Road Rage

I'm going to take a break from studying for a minute and put on my rant hat.

As I was driving home this evening, I got on the freeway on the ramp which enters I-10 on a bridge and thus has a short acceleration zone that ends in the concrete barrier - in other words, I have to switch lanes rather quickly. Usually, this is no problem, because drivers understand the concept of forced merging and short acceleration lanes and will make space. Today, though, as I was accelerating, there were 3 cars in the lane into which I was trying to merge, while the lane to their immediate left was wide open. Most drivers see this situation and do the courteous thing (i.e. merge over to let the other driver get on the freeway without crashing and/or dying). Did these guys? Well, the last guy did after I had to slam on the brakes to keep from running out of room, and he only moved over enough to get by me. Those guys are assholes.

I then drive home on I-10. Westbound on I-10 leads toward the 610 loop. For whatever reason, the loop has 3 lanes of the five lane freeway that exit only onto it, while the other two lanes continue westbound on I-10. This has been like this for as long as I've lived in Houston, and though there's construction going on in that area (just beyond the 610 interchange), there's plenty of time to get over. Here's the deal: If you know that you have to get into one lane and you have an opportunity to do so, but you see that traffic has slowed down, so you decide to continue past all the people who know how to wait their turn so that you can cut them off and zip in at the front of the line, then you are an asshole. If you decide that you can't be bothered with waiting for someone to LET you in and therefore force your way in between two cars, then you are a major asshole. And if you are driving a Ford Mustang with TX licence plates 709-PCL, then if I ever see you walking from your car and I'm driving in my Escort - the one you cut off, forcing me to slam on MY brakes and nearly get rear-ended - then I will not brake on your transit across the street. You ignorant asshair, a shitpot. It's people like you that contribute to the gridlock that makes us good people who understand rules have to wait an extra 18 minutes. I hope you develop an itchy rash in a spot that you are unable to scratch in a polite manner.