My Wet Coast Life

On my way home from work yesterday, i survived a JRfm bumper sticker toting minivan drifting into my lane on a corner as the car in front of me slammed on the brakes and I had to swerve at the last minute to avoid getting hit cause they still didn't see me or realize they are half way in my lane and have completely taken away my braking distance. He got a horn and salute from me. He quickly moved back to his lane after that nerve racking event and in the process cut off the driver that was behind him in his previous lane. That moronic driver then tried to change lanes into my passenger door a couple hundred meters later without shoulder checking to see if i was there or indicating his intention. He just started moving towards me and my feeble horn gave him another reminder that I was there. And of course it had not 1 but 2 JRfm 93.7 bumper stickers on it, cause 1 ain't enough. Ahhh...those bumper stickers explained it all.

Luckily, thanks to the Canada's Worst Driver series on Discovery Channel, they have given real good tips on how to get out of a jam and just common sense when on the road. The one tip that has saved me more than once from the idiot drivers, and what worked for me yesterday, is when not-so-smart drivers like to cut in between you and the car in front of you, with no indicator and no space of course, while the car in front of you is already breaking hard, thus taking away any breaking distance you might have had. Canada's Worst Driver showed me not to slam on the brakes but just to let off the gas and steer to retain control. That is why I'm still here and able to write this.

In December of '09, I wrote about how you can identify bad drivers on the road in the lower mainland by looking for the JRfm 93.7 bumper sticker(s) and how JR 93.7 FM listeners are the worst drivers but at least give a courteous warning via the red and white sticker(s).

Thank you Canada's Worst Driver for the tips over the last 5 seasons, they have saved myself a couple times now and would've been a different outcome had i not watched your show and paid attention. You can watch all of Season 5, if in Canada, here.

Now the previous night before this most recent incident, i was checking some stats for the blog and noticed traffic coming from searches for JRfm 93.7. Curious, i decided to Google it and see where my blog stands in the search results. To my amazement, i am ranked second only to JRfm's actual website when searching "JR 93.7 FM" and other similar searches kept me in the top 5, WIN! Maybe the listeners will see my article, read it and change their ways? Or they may just remove the bumper sticker so they can stay on the down low. This has nothing to do with JRfm 9.7 station and the music they play, rather their fan base's lack of driving skills. But you never know, the station could promote it, i wouldn't know as i listen to 99.3 the FOX on my commute, cause the FOX ROCKS!

Follow up:

Now most of the issues cause by these drivers could be attributed to many cause but a couple possible issues that come to mind for me at least include:

• Lack of proper driving instruction
• Possibly receiving their license in another country with less strict driving laws and licensing requirements
• Bribing examiners
• Corrupt driving schools
• Or just plain ignorance, stupidity and lack of common sense.

One bad habit that really irks me and i see multiple times a day, can be summed up in the following info-graphic on the right (See original full size here).
It says it all, and then some.

The douche bag will race down the road with a turning lane on the right and force cut in at the last minute, with no indicator most of the time, thus saving the wait. These morons think everyone else waiting to turn aren't as important than them and they have full rights to do it. I for one, will not allow it and will hold my ground and not let them in. I waited and followed the rules of the road, they can to.

By the way, Delta Police, if you ever read this, please sit at the bottom of Nordel Way every weekday morning and you will easily hit your ticket quota between these d-bags that cut in and the cars that can't cut in and in turn use the bus only merge lane to cut in. You don't do it nearly as often enough and maybe if you did, this would be at least be one stretch where the frequency of this occurring could get reduced as the daily commuters would know your sitting, waiting to issue some costly karma. Just a suggestion.

Now because I see this multiple times a day, I look for it and expect it. The worse display of this ignorance I've seen to date occurred about 6-8 weeks or so ago. Now why would i mention this story? well karma of course. Maybe if you're one of "those" people, this may give you a reality check, or maybe not...

I had a car try and force his way into my driver's side door with his passenger hanging out the windows waving at me to let him in. My issue with that tactic was the fact we were on a 3 lane road and the right 2 lanes were merge lanes onto the highway. i was in the curb lane. These lanes merged into one right before getting onto the highway so there was no reason to do what he was doing. I kindly rolled down my window and informed the driver and passenger that we will be merging at the end and at the pace we were going, he would have merged in front of me anyways, so no need to cut in. He just needed to wait 50 more meters.
Well, because he was trying to drive into me and his car is at a 45^o angle, another d-bag flying down the outside through-traffic lane saw an opening about to be created (he was doing the last minute cut in deal, see info graphic) created by the idiot driving into my door. So the idiot finally saw the logic in my explanation and as he straightened his car back into his lane, the d-bag flying down the hill cut into the same spot assuming i was letting the idiot in, no indicator of course, and hit the idiot in the front left quarter panel. With a big boom, crash and the idiot's plastic bumper flying across the hood of my car and both cars are now wrecked. Luckily no one was injured but based on the damage, both cars were write offs.

Karma can be a real hard lesson some times. Hopefully those two drivers have learned the drawback of bad habits and hopefully will not do it again...hopefully...