Traffic Sucks

One thing I never missed about New York is the traffic. The very first night back, October 14th, I was immediately hit with traffic while driving through the City; no surprises there. Then we hit the LIE and getting through Queens was the pits – stop and go all the way. Once we hit Nassau County, though, things opened up and it was smooth sailing all the way out to Rocky Point. The thing is, I was never really comfortable on Missouri roadways unless they were local, and I didn’t have a chance to get comfortable on Maryland roads; but I was completely comfortable driving on the roads out here, even in the rain that night. I did learn to drive on them so it’s only fitting, even after being away for almost six years.

Then I started driving on them during the day, when roadways were crowded with New York drivers. Ugh!! Stop, go, brake, brake harder, tailgate, speed to a stoplight, change lanes without signaling, honk for no reason at all… Holy crow!! I guess being out of the traffic mix lessened the severity of my memories of it, but being back in it brought the memories flooding back in full force. Tonight was no exception.

We had to drive from Rocky Point to Mineola for a Halloween party. Kara drove my van there since it was in her old neighborhood; I just sat back and watched the traffic flow by us. I, kind of, strolled through memory lane as we passed the different exits; trying to remember where each one would take me. Some I remembered, some I didn’t; but I had fun trying. Then we got to the party, enjoyed ourselves, and it was time to go. We had to drop the boys off at Paul’s because they want to go trick-or-treating with him; Dolly wants to go with me.

Anyway, I drove this time. Familiar roadways with semi-familiar scenery; lots of things have changed since I left. One thing that stayed the same is the lunatic drivers. More than a half-a-dozen times I was cut off by some moron wanting to get from the left lane to the right turning lane – NOW. One lane of traffic tried not to allow me to get in line to merge onto the parkway. I forced it, though; had no choice. Once I got on, people entering the parkway didn’t want to yield to the already-moving traffic, as they should.

Then, after we dropped off the boys and started heading home, we came upon a sadly familiar sight – a five-car pile up across all three lanes of the eastbound highway. I pulled ahead of it and off to the side so Kara, a nurse, could see if anyone needed any medical help. Only one police officer had arrived since the accident had just happened. By the time she came back to the van there were six police cars, and about five other emergency vehicles with more on the way. There was a lot of automotive damage; and some physical injuries to the drivers and passengers involved, but all of them were minor.

What’s really sad is that this type of accident is something I’ve seen so many times that it doesn’t really affect me any more other than to aggravate me when rubberneckers slow traffic to a crawl. It’s just and all-too-familiar scene. Kara helped with what she could and we were on our way again. About 15 minutes from home we were on Sills Road, dark and winding with a speed limit of 50. With three kids still in the van, no street lights available, and being in a heavy deer crossing area I was going a little under the speed limit for the concern of safety.

Some asshole behind me was apparently impatient to get to wherever it was that he was going and rode my ass for a good long time. He flashed his brights and tailgated me until I finally made the room for him to pass me. Then, to be nasty, he layed on his horn as he passed, I guess to tell me what an idiot I am for not keeping up with the speed limit. Whatever. I told Kara that if that guy caused or was involved in an accident up ahead of us, we were not going to stop to help. Ten minutes later I was doing the speed limit and another dolt decided to flash his brights at me. What the fuck? Isn’t anyone allowed to drive the speed limit anymore, especially when there are children in the car? Apparently not in New York.

I say ‘tough shit!’ I’m going to drive how I feel comfortable driving when I’ve got children, some of them not my own, in my van. If people out here don’t like it, oh well. I’m going to do what I have to do to keep my kids safe in the car. If you feel the need to get to your destination so quickly, perhaps you should leave your place of origin a little sooner. Familiar roadways or not, I will not endanger the lives of my passengers for your convenience. Suck it up and go around, or get off the road altogether. I can handle it, though; I’m back and know how to drive here whether you agree or not. Deal with it!!

Until next time…peace to all.