The Road is Scary Sometimes...

I spend more time than I would like driving in the city.  With our store being in the McKernan area and us living in the North end and with the kids going to French Immersion school and with me rehearsing all over the place, I am in the car a lot.  I don't love it.  I have never loved driving.  It is one of those necessary things in my life. I am also an obsessive rule follower.  In certain areas I think the rules help keep us all safe.  Certainly on the roads of Edmonton this is true.  So, it is particularly frustrating and scary for me when I find I am sharing the road with all sorts of rule-breakers.  Yesterday, I might have killed someone because they weren't following the rules of the road.  They were in the outside-right hand lane in the traffic circle North of Westmount.  I was in the inside-left hand lane.  The only option for them was to go straight - it's very clearly posted.  I had the option of going straight or pulling into one of three different left hand turn lanes. I was intending to turn into the furthest one forward, however, out of the corner of my eye I sense the car to my right shifting into the same lane.  The rules do not give this car that option.  She also did not put on the signal light indicating she was turning.  If I had not sensed the movement of her vehicle I would have hit her.  If I had intended to go straight, I would have t-boned her.  Luckily I was slowing down for the turn.  Luckily I saw the shift in her path.  I honked and waved in frustration.  She gave me the finger. We rolled down our windows and yelled at each other.  I yelled "You just about got yourself killed! What you did was illegal!" - my child in the back seat prevented me from yelling worse things.  She was not so restrained as she yelled something to the effect of "You should be watching where you're @#%@ing going!".  She's lucky I was. I have been so angry about this. About the what-ifs.  What if I had killed her? I'd have to live with that - even though it would have been her fault. It's like the pedestrians around the University who dash into the road during the countdown.  I am not going to be surprised if one of them gets killed - I am more surprised no one has been already.  Too many people, be they drivers or pedestrians or cyclists, rely on other people to keep them safe while they do not follow the rules of the road.  I am exhausted keeping watch out for them...

Oh, and to that woman in the Citadel Parkade who cut into the line of people who had been waiting to get out for over ten minutes after being in her car for less than a minute - Karma will get you... I'm hoping for some sort of disease that cuts you down in your prime...

Man, I hate driving....