Controversial Matters!

…and People who stop in the crosswalk are my two biggest pet peeves while driving in traffic. Call it a space issue. I just know that whether it’s my personal self, my car or even my living space there is an implied comfort zone and if people traverse this area they are violating my space. Now for most people this is not a big deal but for me it literally makes me anxious and I cannot relax until the violation has been rectified.

If I’m driving in my car I tend to leave plenty of room in front of me so if the person behind me pulls up too close I can move up. Some people are so irritating if I pull up they pull up. I make eye contact with them in the rearview and some people get it but others have recognized that them being on my ass is a problem for me so they set out to intentionally exacerbate and even go so far as to let me know that they know it bothers me. These people I feel if only for a moment something akin to hatred. Two things that tailgaters never take into consideration are the if something happens to my car and they must go around me they must wait for everyone behind them to backup so they can backup and go around me and if they are tailgating while driving they do not know what is going on in front of me so that if I have to brake suddenly they could hit me in the rear. Now while I’m one of those people that believe that if you hit someone in the rear the accident is always your fault. If you were tailgating it’s definitely your fault. *Besides there is a law against it and when the police feel really enterprising they actually cite people for it. The charge is a misdemeanor reckless driving charge if cited.

The crosswalk issue is especially irritating because that area has been specially designed to make people feel safe while crossing the street. In the state where I live pedestrians having the right of way is simply an old law on the books and my advice would be to not trust that this is true because people either don’t care or they’re not paying attention to their driving and sadly pedestrians are hit quite often. A lot of times you will hear it said on the news they were not crossing the street at the crosswalk. I don’t think this would make a difference but the crosswalk is their area for walking so we should respect it as such. Almost on a daily basis I see people stop in the crosswalk at the light when the school kids are getting out and some of the more work conscientious crossing guards will make them back up out of the crosswalk but in an effort to keep our kids safe should make more of an effort to not stop there in the first place.