So there I was yesterday, approaching the A41 near my home – a particularly busy arterial route - descending the slip road, about to join the carriageway. Keeping a steady, controllable speed (one which would permit me to either slow down or burn rubber as required), I checked my wing mirror and looked over my shoulder to confirm plenty of a gap ahead of the next approaching car, if necessitating a bit of rev, calculating the speed consistency of that vehicle. So I put my foot down and prepared to enter the dual carriageway with plenty of space to spare.
Of course, all of that is exactly what would have happened had the driver of the approaching car not decided to punch the gas too. What had been approaching at 50mph was now suddenly plummeting toward me at closer to 70mph, and by now I myself had built up a good speed.
Realizing the approaching vehicle was neither going to reduce speed or drift into the totally empty offside lane to his right, I had to slam the brakes on.
Small incidents like this happen frequently throughout the day, and probably have since the invention of cars. But, does that mean this was particularly trivial? When I thought about it, it occurred to me: that driver had to do nothing to allow me access from the slip road – literally nothing: not speed up, not slow down, not drift, not a thing - I had already myself calculated his speed and the abundance of stopping distance he would be left with once I entered in front of him. Even after he had sped up, general protocol on a dual carriageway – not a rule, as such, but a universal courtesy – is that if a vehicle wants to enter in front of you and the offside lane is empty you drift.
But, of course, this man didn’t do this because he had intentionally accelerated in order not to permit me access before him. His course of action, on seeing me descending at speed, his decision, was not to allow me courtesy, but to instead plough me into the nearest verge or tree, perhaps destroying my car and maybe even killing me and any passengers I might have had in the process – it dawned on me he would rather do this than do the nothing required to allow me into his right of way.
His “right” – that was all he saw, not the devastating damage or potential fatalities. Fortunately, my brakes are good.
As I came behind him and overtook (easily, because now of course he had resumed his steadier speed), I wanted to take a look at the man, and perhaps show him that he had made me quite cross. I wanted to take a look at the kind of person which would do such a thing. Of course, I already knew.
I knew this would be a man, white-haired, balding, slightly overweight, wearing glasses and a white shirt, aged around the 60 mark, maybe a couple of years older. I already knew this, and lo and behold, I was spot on. Furthermore, I knew the defiance innate in this generation would also be present.
This particular age group is predictable in its characteristics. Although this blog entry is not about bad drivers, this particular characteristic cannot be overlooked in this demographic. They would argue that they are good drivers – by “good” they mean within their “rights”. Unlike many, I do not believe people's personalities change when they get behind the wheel of a car – I believe driving reveals people's true personalities, without the airs and graces.
Rights. Because with this generation, that is what it is all about – right of way, right to buy, right to protest, employee rights. They virtually invented “rights” in the UK. But, as the more educated and vastly more empathetic younger generations know, rights and right are not the same thing at all. There is nothing remotely “right” about blocking a side-road in crawling back-to-back traffic so the entering car cannot go in front of you. Yet when you see that man (or woman) approaching the retirement age behind the wheel, you know, you just know, that is exactly what he/she is about to do. There is nothing “right” about aspiring to drive around in that 15 miles-per-gallon Jag, which it seems they all do, or about wanting to try foie-gras, or about closing down your employers with strikes and picket lines, or about dripping with diamonds, each with a 5 black-kid death count rating, or about investing in a property development in some of the most unspoilt and rurally beautiful parts of Europe, or about extending your property so much that the young family next door have no sun for their paddling pool a few days of the year.
