Pedestrian Versus VFR

First of all, ladies, don't take this the wrong way - women are supposed to be superior at managing multiple, simultaneous tasks compared to men. But, women and cars, Danica Patrick etc. excepted, do seem to have a different relationship with the road than men.



I was at a traffic light in Boulder, Colorado (intersection of Canyon and Broadway) and I saw two women waiting for the green left-turn arrow in SUVs, the makes of which now escape me. The first was talking on her phone. The light changed to green, but deeply engaged in her conversation, she failed to notice for 15 seconds, 30, 45. The light cycled yellow, then red. The women behind her, rather than being irate, concerned or otherwise upset by the whole affair, was oblivious. The application of mascara apparently is a similarly all-consuming event. Needless to say, I almost crashed my bike laughing - awesome. I wish I had been able to film that. Just like I wish I had a video of the incident described here, which is incredible but sadly not beyond belief.

There's no end to it.



I've seen a woman stop in the middle of the road and in traffic to let someone enter the roadway in front of her. Nevermind that there was a huge gap a few cars back and the person waiting to enter the road could have waited an extra few seconds.



While turning left this same woman will occupy the middle of the road (suburban-undivided road) even though there are cars trying to turn left around her and onto the same neighborhood road.



It's common to see her leave a gap on the freeway, in the left most lane, big enough to fit a funeral parade - cars zipping around her to the right.



Yup. I'm married to her. I used to think it was just her, but I've noticed many women driving the same way.



Then there was the guy yesterday in the F250 pick-up sailing along at about 20mph faster than the freeway traffic, which was already doing about 60, to be the very next in line in the #2 lane on the freeway. Thank God no one tried to change lanes at the last minute as he flew past.



There was a moron and his three budies in a huge pickup pulling a recreational trailer, probably full of bikes who apparently didn't see that all traffic was stopped in front of him while he was still going about 50mph. At the very last second he swerves into the carpool lane, just missing the line of cars in front of him. Unfortunately the SUV behind him couldn't stop in time and smacked the trailer a good one. No one hurt, but the trailer was totalled and the contents? Who knows or cares?



So there it is, clearly a difference between women and men when it comes to causing havoc.

On the point of being married to a woman of "interesting" driving abilities, think about this:



I have MS, and I had a seizure a few months ago. No big deal. I’m on anti-seizure meds now, and my neurologist says that probably won’t have to worry about it again. The worst part, however, is that I was put under a state-mandated six-month driving restriction. No driving (or riding) AT ALL for six months, which means that whenever I go somewhere with my wife, she drives. Now we’re getting to the part where I want to chop my own head off…



My wife is the manager of a large luxury apartment community…..which means that she’s on the phone A LOT. The underlying problem here is that she can’t even walk and talk on a cell phone at the same time. If we’re walking through the park and she gets a call on her cell, she slows down to a snail’s pace….it’s really weird. She just can’t process the two tasks at once. Now……picture her driving in her Explorer on the freeways of a large metropolitan area….while talking on her cell phone. I’ve come so close to crapping my pants a couple of times that I’ve actually had to check for skid marks when I got home.



I can’t believe she’s never been in an accident where she was at fault. Amazing.



I only have three weeks remaining on my driving restriction. I hope I make it.