Today I was driving down a very ‘wibbly wobbly’, twisty narrow road to my mosaic class. Given my knowledge of the road I drive steady. Real steady. I call it the road of Hell or the pathway to Heaven.
I always anticipate the unexpected as it is not unusual to drive round a bend to discover a burro and cart, chickens and stray dogs, or even police cars parked in awkward places to pull in cars for vehicle checks. And that’s before you’ve taken into account drivers who overtake on the brow of a hill or/and or a blind bend. Anything can and does happen, so I concentrate.
This morning I caught sight of a car in my side mirror. For God’s sake, he was overtaking me on the brow of hill and and crossing a single white line. I had a ‘moment’ as I was not planning a trip to heaven just yet. He pulled back at the last minute as a large oil tanker hurtled round the bend at speed (thankfully I carry a spare pair of pants). I blinked then prayed before beeping my horn at him in disgust while shouting, Asshat!
He then hitched a ride right on my bumper for the next few wibbly wobbly terrifying miles impatiently weaving in and out to overtake then pulling back.
He makes his move. Again on the brow of the hill. No way could he see. He is almost level with my drivers door before he realizes he is running out of road as an oncoming car appears over the hill and flashes the headlights at him in warning.
I am now incensed. He is still tail-gating on my bumper. I slow down as his inconsiderate overtaking tactics are making me nervous. Extremely nervous.
“Hey, Asshat, I don’t want a bunch of flowers left at the side of the road to mark my passing to the next world. There is nowhere for me to pull over or for you to overtake. PATIENCE!”
Sheesh, this guy must have nine lives. I looked in my mirror, Asshhat is on his mobile phone gesticulating to an invisible audience.
Eventually, he overtook and squeezed by narrowly missing an oncoming car.
Needless to say he got the two-finger sign from me as he sped past. He was gone in seconds, and as beads of perspiration trickled down my back I let out a sigh of relief. Why are some drivers SO inconsiderate? He may have had a death wish aka late for the airplane, doctors appointment, work or whatever, but you are a long time dead.
I mused: would I stop to help if I discovered his car wrapped around a tree as I rounded the next hairpin bend? Ponderous.
I is for ‘Inconsiderate Drivers‘. That’s my pet peeve for today.
Why not join me in the A-Z of Pet Peeves Challenge by sharing your personal A-Z . Simply post a peeve to your blog and don’t forget to share a links to your peeves to Pet Peeves A-Z page so we can all follow your progress!
Who’s up for the challenge?
Photo credit: Pixabay.com
Piglet in Portugal 
Quite a horror story! Guess I would´ve stopped the car so that nut-head can overtake. Interesting question, what to do if you find him on the next tree…
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The problem comes when there is nowhere to pull over safely:(
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You tell it well… but more importantly, you’re still here to share the tale! 😉
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I’d like a zapper for drivers like Mr. AssHat
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Double barrelled zapper!! 😉
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That behaviour really grinds my gears, that and those special idiots who don’t know there’s a stick by the steering wheel that when moved alerts other drivers which direction they’re going to turn. What an amazing gadget it is!
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I even use that gadget when there is no one else on the road. I don’t know why but it is ingrained in me the same as you need to depress the clutch to change gears.
I love ‘grind my gears’ you have a special humour.
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Cherry, I am right there with you. I once had a tanker glued to my bumper. He kept pulling out to overtake, flashing his lights and was using his vehicle size to bully me. At one point he even tried to nudge me off the road. Of course, when we came to the steep incline I had the advantage… knowing the road… I slowed down so he lost his revs. At the bottom of the hill I hit the gas and he disappeared from view.
I was physically shaking after the experience…
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That sounds like the kind of roads and drivers I had to deal with when learning to drive! I once was driving up a winding hill, going the speed limit no faster no slower, and a truck zoomed up behind me and the man felt the need to put his four way emergency blinkers on, as if I were driving much too slowly and causing a hazard when he was the hazard, wanting to go faster! I am newly licensed so still learning to be comfortable with driving. Just yesterday I was on my way home from a friend’s house and for miles nobody behind me, then suddenly someone on my bumper from out of nowhere. Winding country roads, there was nowhere I could pull over to let them pass. Thankfully they didn’t try to go around in an unsafe manner. Still, their impatience behind me made me nervous. I can’t understand why so many feel a need to go well over the posted speed limits, then get agnry with you if you obey the limits. We all have places to be and things to do, but our goal should be to accomplish those things safely, not as quickly as possible!
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I to hate inpatient drivers who drive almost stuck to your bumper and there’s lots of those in Portugal unfortunately.
Here in Perth, drivers seem to leave plenty of space in between cars, and that’s why there are less accidents than in Portugal. Still, as usual there’s always a couple of drivers who are inconsiderate.
Scary situation you were in Carole, glad you are ok.
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Sami, reading other comments it’s just not Portugal or even Portuguese drivers… I have to navigate this road a few times a week and it does scare me. Sigh… needs must because if I don’t overcome my reluctance I would become a prisoner … I am learning to switch off and go Zen…
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Your observation, “long time dead” sums it up! I see these drivers speeding down narrow roads or revving it up for the Grand Prix on the A-22 and I’m always thinking, “What’s the hurry? Aren’t you on vacation?” I’m not sure what the two-finger sign is but I know he would have gotten what I used to call the “California wave” one finger sign from me! Anita
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*laughing* the English wave has two fingers and regardless of spoken language is pretty universal. The N125 need not be such a dangerous road if drivers refrained from taking risks and had a little more tolerance towards their fellow drivers… ho hum…
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Clearly this guy was teleported from New Zealand’s Rimutaka hill road! 🙂 The worst of it is, the sort of people who drive this way usually turn out to be very bad drivers on all counts, including in their ability to handle a car, quite apart from the obvious courtesies, safety considerations to others etc etc.
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No matter where we live, Matthew, there is always that special snowflake who thinks he owns the road. I call the road rats and I am writing a poem about them.
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Folks like that are a danger to everyone and should lose their license.
It’s very infuriating. It’s a shame the police didn’t see him and stop his craziness.
I’m thankful you survived and are doing fine.
Your class sounds interesting. What do you do there?
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They sure are a danger, EC. I feel I can move over to let them pass I do so willingly and with a Good riddance…
At the moment I am mosaicing pots to display my cacti and succulents. I’ll post something about it later.
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Yeah…I’d rather deal with the foibles of public transportation. 😉 xoM
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Unfortunately, we live on the edge of nowhere so public transport is sadly not an option. Although when we were in Lyon I did use the Metro… which was like a rugby scrum. Not sure which is worse… is public transport good where you live?
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Everyone complains about the subways in New York City. On the plus side, I can get everywhere I need to go using some form of public transportation. Haven’t owned a car in 35 years. 😉 xooM
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