I Saw The Sign

I never knew there could be so much road construction in one place before. I think Utah probably holds the record (send me a message if you think otherwise!). There is road construction on every road I take for 16 miles to and from work... and on just about every other road too.On Friday I was driving to work (left 15 minutes earlier than normal because of a new construction project). I drove up 12300 South in Draper, where they took out about 100 yards of road for no apparent reason, to find the regular flow of traffic was diverted into what used to be the left hand turn lane to get onto the street where my work is. So instead of turning left I have to drive through the intersection and make a left into the shopping center, take a short trip through the parking lot, and then cross back over the street my work is on, to go into my work parking lot. PHEW... got it?
So back to Friday. I was driving behind a car (who apparently missed the three signs that said no left turn) that stopped in the left turn lane at the red arrow, causing the whole line of cars behind her to just have to sit and wait. Then I get to work and a co-worker tells me she did the same exact thing, she didn't see the signs!

This morning my sister told me a story about how a car in front of her ran smack into a road sign telling her the lanes were shifting... she obviously didn't see the signs (until they were staring right back at her!).

Keep an eye out for roads signs... I'm pretty sure they are out there for a good reason!

My RockStar Mom

My amazing mom drove from St George, UT to Barstow, CA to renew her CA drivers license (love it! No Utah license here) and got 100% on her driving test!

Worst Drivers

It has been way too long since I have posted anything, so I thought I would do a little research so my blog would be more than just my ramblings about bad drivers. I took a very scientific (ok not so scientific at all actually) poll, where I asked a few of my friends which state they thought had the worst drivers. 67% (see how scientific!) of those who responded, answered the state they are currently residing in. The number one answer was Utah with just over 58%, with other states mentioned including California, DC, Maryland, Arizona drivers living in Utah (but does that really count?), Arizona, Massachusetts, and Tennessee.

According to a study done by GMAC insurance New York takes the cake. GMAC created a national driving test pulling questions from states all over the country. Click the link and take the test... see how you rank.

Here are the top 5 worst states, their ranking, and in parentheses their ranking for last year.

51: New York (51)

50: New Jersey (50)

49: Washington, D.C. (44)

48: California (48)

47: Rhode Island (46)

And...

The top 5 best states

5: Iowa (9)

4: Minnesota (11)

3: South Dakota (5)

2: Oregon (10)

1: Kansas (4)

Utah ranked 23rd (a sharp increase from last year at 7th), Arizona 17 (30), Maryland 20 (41), Massachusetts 38 (45), and Tennessee 19 (38).

Now while I think that there is some merit to this study, I don't think it is fair to label a state as the one with the worst drivers based on a written test with questions compiled from all over the country. I think that more research needs to be done including data collected in regards to actual numbers of say traffic citations, accidents, and so forth. But it was kind of fun after all.

A Ray of Sunshine in an Otherwise Dreary Driving World

For several days I have noticed an increase in random, crazy driving... I have also had conversations with others about their experiences lately with drivers. Yesterday a driver stopped in the middle of the road to let a car in... as nice as that is, I honked at him. I'm not a jerk. You just can't stop in the middle of the road. You just can't. If that guy in the center turn lane didn't realize you were stopping to let him in within the first 15 seconds, its too late.

Today I was already slightly annoyed because one of my favorite little "short cut" roads was closed for construction, so I had to take another route and there was road construction there too! So road construction alone does not annoy me. What annoys me is when people get out of the lane that the cars are being forced into just to get ahead by three or four cars. Or when cars are blocking the intersections because they... I actually don't know why they do it. Maybe they can't wait for another light cycle... who knows.

So today as I was driving home from school I saw a car in a parking lot with a banged up hood and front bumper (Sad). But I realized that the little fender bender had just happened! What amazed me is that the drivers had pulled into the shopping center to take care of their business to not block traffic!

They must have not been from Utah... it is the only conclusion I could come up with!

But it was a little sunshine in my gloomy, rainy driving day.

Detour

I drove home from Salt Lake to Agoura this past Friday... and I took an unplanned detour. I think I must have been half asleep! So funny. I was trying to get home early, and my little detour took me about an hour out of the way! I was so frustrated with myself! But I got home finally, and all was good in the end!

Here is a little map of my travels!

Top 10

I haven't posted for a while, so I thought I might give you a top ten of my biggest pet peeves associated with drivers, driving, etc...

10. Drivers with little cars who pull all the way into a parking spot so you can't see them

9. Motorcycles that take a whole spot to themselves

8. Drivers who speed up when you turn you blinker on
7. 5 extra cars driving through the red light on a left turn arrow
6. Drivers that cut-off semi-trucks, especially those carrying toxic, hazardous or potentially explosive materials
5. Slow cars in the fast lane
4. Drivers who don't know how to merge, or worse Drivers who don't want to merge
3. Drivers who can't commit
2. Drivers who, when you are trying not to block the intersection, pull on in
1. Drivers who block intersections