Road Rage

The road from the metro to my apartment is about three miles long.  Depending on traffic during rush hour, this can take me anywhere from fifteen to thirty minutes.  I've managed to develop a fairly zen approach to this part of my commute, which is definitely the worst part (and will only last two more months!).  I turn on the radio or put in a CD to while away the time.

Part of the drive requires a right turn from a side road onto a more main road.  The side road is the only road that serves the metro station and the high school, so traffic tends to back up on it.  The main road has a never-ceasing stream of cars.  At some point a smart person noticed this problem and installed a traffic light. I may have to sit through a couple iterations of it, but I will eventually get through.

This evening I found myself at the front of the line waiting to turn.  I had an eye on the light and was chilling to my music.  Cars were driving by.  Someone honked.

Now the thing is, in Colorado, no one ever honked.  And on the east coast everyone honks all the freaking time. For a while it constantly made me jump.  Since I could never tell whether or not people were honking at me, I eventually learned to tune it all out.  I just assume someone else is being an idiot.

Today the idiot was me.  I had missed a gap in the cars during which someone could have turned right.  Being wary of traffic, I'm not sure I would have taken this opportunity even if I had seen it.  The cars are too close and I'd rather not get side-swiped in an effort to save a minute or two.  That's not how the lady behind me saw it.

She kept honking.

The light turned green, and I carefully turned onto the main road.  She squealed out behind me, swerved into the left lane and gave me the finger as she passed.  Accelerating while still leaning on her horn.

I really don't think I did anything wrong.  There's certainly nothing about my behavior I'll change in the future.  Had she not made such a point of flipping me off, I probably would have continued to assume that she was honking at someone else.

Maybe I am the bad driver in this scenario, but I really think she just needed to chill out a bit.