It's Wednesday and time for a traffic rant

What kind of driver are you? Courteous? Cautious? Assertive (or aggressive)? Wimpy?

There are a lot of other categories I could mention or ask about, some of them are probably unfit for a family friendly blog. You know who I mean... And I am sure none of my readers fall into those categories.

I don't drive nearly as much as I did when I was a "wage slave" or when I was a teenager. I only put about 200 miles a month on my car now instead of the 250 a week I racked up before retirement. I fill up less than once a month. Well, when I am not on a trip across country or up to Biloxi.

Still, I see a lot of drivers on the road and, therefore, a lot of driving mistakes. In the winter here, our citizenry doubles (or more). Traffic doubles and slows way down. Which turns out to be a Good Thing because it means most accidents occur at lower speeds.

My main beef is about what I call "intersection creepers". There are two types... the first is the guy at the traffic light who creeps forward while waiting for the light to change until half his car is past the line and is sticking out into the intersection. There are intersections where crossing traffic must swerve a little to avoid him but he isn't generally a problem until the light changes. At some point about 30 seconds before the light changes, his attention span has been exceeded and he is now busy changing stations on his radio, enmeshed in a cell phone conversation, or picking his nose and is not aware the light has changed. And so he sits... as you wait (patiently, I'm sure) until he notices the cars next to him have moved out. At this point, he will dash forward to catch up (and pass) his road mates.

His "cousin" is the "corner creeper". This is the driver who is going to turn left from the stop sign at the intersection where you are intending to turn left. You, of course, have the right of way since you have no stop sign. But he has nosed his car well past the stop sign and also started that left turn a tad prematurely. He is now crowding the lane you want to turn onto. Instead of the 90 degree turn you expected, it's more like a 110 degree turn.

I can't be positive but I think he's the same guy who turns left before he reaches the intersection that you are approaching causing you to stop well short to avoid him as he travels through the oncoming (your) lane. Why the "corner creeper" and this guy never seem to meet is a mystery.

The "corner creeper" also does his dance when turning right but is not a problem unless he is turning onto your lane as you travel down the highway. He often creeps out enough to make you shy of traveling in the right lane of a multi-lane highway. But he's at his worse when he completes that turn and doesn't pick up speed unless, and until, you move to the next lane to your left and start to pass him.

He will eventually become the guy hiding in your right hand blind spot; that invisible zone just off your right rear quarter. The one that is always there when it comes time to move into that lane to prepare for you right turn. His cousin is there in your left rear quarter blind spot.

Faye would like a .50 caliber machine gun mounted on the roof of her car. I just want to find and disable the idiot magnet in mine.