Impatient Driver Rant

I logged on to the website for my local paper, the Appeal Democrat, this morning and found yet another accident caused by an impatient driver on the front page. An impatient idiot tried to pass an Amtrak bus on Highway 70 and managed to involve himself, the bus, two vans and two other cars in a pile-up. One woman from San Jose was killed in the accident and several others were injured and taken to hospitals. Oh yeah, and the accident caused the highway to close down while the authorities cleaned up the mess, no doubt causing a few other drivers to be "impatient" when they got moving again...

A lot of the rural 2-lane highways are deathtraps because of these idiots who are in such a hurry that they just have to pass a slower vehicle. When I was driving trucks around the country and around this area, I saw way too many of these idiots. And yes, I had to slam my brakes on to avoid hitting someone or something because of them. Yes, trucks go slower. The powers that be have determined that in California the trucks can't go faster than 55 miles per hour, on any road. Other vehicles are allowed to go faster, 60, 65 or 70 miles per hour depending on the road you're on. Ok, so what does passing that slower vehicle get you? Well, if the road isn't heavily traveled like Highway 99, or Highway 70 or even Highway 20, it gets you to where you're going a few minutes faster. Wow. Are those few minutes that important? When you're on a heavily traveled road why risk your life as well as the lives of the folks in all those other vehicles just to gain those "precious" few minutes?

Now the accident that happened yesterday was senseless to the max. If the idiot had waited just a few minutes, he'd have been on a 4-lane section of that highway! Crazy! All because he didn't want to be behind a bus. And buses aren't restricted to the 55 mph rule. They can go the same speeds as the cars! Most likely the bus was going "slower" because of the traffic! So, the 22 year old driver/idiot smashed into the bus, causing it to go off the road, then smashed head on into one of the vans coming the other way and killed the woman driving it. Smart move, idiot. Now you get to pay the price for your stupidity.

I think I'll go pour another cup of coffee. And maybe rip some weeds out of the ground.