Utah. I love ya, but...

your drivers suck!

(Pardon my french)

Let me just tell you about a few incidents that happened yesterday while I was driving that I'm still surprised didn't result in accidents!

Incident #1
I was driving to Gold's Gym on University in Orem. As I was on Freedom Blvd. approaching University Parkway, I saw an old P.O.S. Honda Accord (yes even more P.O.S. than my car) weaving in and out through traffic. They would speed up REALLY fast. Then brake REALLY fast...nearly hitting the car in front of them. At one point this car was right next to me. I was nervous. I glanced over and it was a lady around her mid 30s who was driving as she was carefully applying her mascara while looking through the rear view mirror! Now I was scared. Cars in front of us were slowing down therefore I began to slow down as well...but she wasn't! She was still applying that stupid mascara. This was not going to end well. By the time she realized the cars in front of her were stopped at the red light at University Parkway it was too late. There was no way that she could brake in time to keep from hitting the car in front of her. So what do you think her natural instinct was? To swerve into my lane. Luckily I was very much aware of what was going on and kind of stayed behind...allowing her to just swerve right in front of me, but she was still VERY close. Did she signal? No. Did she check her mirrors? Don't think so. Did she check her blind spot? Not a chance. Awesome.

License plate...

Incident #2
On the way home from the gym I decided to take the freeway. There were hardly any cars on the freeway. As I merged there was a large black Silverado (Mom, that's just a big black truck) right in front of me. They were going approximately 60 mph. FYI...Speed limit=65 mph. So I moved over a lane. What did that other car do? They moved over as well. Staying right in front of me. I really didn't think anything of it. But I moved to the left again...now I'm in the far left lane. What did that other car do? Move right in front of me again. Really?!?!?! There are NO other cars around. Why must they insist on driving right in front of me? So I'm getting peaved. But I still think, "Ok. Maybe they're not aware that I'm behind them. But HELLO! Look through your rear view mirror!" So I move a lane over to the right. They move over. Then I move to the left. They move over. Still no other cars around us. And remember....they're going 60 on a 65. By this time I can see this person (a man who looks to be in his 40s) look at me through his rearview mirror. He knew I was there....obviously. He was just being an obnoxious jerk trying to cause some road rage and he was doing a really good job at it. It took all the energy I could muster to not lay on my horn or flip him off. Anyway, this went on for about 3-4 miles until I exited the freeway.

License plate...

Incident #3
(Yes...yet another one. And yes...on the same day. But be aware that this is just 3 of about 100 incidents that have happened while living in Utah for 4 years. This was one of the scariest ones though.)
I was driving home from work in Springville. I was heading north on Main Street approaching Sonic. Right in front of Sonic in the center lane of the road there was a construction zone. What were they working on? Who knows. Every road in Utah is under construction in the Summer. Anyway, I could see a car pulling out of Sonic that seemed to want to turn left. I'm still a little ways back, but I'm thinking, "The only way he can turn left to head south on Main is if he drives south on our side of the road." And what does the idiot do? Start driving right towards me in my lane. I'm panicking because we're getting close. He's not even going that fast and I'm trying to slow down as fast as I can without the car right behind me hitting me. I can't switch lanes cause there's a car there. I finally come to a stop in my lane, leaving about 8 feet for the idiot (dude in his 30s) to pull into the center lane. But he didn't go. We were both stopped in the middle of the road facing each other. I kept waving for him to just go but he didn't. He must of been in shock for making such a STUPID move. Finally he came to and pulled into the center lane. Idiot.

License plate...

Here's a diagram that I created to help you visualize the 3rd incident...

Ok. I feel better now that I vented about that.

And just to clarify...not ALL Utah drivers suck.
And I do know that there are crappy drivers elsewhere.
But I've seen more bad drivers here in Utah than ANYWHERE else.

That's just in my experience.

Drive safe...PLEASE!