A late entry

I have been remiss in awarding the various bad drivers in my local their just awards. However, I will commend the driver of a tan van, with Florida plates, whom I encountered in traffic yesterday. Normally, I give more room for error for those who are obviously not - at least not originally - from this area; however, this person could have done far better.

Each day, I must travel through a fairly typical intersection of two highways. The access roads have, in each direction, a left turn lane which splits off into a U-turn lane, a lane which permits either a left turn or straight travel, a straight-only lane, and a straight-only lane which branches off into a right-only lane. Proceeding to the other side of the highway being crossed, there remain two straight-only lanes, a straight-or-left lane, and a left-only lane. This pattern is repeated in each direction.

Yesterday's intrepid traveller was in the straight-only lane, which became the third lane from the left after crossing over the other highway. Just before the second intersection, he turned on his left turn signal and began to attempt to force his van into the lane to his left, which was quite full of commuters. Entering the actual intersection, he veered left and was cut off by the vehicle already occupying that lane next to him. Having failed to force his way into the other lane, he then slammed on his brake, caussing a ripple effect of brake lights from the vehicles in the lane behind him.

At this point, the driver behind the car this driver had originally tried to cut off - apparently fearing for his own vehicular safety - allowed the Florida driver to enter the left-turn lane, which the van entered almost so late as to run into the curb next to it.

I certainly understand that people hate to miss their turns, particularly in strange places or in heavy traffic. However, this area has another light, approximately one-quarter mile from this apparently non-Floridian intersection, and at least two more U-turn lanes not far beyond that. Additionally, there are shopping centers on three of the four corners of this interchange, any one of which had ample means to allow someone to turn around and back track.

Congratulations, Florida, for having your very first recipient of the Bad Driver of the Day Award. At least the plates are from there, whether the van and driver are or not.

We have a Winnah!

Congratulations to young woman driving the silver Dodge Caliber who apparently has no suspension in her vehicle. Crossing a parking lot, she slammed on the brake before each (fairly low) speedbump, creeping over at literally a turtle's pace. In fact, the turtle probably would have passed her. Pat yourself on the back for having resisted the temptation to get out and personally carry each wheel of your precious baby (aka the car) over each bump, which also might  have been faster.

Inaugural runner up.

As anticipated, I did not find any terrible drivers yesterday. Not that the roads were teeming with good drivers, but the bad driving that I witnessed was nothing more that I have grown used to. Therefore, today we have only an honorable mention.

Congratulations to the driver of a white Toyota minivan, who entered an intersection having no room for the minivan. The driver then squeezed onto a painted, non-elevated left-hand median and cut in front of a driver several vehicles in front of me. Why, you ask, does this particular driver get the honorable mention, when there were other equally qualified candidates?

The drivers between the minivan and me all turned at the next light. A bit farther along the road, today's honorable mention suddenly slammed on the brakes. However, since BOTH of the lower brake lights were out, and the only warning I received was the solitary light well above me at the top of the minivan, this vehicle was the one most likely to be involved a accident.

I will be on the lookout for a better candidate among today's drivers. I forgot to mention that the "Bad Driver of the Day" may also be on a bicycle, skateboard, or similar transportation; or he or she may be in a wheelchair or on foot. The main precondition is that the persons involved do something stupid which endangers themselves or others.

Now get out there and BE SAFE!

Welcome to the "Bad Driver of the Day"

Hello world, especially those of us in the USA (since I'm more familiar with traffic laws here.) Almost every day, I see at least one egregious driver on my extremely short drive to work. At least once or twice a month, one has managed to cause an often serious accident. Of course, since I'm finally starting this blog today, I probably won't see any bad drivers today or tomorrow. There have been a surplus of bad drivers in the past week.

Therefore, dear readers (and I'm hoping there eventually will be at least one or two), I call upon you to help me patrol the streets of our (or your) fair land. If you see a driver who for whatever reason  flaunts the laws of traffic and the rules of courtesy in such a manner that you wish you could instantly revoke his or her license - or indeed, wonder if the violator ever even had one - let me know at a dot piphylbod (at) gmail dot com. (The address has been spelled out in an attempt to avoid robotic spam. You're smart. You'll figure it out.)

The best submission of each day - which will probably be my own until someone happens across this blog - will be posted here. Be sure to give details. A description of the car and driver is a plus.

I do have a few rules. In spite of your ire, you must keep your submissions clean or they will be deleted. Also, the infraction you are reporting must be one you personally witnessed within the prior 24 hours of sending your submission. Good luck. Not on getting posted, but on surviving the many bad drivers on the road. Now, let's get out there, and STAY SAFE!