Driving on the Holidays – Shoulda Bought a Tank

/ April 19, 2014

There are moments when the deep and sincere stupidity of other drivers just rises up and slams you in the rear bumper. Fortunately it wasn’t me this time who came face to face with the lack of understanding on how to approach the ’round-a-bout’ and the resultant mess that ensued but I did get a good look at the driver of the car who had been swiped.  All I can say is I hope the fellow that hit her was wearing a cup – it sure as hell looked like he was going to need it.

As I drove home I remembered a hilarious little funny that I’d tucked away courtesy of Smile Be Happy and decided to add it to this weekends fun.

road rage

Related posts

25 thoughts on “Driving on the Holidays – Shoulda Bought a Tank”

  1. We have round-a-bouts here in Canada too (more so in eastern than western) but we call them rotaries. As you implied, they require a certain panache to navigate. I was commercial driver for years and holidays were the worst. There were people driving who never used their cars during the week, going places they seldom go, with all sorts of things on their minds other than driving. We drive on the right hand side of the road here and I’ll never forget taking a drive with one of my Mum’s friends (Georgina) who had just arrived from England on holiday. Why she was driving the car is beyond me. She wasn’t doing too bad with the “wrong” side driving until we hit the rotary. Then she turned into the traffic and proceeded the wrong way around the rotary with cars going off the road to avoid her, horns blowing, and the screeching of brakes. I was sure I was going to die right there and then. Once we cleared the rotary, my Mum decided that may be she should drive and Georgina was quite incensed – she though she was doing a great job.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • You could not have paid me to get back in that car –

      Wow, I once saw this little old lady hunched over the wheel hanging on for dear life going round and round and round the round-a-bout because she couldn’t figure how to get off.

      Eventually everyone stopped so she could turn off – I took note of where she was driving and went another way!!!

      Like

      Reply

      • Hahaha! I’m glad she survived. We don’t have a lot of rotaries but the ones we do have come in various sizes from little ones in residential neighborhoods where you’re likely on your own at any given time, to huge ones more than a mile across with 5 or 6 lanes and hundreds of cars. Losing your place on a big one is mind blowing and can require an extra trip around to get in the exit lane you need. I feel sorry for people who have never seen them before, as they are not even mentioned in our driver training manuals and are not a part of the driving test to get your license. Rural residents can go their whole lives without even seeing one, let alone navigating one. When they come across one unexpectedly, their behaviour can be unpredictable to say the least.

        Like

  3. This is my new incarnation of omtatjuan… I needed a change and it needed to be radical. I hope Typhoon Ita finally died down…

    Like

    Reply

  4. We call them circles here, Jenni. When I lived just outside of Washington, D.C., I got stuck on the inner lane of DuPont Circle and had to round-about several times before somebody would let me break through to the turn I wanted to make. No collision, but near misses!

    Like

    Reply

      • Well, we Yinzers (western PA types) have a weird phobia where we believe that driving above 40 MPH (65 KPH?) will somehow kill us. I love my people but it is a deep flaw most seem to have.

        Like

      • 60 km/hr is the speed limit in suburbs (highly built up and near schools), 80 km/hr on major roads and 100 km/hr on the highway.

        There are places in the Northern Territory when outside of the town there is no speed limit at all (big arse desert and scrub) and the drivers there are a tad on the scary side.

        So you guys would be fine if you stayed in the burbs over here – you wouldn’t magically implode by going over the speed limit 😀

        Like

Leave a comment