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Have you ever waited in a long line, then someone cut? If you are in the cafeteria, that sort of behavior isn't usually tolerated. But somehow, when you are behind a several ton vehicle, people feel quite willing to just cut you off, as if you didn't have a right to be in line at all. Clearly, they were more important.
My exit from the highway frequently gets backed up. And it gets congested enough that people get into a line to exit the highway, trying to stay out of the way of the traffic, to let it pass. After the ramp, you have to do a little merge with a few other highways, and off ramps. It's a bit tedious in the way only New Jersey roads can quite make them. Once I'm on the smaller highway, there is a little wait, perhaps half mile no more, before the next turn off. This half mile distance is graced with a full shoulder, enough room that a person could, if necessary drive their car. When you're in the lane, waiting to exit, knowing that most of the traffic ahead of you is going straight, it can be tempting to duck out onto the shoulder and skip through the traffic. But, that's both dangerous, and wrong. The rule is clear, you don't drive on the shoulder just to avoid the traffic. You don't know how many people in front of you are also looking to take that exit, and you don't know when they might be pulling into the exit lane. Perhaps they are avoiding a bad merge. Most of this half mile is jammed with five lanes of traffic condensing to two. Its an exercise in waiting your turn, and learning to merge politely.
But there's always someone, who doesn't want to play nice. Who feels it's perfectly cool to just zip past everyone (passing on the right, which is after all also a no-no) and not have to wait through all the merges, and negotiated traffic, etc. Often, they get away with it, because there's not much you can do. Sure, you could slide your car to the right a little, and attempt to block the shoulder, but that isn't exactly safe to do. This time, however, I had only to watch. As the person in the car (too far to tell man or woman) came zipping along, passing car, after car of stopped traffic, they made a little mistake. Unbeknown to them, hidden among that line of people patiently waiting was a car that while it contained no outward markings, somehow in the rear-view, gave off the right aura of a police car. Right near this exit ramp are both a local town police station, and the state police station, so cops being in the vicinity is quite common. I held my breath, was I right? A few seconds past that car, with no movement, I thought I had misjudged it, and that this would be one more person to go on with no repercussions.
And then, a light starts to flash. Before the car catches up to mine, the car I had spotted was behind him, and lights flashing. I smiled. Then the line of cars began to move, and I was off, heading to the off ramp, leaving the car pulled over on the shoulder behind.
My exit from the highway frequently gets backed up. And it gets congested enough that people get into a line to exit the highway, trying to stay out of the way of the traffic, to let it pass. After the ramp, you have to do a little merge with a few other highways, and off ramps. It's a bit tedious in the way only New Jersey roads can quite make them. Once I'm on the smaller highway, there is a little wait, perhaps half mile no more, before the next turn off. This half mile distance is graced with a full shoulder, enough room that a person could, if necessary drive their car. When you're in the lane, waiting to exit, knowing that most of the traffic ahead of you is going straight, it can be tempting to duck out onto the shoulder and skip through the traffic. But, that's both dangerous, and wrong. The rule is clear, you don't drive on the shoulder just to avoid the traffic. You don't know how many people in front of you are also looking to take that exit, and you don't know when they might be pulling into the exit lane. Perhaps they are avoiding a bad merge. Most of this half mile is jammed with five lanes of traffic condensing to two. Its an exercise in waiting your turn, and learning to merge politely.
But there's always someone, who doesn't want to play nice. Who feels it's perfectly cool to just zip past everyone (passing on the right, which is after all also a no-no) and not have to wait through all the merges, and negotiated traffic, etc. Often, they get away with it, because there's not much you can do. Sure, you could slide your car to the right a little, and attempt to block the shoulder, but that isn't exactly safe to do. This time, however, I had only to watch. As the person in the car (too far to tell man or woman) came zipping along, passing car, after car of stopped traffic, they made a little mistake. Unbeknown to them, hidden among that line of people patiently waiting was a car that while it contained no outward markings, somehow in the rear-view, gave off the right aura of a police car. Right near this exit ramp are both a local town police station, and the state police station, so cops being in the vicinity is quite common. I held my breath, was I right? A few seconds past that car, with no movement, I thought I had misjudged it, and that this would be one more person to go on with no repercussions.
And then, a light starts to flash. Before the car catches up to mine, the car I had spotted was behind him, and lights flashing. I smiled. Then the line of cars began to move, and I was off, heading to the off ramp, leaving the car pulled over on the shoulder behind.
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