There are many unhappy people around.
This morning, there were many cars moving slowly along the road, including mine. I was in the first lane (in a three-lane road). As I was eventually going to turn left, I signalled and changed to the 2nd lane. Then a car that was still in the first lane, signalled and edged his way in front of me.
In some other, more highly-stressed parts of town, a driver would have zoomed forward to block him. I could have, too. But since he had the right of way, he was signalling properly, and it didn’t make much difference to me, I let him through.
Then it was my turn to filter to the extreme left lane. As there was a bus and many other cars already on the leftmost lane in front of me, very near the filter lane, I realised I had to move in quickly or I might not be able to turn left at all. I signalled, saw a space, and turned my car into the leftmost lane, right in front of the bus.
Then a loud horn blast sounded behind me. It was another car that was on the leftmost lane. While there was enough space for my car to move in front of him (i.e. he wasn’t that close to the bus), he seemed rather unhappy about losing his place behind the bus. I waved ‘Sorry’ to him, and worried about what he was probably saying about woman drivers.
But I thought, I gave way to the guy on my right who was signalling properly, even though it was tight. Then I did the same thing and this guy reacted totally differently. We were all moving slowly on all 3 lanes so it wasn’t a sudden switch at high speed.
Anyway, to avoid inciting him further, I filtered left and zoomed off so I would no longer be in his way. It was another three-lane road. I filtered to the middle lane. The lanes on either side of me were clear.
That wasn’t enough for him. He out-zoomed me, filtered all the way to the rightmost lane, overtook me, filtered to my lane and drove slowly in front of me (it could have been on purpose), before filtering to the leftmost lane then turning left into an expressway.
Then I noticed his licence plate number: 666.
I’m sure many of us have experienced similar incidents on the road. But would you stalk another driver who was in the right of way, and circle your car around him/her?
Some people have a lot of anger inside them, ready to explode at the slightest provocation, even if it wasn’t intended.
Comments
Poor Van! What a way to start the day, hope it went better after that. Driving is certainly hazardous to health & mental sanity. Good thing you managed to stay calm… that guy is sick. Big bully!
Man… the license plate too! You can say that he literally drives like the devil!
Geez, what an idiot.
This reminds me of the time a Jazz driver overtook me and tried to block my way just because he thought I cut into his lane on purpose. Well, I didn’t. I was just following the demarcations on the road and those who are familiar with the junction at upper bkit timah rd turning into hillview ave will know that the left turn there is pretty unusual.
He even tried to stop me from making a right turn at another junction ahead. Thankfully I managed to out-maneuver him. What an asshole.
Poor Van, whatever happens, try to keep your cool ok?
Sorry to hear that. Singapore’s full of jerk drivers.