Drive Much?

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The traffic in and around Buffalo is way heavier than it’s ever been, especially around 7:30 in the morning, but I laugh whenever I hear someone say, ‘Traffic sucked’ today.

I lived in San Jose, in Baltimore and in Connecticut near NYC.

We don’t have traffic here.

Can still go from Orchard Park to Niagara Falls in about 20 minutes.

Yet, I laughed this morning because I saw an elderly woman, moving way too slowly, and I noticed that she had her phone in her hand and was looking down.

An elderly woman texting and driving?

It’s an epidemic.

Everyone has their phone in their hands.

In traffic!

And I often ask about it in my safety classes.

“Who texts and drives?”

Most of the attendees are honest about it and raise their hands.

I’m a safety guy and I do it now and again, but mostly on the long highway stretches.

I try to leave the phone on the passenger seat when traffic is heavy or I’m in city traffic.

Of course, the phone can be answered and I can talk on it through the car speakers so that’s no longer a problem, but I heard something the other day about the floor of a self-driving Mercedes is going to come with a floor that serves as a movie screen so you can watch a flick whilst driving.

The driving world is going to be wild on the next 50 years.

Electric cars.

Cars that drive on their own.

Less dependency on fossil fuels.

Safer cars. Less fatal accidents.

We hope.

Yet, there will always be road rage, I believe.

Why do people get so angry behind the wheel?

I think back to years ago when I was following a very elderly guy as he traveled toward the south towns. 

He was going about 33 in a 55 and I couldn’t pass him for a long, long stretch.

I was aggravated.

Finally, he put his left turn signal on, and as I angled to pass him on the right…

…he started turning right!

I barely avoided the collision and man, I was 🥵! I stood on the horn for what felt like five minutes.

As I finally got around him, I glanced in the rear view and he was flipping me the bird!

Bastard.

Was probably on his phone.

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