Coming out from the chiropractor the other day, I was almost cut off in the parking lot by an old man in a very large Crown Vic.  He had a handicapped tag hanging from his rear view mirror, so I chose not to get upset.  After all, he was just a little old man could not drive properly, right? 

He'd tried to pull in front of me, ignoring his stop sign, but I kept going and got to the exit of the parking lot ahead of him.  While waiting to turn left, I inched forward, since there is a large column at the left of the exit, cutting off the view of any exiting cars.  Once I could clearly see, I realized that I could have gone.  I waited for the coming cars to pass, though, since I'd missed my chance.

The old man behind me thought I should have taken the turn, though, and blasted me with his horn.  That's when I started to get irritated.  I considered flashing him the bird, but he wouldn't have seen it through my tinted rear window.  Besides, that's not very nice or Christlike, huh?

Once I did finally make the turn, I was on one of downtown Greenville's weird, crazy, confusing streets.  First, of the two lanes heading west, one abruptly turns north and ends.  Then the lane that doesn't end becomes a turn-only lane after only a few feet, so everyone wanting to straight has to hurry up and get over to the lane that sprouts from the curb after one traffic light.

So, I managed to not get stuck on the lane that turns north, and I was all set to swing over onto the non-turn-only lane, but I got stopped at the traffic light, the old man behind me all the way.  As soon as the light turned green, I heard a screech, and the old dude and his car came racing around me, crossed the street, flew up the curb, and landed with a loud thump right in front of me in the going-straight lane. 

I was incensed.  First, he illegally passed me.  Second, he almost hit me.  Last, he was now in front of me, going verrryyyy slowly.  I didn't get it, since he'd seemed like he was in a hurry (else why cut me off?).  At the next light, where our road crossed over Main Street, he nearly ran over a bunch of tourists, and then almost stalled in the middle of the road.  I passed him triumphantly as he pulled over to the side of the road.

He had a flat tire!!  He blew his tire out when he hopped the curb and race around me! Hah!  Just desserts!!

The lesson here is, don't bother giving bad drivers the bird.  God will give them a flat tire.

That was a great story. I was so afraid he was going to get away with it. I know that "God takes care of people" like that, but just sometimes, it's nice to be there to see it. (Is that bad to say?) Oh, and I think once people get to a certain age they should have to re-take the driving test. I've heard of several people who have been killed or injured by someone who should have stopped driving long ago.

That's great! Good girl!

We live in Florida, home of so many older people who shouldn't be driving. Ugh.

I mean, I have compassion for them. . . they want to maintain their independence. . . they don't want to be infantalized. But c'mon! Get off the road and keep the rest of us safe when can no longer see or react quickly enough to avoid accidents!