important, and you will cause an accident or come across someone like me who'll make good and sure that you pay for your stupidity.
In this driver's case, his attempt to save 20 seconds caused him a half-hour delay making him late for work, a huge fine, traffic school, and potentially points on his license and increased insurance premiums.
Frankly if I'd been one of the policemen who turned up, I'd have just taken his licence away.
So here's the thing. It really doesn't matter what excuse you think you have, driving the wrong way down a road is never acceptable. You're not that important, and you will cause an accident or come across someone like me who'll make good and sure that you pay for your stupidity.
In this driver's case, his attempt to save 20 seconds caused him a half-hour delay making him late for work, a huge fine, traffic school, and potentially points on his license and increased insurance premiums.
Frankly if I'd been one of the policemen who turned up, I'd have just taken his licence away.
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