Monday, June 22, 2009

The Road (Rage) Goes on Forever

Many expats who live in or have visited Poland will tell you that Poles are some of the most obnoxious drivers ever. I hesitate to say 'bad' because in reality they are some of the best drivers I have seen. They are always expecting someone to do something stupid.

Yesterday, I was leaving my neighborhood to go collect my children from school. At the intersection of the exit from my neighborhood and the main road, there is a traffic light and 3 traffic lanes. One is for the people coming into the neighborhood, one is for turning right, and the one in the middle is for turning left. All clearly marked.

I was turning right, so I pulled way up and waited for the traffic to clear enough for me to go when, just at the point where I was clear, another car came up behind me, whipped around me in the left lane and turned right. I almost hit him.

I honked my horn, sped up, pulled up beside him, honked again, and flipped him off.

He swung in behind me and tailed me all the way to the next "town".

In hindsight, I may have overreacted.

I should have hit him.

9 comments:

  1. A student at the high school that I teach at rear ended me this fall. I was absolutely fine. My car looked fine but needed $2000 in repairs. His car was demolished!!! SUV 1 - LITTLE CAR 0

    Anyway.... I knew that he was going to hit me. I really wish that I would have turned off to a side street to just let the car pass. The kid was driving too fast/ tailgating/ etc. I know that it didn't cost me $$$, but it cost me time.

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  2. It's only good you didn't hit him - you spared yourself a lot of trouble. And there will always be drivers like the one you're describing. Good (driving)luck in the future!

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  3. Gosh! I'm glad you were OK. Sounds like the Beltway, Polish-Style! Also, this post answers one of my long-standing questions: I often wonder about gestures (*ahem* angry or otherwise) and if they mean the same thing in different countries. I take it that the Bird most definitely DOES mean the same thing ;-)

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  4. LOL. Oh, Sister! Are guns legal in Poland? You might want to mount a gun rack in your back window...even if it only holds umbrellas and not shotguns. Hopefully that sight will be enough to stop men from following you when *all* you do is flip them off and scream at them. :o)

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  5. I hate being tailgated. It causes me to yell, "Would ya get off my ass!" Not becoming.

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  6. I like to slam on my brakes when being tailgated and somehow, perversely, attempt to make them hit me (because it would be cool to have to arrange a car repair), just so they're at fault for being assholes.

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  7. HAHAHAH. Dude, you are awesome.

    I would have flipped him off, but I probably wouldn't have cared enough to chase after him to give him the finger.

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  8. Ugh-- I hate this. And the worst thing is that my husband has started to do it because he can't stand how long it takes Poles to move when the light turns green. I keep telling him that he better not do this in Canada or not only is he going to get hit, he's going to get pulled from his car and beaten up by the person who he cut off. But, you could have at least slammed on the brakes suddenly as he was tailing you and given him a good scare. :-)

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