Terrible Driver

I am a terrible driver.  If you know me or have ever ridden with me you know this to be a completely true statement, maybe even an understatement.

It has taken me quite some time to come to this conclusion.  I fought it and would not admit to myself that I was handicapped in this fashion.  It started when I was 20, which coincidentally was the year I got my driver's license.  Oh I took drivers ed in high school and even took a private driving course (thanks to my parents who really could not bear practicing with me).  I just never felt inclined to get behind the wheel, not even when my parents bought my sister and I a Camero.  Anyway, I totaled that car, after at least one previous collision.  You can only guess how pleased my sister was about this.  It really wasn't my fault;  icy conditions, dark street, I was in a hurry.

I also blamed geography.  I hit a parked car while driving a friends Cabriolet in San Francisco and  I bent a fender while driving a rental car in Plano Texas.

It's not just accidents.  My first speeding ticket was 20 miles over on the QEW from Detroit to Buffalo.  But seriously, I had the sun roof open and the music blaring, it was summer and all.  Cannot count all the speeding tickets but I have taken more mandated traffic classes than I have science classes.  You know I should be able to drive faster as I am always in a hurry and being the danger I am on the road I would think they would want me off it as soon as possible.

After looking at my car today I have to admit it is me.  The back fender is smashed due to a poorly placed bike rack.  The front end is scraped due to a too tight garage and the side is dented due to a concrete parking sign.  I think I may have a problem.  I am too afraid to fix the car because I think I am only going to smash it again.

But I have to look on the bright side.  As my son and I were driving to Wegmans, we saw this:

At least my car never started on fire!!!

Driving in Snow

If you have lived in Buffalo during any of the winter months you must have experienced driving in the snow.  So I should be able to assume that Buffalo drivers know how to drive in such weather.  Why are there still idiots behind the wheel?

During Monday evening's snow storm my husband was exiting the 90 to the Scajaquada freeway during snow and wind.  A guy in a Ford Truck determined that his truck was a tank or that he was auditioning for the INDY 500 and sped past all drivers taking the turn at lightening speed.  Guess what?  He smashed into another car, propelling that car's bumper about 100 yards where it waited for my husband's car to hit it resulting in two blown tires.

I am so thankful that no one, especially my husband, was hurt.  However this little stunt by our trucker resulted in a day of me driving back and forth to hospitals, car dealers, offices and tire shops not to mention the bill for two new tires.  My husband had the additional delight of driving on two flats (can you say rim damage?), removing those tires in the snow storm and having to be driven around to and from his appointments by his very annoyed wife.

What is it about these guys (because usually they are men) who think they are exempt from the laws of nature while behind a steering wheel?  Is it bravado, stupidity or just plan ignorance that makes a driver believe snow, wind, ice and traffic means increase your speed rather than slow it down?

I think we should implement a new driving test for winter drivers.  It doesn't need to me a road test.  Oh no.  It needs to be a simple written quiz to determine if the driver is an absolute senseless, selfish, idiot.