I work for this huge corporation with huge hungry executives with huge numbers of employees to put huge amounts of money in the executives huge pocket books via huge stock options flops, so, as a result, come 5:00 PM a huge number of people are hitting the streets to go home. Needless to say, this creates a huge traffic jam.
So, I get in my car and turned left out of the company parking lot onto the 3 lane street that takes me to the freeway I need to take in order to get home. While making my left turn I always make sure I turn into the far right lane as this is the lane I need to merge onto the freeway.
Well, here comes the challenge. You see, the right lane is always backed up a block and a half prior to where one merges onto the freeway. The middle and left lanes move at a pretty good pace. So, while we are all stopping and going and stopping and going and stopping and going at a snail’s pace patiently waiting to merged onto the freeway, cars in the other two lanes are flying by us.
Now, if you’re in a big hurry, you can drive in the middle lane really fast past all of us losers in the right lane. Then at the last second you can cut in front of some poor sucker in the right lane, who is day dreaming, and 1) avoid all the wait time you would have had if you were in the right lane and 2) merge onto the freeway ahead of 10’s of cars that are waiting their turn.
So, here I am, waiting my turn and almost to the entrance ramp. I like to keep a safe gap between me and the car in front of me but if I keep too much of a gap, for sure, some goof in the middle lane will try to take my gap at the last second and merrily merge onto the freeway laughing all the way.
Now it’s getting tense. I am stepping on my breaks repeatedly because cars in the middle lane are taking the gaps of the cars in front of me just in the nick of time. Then, out of no where, comes this car in the middle lane and his rear bumper is just about even with my front bumper. Although no words or glances were shared between us I could feel that he badly wanted my gap so he could merge onto the freeway.
I’m thinking to myself, self..you just waited 15 minutes to merge onto the freeway and here comes this goofball who just traveled the same distance in 30 seconds. Now this goofes thinks I’m going to smile, widen my gap, and just let him slide over into my gap because I am such a nice, loving, caring guy. Right!!
If I drive just right, I can keep my front bumper in line just inches beyond his rear bumper. It’s tricky; I have to match his speed while carefully maintaining a safe gap between me and the car in front of me. One slip of the speedometer and, BANG, he’s taken my gap or I’ve slammed into the car in front of me. This is dangerous stuff.
By now I can tell the car to my left, who wants my gap, is getting very nervous. He doesn’t know what to do. After all, the loser in the right lane, me, is not bending to his lack of patience and letting him just jump in front of me before the right lane phases out and he has to continue on straight missing his turn to merge onto the freeway.
Are you with me?
So now I can see this man’s sweat coming out of his tailpipe. I’m sure by now he’s thinking that I may not let him squeeze in front of me so he has to make a quick decision.
Should he continue to try and take my gap? Futile!
OR
Should he slow down and take the gap between me and the car behind me?
Finally, seconds before the right lane disappears into the online ramp the car in the middle lane makes his decision. He slams on his break and decides to take the gap behind me. Remember the “I am such a nice, loving, caring guy” I mentioned six pages ago? Well, now that I know what this guy decided, I also have a decision to make.
Should I modify my “Hey! Your not taking the gap in front of me!” prevention strategy to my “Hey! You’re not taking the gap behind me!” prevention strategy and implement said strategy by slowing down and narrowing the gap between me and the car behind me to a width of a potato chip? I could easily manage this.
OR
Should I just forget about it, move on with my life, and let this goof take the gap behind me?
What would you do? What did I do? Hmmm!
