Hey, You Young Drivers

The drive from home to Fort Wayne to see the grandbaby was a bit long yesterday. I managed to hit plenty of construction zones and detours. I did not, however, hit the little red sedan that I thought I would.

The driver of the red car realized she was missing her exit off the freeway. Of four lanes heading south, she was in the next-to-left lane and needed to cross two lanes immediately for her exit. So she slowed way down and nearly stopped and proceeded to turn toward the exit. As she began to pull out directly in front of me, with no way for me to avoid her, she noticed my car and stayed in her lane. I still wonder whether she got out of the situation without being smashed by one of the cars coming up behind her.

Why is it so hard for some people to just go with the mistake? So you missed your lane? Keep driving and take the next exit and turn around and come back! Later in the day (twice even!) I ended up in a lane that suddenly turned into a right-turn-only lane when I didn't want to turn right. If there'd been less traffic, I could've moved over. But Chicago drivers aren't prone to letting people into their lane. So I turned right. Inconvenient, yes. But better than stopping and plugging up the traffic and causing accidents. And better than heading into a lane where there's fast-moving traffic.

So, ya got that, Andrew and all you other young drivers? If you can't safely move to where you're supposed turn, keep going and adjust your lane later and turn later or exit later. Stopping on the highway is not okay!