Fluency blog 2 " Why can't people drive ?".

Hello from me and Milo. Why do dogs sleep so much? Do they need extra energy to hear things to bark at?

     I am surprised at the amount of bad drivers there are in the Ozarks. I am not invisible. Every day someone will pull out in front of me. When I ride with my wife, who is a very good and safe driver, people act like the car has a cloaking device. We will be safely rolling along, see a car or truck waiting to turn and with no traffic around whatsoever just before we get to that car or truck , here they come, they will pull right out, in front of THE INVISIBLE CAR!!!!!, my wife hits the brakes and works hard to miss the super intelligent nice wonderful, { and many other assorted adjectives } person. I don't get it. Why do they have to pull out at the exact second we are approaching. No other cars are around, its nuts!..  We joke about the incidents when they happen. I will say things like : Turn off the cloaking device dear and they will see you " The other thing we say is, " wow , they made it just in time. Look at all the traffic."  That is a smart ass comment because there is NO TRAFFIC!
     I have driven in the largest cities. Los Angeles, Phoenix ,Dallas, Houston, St Louis and most people there know proper driving etiquette. I used to drive commercial trucks, big rigs, as they are known. I have been in some of the worst traffic you can imagine. The amazing thing is that people in the big cities know what to do. You would think they the average driver in a big city would be a bad, hot headed jerk of a driver. I have seen more of the bad behavior here. I get the middle finger from nice old men and sweet looking older ladies. I get yelled at for passing some guy who was doing 22 in a 55 and he didn't like it so he crowded me almost off the road as I passed, yelling and screaming, throwing fingers with both hands. I didn't really know what was wrong so I stopped my car in the middle of the road and went to assist the old guy. I thought he was in trouble. I didn't know, he could have been having a heart attack. When I got to his truck he was yelling and screaming at me, I asked " Sir are you okay, do you need help ". He was stunned. He just sat there with a look of dismay on his face. I was sure something bad was going on. No, he just didn't like the fact that because he was going 22mph on a double yellow line road and I was behind him, waiting to pass when it was safe. I was not tail gating. I was keeping safe distance, he just didn't like being passed, that was it. He told me to just leave, I apologized for any inconvenience and he said "FU", nice old timer. I am not a perfect driver. I make mistakes, do dumb things. The difference between me and the bad drivers is that my mistakes are just that, mistakes. I do not pull out in front of other drivers because I am in a hurry or on the phone or texting or makeup or, well you get the picture. My main goal in writing this is to let people know : Be nice behind the wheel.

Thanks, Scott Hasemeier