I am not sure if I have talked about this before on my blog before but here goes and yes it is a rant.
So we move to the country for a slower paced, less stressful type of life. When we lived in the city the way people drove left a lot to be desired. Half the population had never seen snow, never mind driven in it. In case you think I am being prejudiced, I for one had never driven in snow before arriving in Canada. So of course when the first snow arrives, all hell breaks loose, as people either driven like lunatics, too fast, or drive like snails, which is just as dangerous. Then don't get me going on traffic lights. All I can think of is that we have a heck of a lot of colour blind people, as such a lot of people think the red light is the green light and accordingly drive through it...........YES I AM BEING SARCASTIC HERE!!!
Little did I realize that moving to the country means people drive like racing car drivers. I mean dh will tell you about people overtaking him on a country winding road, which has NO street lights on it, and he is doing over 100 km's an hour and this is at 4:45am. The road we live on is busy at times, and they drive like crazy people on it. The double yellow lines means nothing and they cross them regardless. I mean I am doing the speed limit which is 80 km's an hour and folk are just passing me however dangerous it is, or could be.
Friday was the last straw though. I was driving to town to get some groceries and was on a straight stretch of road. A person driving towards me wasn't going fast enough, so this black SUV decided to pass them. When I saw him pull out, I figured, they would pull right back in as they must have seen me; but no they carried on towards me. I slowed down to a stop; luckily there was no one behind me; and by God's grace they missed me.
I was shaking, and so angry that someone would be so irresponsible. So I called in at the OPP (Police Station) and complained. It seems to me that no one around here takes a blind bit of notice of how fast you should travel on these roads. As I pointed out someone is going to get killed, and if it is me, I AM NOT GOING TO BE HAPPY!!!! So he took my information and said he would log the complaint. A fat lot of good it will do, but I felt better complaining about it.
However, now I am going to have to go out and buy more hair dye, as I am sure another half dozen grey hairs popped up due to that horrible experience.
***UPDATE on Friday night there was a police car parked at the next concession/road catching speeders, so maybe my yelling session did some good?***
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17 comments:
These drivers are usually townies who are not aware of things like cows, sheep, people walking etc on small, windy roads.
As for slower pace of life...not a chance. Just different. Different goals and targets...all with deadlines.
IE Raspberries...one day you have millions, next day they have gone off lol
If you read my last post on my blog though, you will see one of the reasons we get so pleased with all the work we put in...though to be honest, once the soil is prepared, we tend the leave the hard stuff to nature lol
Gill that sucks!
Thats how things are here on every single road at all times in Oman. Maybe suggest to the OPP that they put in some speed bumps?
If I were you, I would try to get the license plate number if you can each time and call the OPP each and every time and report it.
That and blast your horn and flash your lights at them.
Good luck.
I am sorry for your experience Gil. I feel awful every time I drive to get my groceries. Last week dh thought I wasn't going to get them as I was complaining a lot the night before and did briefly consider it.
Luckily I don't come across drivers like that on that particular road very often, but last time, they passed me.
A few days ago a girl stood in front of my car, people in town do lots of crazy pedestrian things. I was watching the others on the sides to make sure they were standing far enough away and there was one standing stock still in front of me!
Glad you are still with us!!!!!
Liz in Texas
Gill, this is a BIG complaint of mine too. I have no idea why so many people are ALWAYS in such a hurry. Whatever it is, it's not THAT important to risk lives!!
yay for you. your voice was heard! my one and only speeding ticket came on a rural road so i learned my lesson the hard way. the police do look for speeders on these roads, as i l found out. now I s.l.o.o.o.w. down. ;-)
I can totally sympathize. We live on a residential country road (it only got paved ...well, actually "chipped and dipped" last year) It was dirt before that and the speed limit was 80. We have 3 day care homes on our road!!! Anyway, some areas have been able to reduce their speed limit to 60, that has helped a little....not much else to do but grumble to the police, as you did.
Well, lots of up side to living in the country too :)
I agree with Gaynor...As for a slower pace of life...it's just different.
You learn to go with the flow. Speeding is the same here and the yellow lines...they really shouldn't waste their time in painting them. There is always going to be "idiots" around. As to the police...well - enough said!!
Hi Gill-
Just wanted to let you know that the Sticky Apple, Sausage and Bacon recipe has been posted on my blog now.
Re: racetracks - we have that here and ours is a no thru road! The ones doing it are local so know this, but it makes no differece apparently!
I guess no matter where one lives, there is always some drivers who think the laws don't cover them. I hate it when a car is coming towards me like that, I never know if I should head for the ditch, lay on the horn or what, and when the sucker pulls back over on the side they should be, my heart is pounding so fast that my arms and legs sort of feel weak and I think to myself, why are there so many idiots on the road.
We went to West Va a couple of years ago, lots of hills and curves, the people that lived there drove like crazy. We didn't know the roads. But we thought even for knowing the roads, they weren't using good judgment in their driving.
We had the same experience when we moved to the country a few years ago. It is not a great situation. I think it's usually the people who live in the country, but work and `live' in the city. They aren't truly country people. I found that if you go far enough to the country where people cannot commute to the city, it tends to slow down.
Glad to hear that the OPP listened.
Good grief, glad you are ok.
glad you are okay. it is the same here too. what bugs me is when i drive to the city. people see you coming, wait til you get right in front of you and then pull out, for heavens sake! it really gets hard in the winter when we get big snow banks. as for winter driving, i would be one of thiose people who drive too slow. i just don't feel in control if i drive the limit on snowy roads, especially if we have kids in the car. sorry. evelyn
sounds like victor meldrew has a sister
Sadly Gill there are idiots all over the World, we certainly have plenty of them downunder. It's a shock for your system though isn't it. Good on you for calling the Police and it was great to read that the same evening they had a patrol car out.
I am very happy to hear that the outcome of that encounter was positive even though it was one heck of a scare to put it mildly, also that you went into the police station to let them know about your near miss. Glad to hear they did something about it. You never know, you may have saved someone's life. Crazy drivers are all over the place no matter what part of the world you live in unfortunately.
Gill, I am glad that you are still with is. I am also glad you complained as well. Big hugs H xx
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