Dangerously Stupid People
There are entirely too many dangerously stupid people behind the wheels of cars and trucks on the roads of Spain. I mean people who are not just reckless for the sake of being reckless, but people who are so stupid that they don’t realise that they are so.
I don’t know what nationality these people are but these are some of their driving habits:
- They drive from side roads onto main roads by only stopping when they are far enough out into the road to see whether anything is coming or not. I encountered one of them a short time ago. The man was entering the main road from between two buildings that completely blocked his view. By the time this idiot could actually see half of his car was protruding into the street. We did not have a crash because I was aware of the exit and of the habits of some of these drivers, and only because the other side of the road was free of traffic that allowed me the space to anticipate the thing that happened. Otherwise I would have crashed broadside into the lunatic. He looked at me as though I was invading his space.
- They drive through stop signs as though they do not exist. It seems that they assume that the sign does not pertain to them. However, even worse, I have come to realise that many of the old time Spanish drivers are completely unaware of what the sign means. They never took a theory exam, and stop is not a Spanish word, so they could argue that they do not know its meaning, although they could reasonably guess by the shape of the sign and its position.
- People who park their vehicles on opposite sides of a narrow road next to an exit. They simply have no consideration for anybody as the person exiting the side road cannot see if there is any traffic, and the cross traffic is forced into a single lane, so the set-up is complete for a crash.
- People who drive their vehicles along the autopista while chatting away at less than sixty kph. Sixty is the legal minimum speed, but even that will bring vehicles from behind travelling at 120 kph dangerously quickly upon them. Meanwhile these dopey people are smoking and talking as though they were at home in their living rooms.
- So many people think that just because they are situated in the far left lane it should not be a problem if they want to go off to the right, and proceed to cross over five lanes of traffic without a care in the world. This is the manoeuvre that absolutely takes my breath away and should win first prize in the dumb and dumber sweepstakes.
The only thing that is of any comfort is that they will soon be gone, killed in action. The bad news is that they will likely take someone else with them. We can only hope that the second person will be another Dangerously stupid Person.
Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael
There are entirely too many dangerously stupid people behind the wheels of cars and trucks on the roads of Spain. I mean people who are not just reckless for the sake of being reckless, but people who are so stupid that they don’t realise that they are so.
I don’t know what nationality these people are but these are some of their driving habits:
- They drive from side roads onto main roads by only stopping when they are far enough out into the road to see whether anything is coming or not. I encountered one of them a short time ago. The man was entering the main road from between two buildings that completely blocked his view. By the time this idiot could actually see half of his car was protruding into the street. We did not have a crash because I was aware of the exit and of the habits of some of these drivers, and only because the other side of the road was free of traffic that allowed me the space to anticipate the thing that happened. Otherwise I would have crashed broadside into the lunatic. He looked at me as though I was invading his space.
- They drive through stop signs as though they do not exist. It seems that they assume that the sign does not pertain to them. However, even worse, I have come to realise that many of the old time Spanish drivers are completely unaware of what the sign means. They never took a theory exam, and stop is not a Spanish word, so they could argue that they do not know its meaning, although they could reasonably guess by the shape of the sign and its position.
- People who park their vehicles on opposite sides of a narrow road next to an exit. They simply have no consideration for anybody as the person exiting the side road cannot see if there is any traffic, and the cross traffic is forced into a single lane, so the set-up is complete for a crash.
- People who drive their vehicles along the autopista while chatting away at less than sixty kph. Sixty is the legal minimum speed, but even that will bring vehicles from behind travelling at 120 kph dangerously quickly upon them. Meanwhile these dopey people are smoking and talking as though they were at home in their living rooms.
- So many people think that just because they are situated in the far left lane it should not be a problem if they want to go off to the right, and proceed to cross over five lanes of traffic without a care in the world. This is the manoeuvre that absolutely takes my breath away and should win first prize in the dumb and dumber sweepstakes.
The only thing that is of any comfort is that they will soon be gone, killed in action. The bad news is that they will likely take someone else with them. We can only hope that the second person will be another Dangerously stupid Person.
Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael
