Getting it off my chest

You know how, when you're driving and someone cuts you off, or pulls out in front of you at the last minute, forcing you to slam on your brakes, and then drives 10 miles per hour below the speed limit, you wish you could tell them exactly what a dumb ass they are, but that opportunity rarely presents itself? Well, Wednesday night, I got that opportunity, and took full advantage of it.

As you head north out of our town, the road narrows from two lanes to one. This is a relatively new configuration. They keep trying to improve the flow of traffic through town while we await the building of a bypass that will take the majority of traffic out of downtown - a bypass that will likely not be completed for 4 or 5 years at the earliest. One of the things they did was to widen one of the main north/south thoroughfares from two lanes to four - two in each direction. The problem is, at the north end, traffic goes under a railroad trestle that is only two lanes wide. It can't be widened - well, not without much ado - because there is a river on the east side of the road and homes and businesses on the west. So, traffic must merge from two lanes into one. Most people handle this properly, letting people merge from the right into the left lane of traffic. But there are always those idiots who insist on flying up the right side, passing the line of cars on the left, and then forcing their way into the line of traffic at the last possible minute. Those are the guys you really want to tell off.

Wednesday night, I was the second car in the left lane of traffic. As I was driving along, I could hear the sounds of a semi's gears shifting, his engine whining as his speed increased. He was pulling alongside me on the right. The lane was ending soon, and there is plenty of warning that it is going to do so, so I figured the truck would slow down and pull in behind me. After all, I WAS in front of him. Imagine my surprise when he continued to increase his speed, and actually pulled ahead of me. The car in front of me was not paying any attention He was driving kind of slowly (probably the speed limit, but no one drives the speed limit there as it goes from 35 to 45 at the trestle), but not so slowly that the truck could pass him too, though I think he wanted to. I honked at the truck as he nosed ahead of me. I flashed my lights at the guy in front of me. The lane was ending. The truck driver put his signal on, as if that would magically part the traffic to allow him to butt in. I had no recourse but to stomp on the brakes to let this guy in. I had to come to almost a complete stop, and just prayed the car behind me was paying attention. I was livid. I was on my way to the grocery store, which would have meant turning left at the upcoming junction with the highway going north and the one going east toward home, but the truck continued on the highway going east, and I decided to follow him. I had a pretty good idea where he was headed.

In the meantime, I called The Spouse to vent. I told him I was following the guy. Sure enough, the truck turned into Lignetics, a company that turns sawdust into pellets for pellet stoves, and into those duralog thingees. I turned in too. This driver knew exactly where he was going, added proof that he knew that lane ended, and knew exactly what he was doing. I waited for him to pull onto the scale and get out of the cab. I stormed over, Spouse listening on the cell phone "just in case". I said to the guy "What were you thinking? You CANNOT pass on the right. That is against the law, and dangerous! I was ahead of you and you PASSED me and made me slam on my brakes to let you in!" The driver, a 30-ish guy, stocky, shaved head, said "I didn't pass you." Naturally, I responded that he definitely HAD passed me. He then said "the law says.....I had my turn signal on...." and made some other smart remarks. I informed him that the law says you cannot pass on the right, and turning on one's turn signal does NOT give one the right of way. He had such an attitude that I was infuriated. I told him I was going to file a complaint. And I did.

Gotta love cell phones and 411 connect. I dialed 411, and asked for the number for Richardson Trucking in Lewiston, ID - about 3 1/2 hours south of here. They gave me the number and connected me. It was worth the $1.85 it will cost me. I got the dispatcher and told him what had happened. He was familiar with the place in town I was talking about. I gave him the license number and told him where the guy went. He immediately knew who the driver was. He said "was he a mouthy kid?" That was a pretty accurate description. He told me they 'd had problems with him before, and that he would make sure his supervisor knew about the incident. Now, this could all have been BS, but it made me feel good. I don't want the guy fired - and I told the dispatcher that, but I do want him to think twice the next time he uses his size and brute force to bully other drivers on the road. Guys like that give truckers a bad name, especially guys with the attitude he had. It was so nice to actually be able to confront an idiot driver and feel like you got to tell them just how stupid and dangerous their behavior was.