The Burlingames

I’ve been back at work since Wednesday of last week. My ankle was a bit sketchy last week, but has been improving by leaps and bounds this week. Praise God for good progress.

I was sitting at a light today in the right-turn lane behind another car, waiting for my turn to go. Suddenly, a motorcycle passed me (and the next car) on the right. There was no gap in the traffic, but he pulled out and turned right anyway, racing up the shoulder until he matched speeds with the cars next to him. He cut in front of one car, causing them to brake, and then cut into the next lane as well.

After he had gone, I looked to see how much space I had left between the curb and my truck. The side was only about 2 feet from the curb. I don’t know how he made it through without rubbing the curb and eating it. What a moron. Perhaps even more amazing is that the guy wasn’t some young punk on a crotchrocket, but an old, ZZ Top-looking guy on a medium-size cruiser.

It’s been awhile since my last bad driver post, and it’s not because people are suddenly better drivers; I’ve just been lazy in reporting.

We’ve all seen the guy that stops at a red light and then slowly creeps into the intersection, either trying to anticipate the light changing or thinking their movement will cause it to change. Well, the one I saw today must have given up on waiting for the light to change and just decided to go through the red. Moron.

It’s been an amazingly long time since I’ve seen somebody do something stupid on the road. They seem to come in bunches, though. Yesterday, on my way to Fridley, some guy was weaving in and out of traffic, cutting off cars like crazy. At one point he moved from the far left lane of 694 through the middle lane and into the right lane in one quick motion. In doing so he cut off a minivan that, fortunately, saw it coming and braked. If he hadn’t, the guy would have hit him. What makes it more stupid is he only passed one or two cars and then quickly moved all the way back into the left lane.

Later I saw a woman driving with a completely flat tire. She was just rolling down the street, trying to destroy her rim. She was looking around like she knew it was flat (she had to know; her window was rolled down and it was making a lot of noise) and was looking for a good place to stop. Mind you, she was on a city street; any place is a good place to stop. She even drove past a couple big parking lots. Maybe she thought it would be less expensive to buy a new rim rather than pay for towing. Somehow, I doubt it.