Forget what they'd do about the national debt and federal budget, I'm beginning to think I'd vote for whoever would impose some REAL requirements for drivers education and training in this country.
Last Thursday morning, I'm heading to work at the new job I started back in Feb at Brooks City Base. Leave at 6 AM, get on I-10 West at Huebner, hit I-35 North for a couple miles, then I-37 South to the base, usually takes 20 to 25 minutes to get to the front door of the plant.
As I'm peeling off on the access ramp from I-35 to I-37, speed limit of 40 mph, there's two cars and a work truck in front of me doing about 45 mph. I'm hanging back about 3 car lengths from the work truck, doing the same speed. Realize now I'm driving the Jeep Liberty diesel that weighs in at 4300 lbs, with a spare tire and a trailer ball hitch sticking off the back end.
I look in my rearview mirror, and here comes someone in a small blue hatchback hauling rear up the ramp. Comes screaming up on my back bumper and ends up so close I can barely see the top of his roof thru my rear window, and stays there all the way down the access ramp.
I'm like "WTF dude? There's four cars ahead of you, three ahead of me, what damn good is riding MY rear bumper going to do?". I kept going along at the same speed and following distance. I just hoped I didn't have to hit the brakes for any reason, otherwise Mr Hatchback was going to get a trailer ball hitch thru his front grille.
At the end of the ramp, I accelerated up to speed (65 mph) and merged onto I-37, moving over 3 lanes to where I needed to be to continue down on I-37 South.
Here comes Mr Hatchback screaming up, cutting across lanes and cutting off other drivers, jumps in ahead of me less than a car length ahead, and immediately slams on his brakes, slowing down to 45 to 50 mph. He spends the next half-minute alternately speeding back up and then slamming on his brakes again, meanwhile we've got traffic screaming by us at 65 to 70 mph on both sides of us, and other traffic piling up behind me in our lane thanks to his antics.
Guess he was really pissed off at the 10 seconds of his life he lost having to go down that access ramp at 45 mph instead of 70 mph, and decided to take it out on me since I was the one immediately in front of him, regardless of the other traffic in front of me on that ramp.
After his little "show", he then zooms back across 3 lanes of traffic, again cutting off other drivers, just in time to catch the exit ramp he wanted.
This guy was effin stupid in more ways than one, playing chicken with a 4300 lb Jeep, while driving a car that probably was lucky if it weighed half as much as the Jeep and his roof barely came up to the level of my front hood.
Moron keeps driving like that, he'll be winning himself a posthumous Darwin Award in short order.