Drag race at the light...or Things I learned in Kindergarten

By Bob Colladay

Saturday, 31 May 2008

  This seems like a great place to air my grievances. I am going to focus on 1 intersection but there are a few in the city like this: North and South bound K61 at 30th. West bound 30th at Main And my favorite West bound 17th at Severance. 2 scenarios: You saw the sign a block back plus you know that the right lane ends after the light. The right lane is really just to turn right at Faircrest. So you get or stay in the middle lane. The majority of people know this too so they are also in the middle lane patiently waiting at the light. Enter Jake Prudhomme or Jeff Gordon depending on the situation. Jake who is in quite a hurry because he just can't seem to be anywhere on time passes everybody in the correct lane and sits in the open right lane. He doesn't have his right turn signal on, but not very many people use them correctly so...you wait and see if north bound traffic is holding him from making his right turn on red......nope, he's just sitting there waiting for the light to change. Maybe he is going to turn right on Faircrest and is waiting to turn his signal on till he gets past the intersection so he doesn't confuse anybody. Let's see. Okay the light changes, you accelerate normally. Gas isn't cheap so no need to race yet. The turning lane for Faircrest is only 250 feet long so it is apparent fairly early that Jake has no intention of turning on Faircrest. He thinks he is drag racing you. Trouble is you are not racing him. Still by the time I get to Faircrest I am going 30 for Jake to get around me safely he has to be going 40-45. Not a good situation. Second situation. The light is green you are again in the middle lane because you can read and have a memory that lasts more than a few seconds and recall that the right lane ends right here. Again the majority of other people know this too so they are behind you. This cause a long line, well long for Hutchinson. Then along comes Jeff Gordon. He may or may not remember that the right lane ends after the light but he darn sure remembers that he told his wife he would be home at 5:15. Well Jeff saw a hoppy toad or a butter fly when he got off work and got distracted as he got in his truck. So now he is late. He sees the long line of cars in the middle lane and no one in the right lane. Well almost no one. There is no turn signal guy who really is making a right turn onto severance but just forgot to use his signal. The light has been green since Jeff pulled even with the back of line of cars in the middle lane. He decides he is going to get home faster than everybody else and pass on the right. Problem is no turn signal guy slows down in front of him to make his surprise left-turn. Now Jeff is in trouble. He just looks like a jerk now and he panics. He floors it as he gets through the intersection but a long line of cars now completely blocks him from merging left, which he could have done safely a half block back. He puts his foot through the floor hoping to get an extra boost of acceleration and with a gap 2 hairs wider than his truck he slides in as the right lane turns to curb. This of course causes a chain reaction of brake lights that slows down the middle lane and the people who were patiently at the green light in the correct lane are now still waiting patiently at the red light. I have some questions to pose. 1. Am I a jerk for being mad at the jerk in the right lane. I am not so much in a hurry as I am unforgiving of people who are. I admit I make no attempt to go out of my way to let them in. Didn't we learn in Kindergarten not to cut in line? However if the light is red and I see an out of county sticker on a plate I will let them go in front of me. 2. Are you this guy or gal? This is your chance to lie er...tell your side of the story. There really is no good reason to be in the right hand lane. There is a full 2.5 blocks to get over between Lorraine and Severance over 2000 feet. 3. What gives Ricky Racer the right to get home faster than you? 4. What could the street department do to help? My suggestion would be to paint turn arrows and change the sign from Right lane ends to Right Turn Only. The turn arrow East of Severance would need to be special double arrows that indicate you can turn right or go straight and turn right at Faircrest. If the street department would give me the tools and materials I would do it my self some Sunday morning at 4:00. I work on 17th street and come home this way at least twice a day. Peace be with you!

Users' Comments (4)

Posted by mitchellhargrave 05-31-2008 17:19, , Registered   You make some good points, Bob.    I always stay in the middle lane in those situations, because I don't like to have to worry about making split decisions about getting into the appropriate lane unless I have to.    One of the cool things about Hutchinson is that we don't have terrible traffic problems at all. Honestly, there's also no reason be drive any closer than one car length at nearly any time around here. That means stop tailgating me, little girl in the Escort. AND STOP DRIVING WITH YOUR LEFT FOOT STICKING OUT THE WINDOW!!!! Has anybody else seen that? How is that a good idea? Is it cool? I don't think it is.    Back on topic: I think if they just turned them into right turn only lanes, that would solve the problem. I really don't see a purpose in allowing people in that lane to go straight either. It's really just there so those one or two people that use it can try to blow by everyone. I'm the jerk that speeds up and makes them wait for all of the cars in my lane to pass before they can get over.    Anyway, thanks for bringing up this topic, Bob. It's something I rant about, too.   » Reply to this comment...   Posted by Kate V 06-02-2008 13:13, , Guest   Can I get an AMEN!  AMEN to people not using their turn signals!  AMEN to the Indy Car rejects racing you at the light and AMEN to those of you not letting those dum-dums cut in line.    Now, I want to know how we can get our over worked police to enforce whatever sound ordinances we have in town. I happen to live on Main Street. I put up with a lot living on Main Street. I even try to be nice to all the people who block my drive during the Fair.     But, I draw the line at being nice when your car stereo makes my back door rattle. Your right to loud music ends where my front door begins. If I can feel your stereo blasting while I am eating dinner, or trying to watch TV or trying to rock my 8 month old baby to sleep then your STUPID STEREO IS TOO LOUD and you should get a ticket.     I don’t want to just complain about this, but I really do think this is a quality of life and image issue for Hutchinson. I also don’t know what we can ask our law enforcement to do about this as I know they already have important work to do. I just wish I could get a patrol car to park near my house a ticket a few of those cars and maybe word would get out that you will pay for blasting the entire neighborhood.   » Reply to this comment...   Posted by mitchellhargrave 06-02-2008 13:20, , Registered   Sound ordinance has got to be a tough one, Kate.    I also live on Main st. I also work there, so I spend the majority of my time on Main, and I know exactly what you're talking about.    The problem is that a lot of the stereos they're using have attention or quite buttons that they can quickly hit to turn it down if/when they see a cop, so it's probably pretty tough to catch it.    My way of coping is just reminding myself that sweet karma will repay them for me when they're loud music causes their premature hearing loss. That is what helps me sleep at night, despite my rattling windows.   » Reply to this comment...   Posted by Bobulele 06-05-2008 22:07, , Registered   I guess my issue is that people will try to do what traffic laws let them.    The City needs to do away with those "god forsaken" right-lane-merge-after-the- intersection situations. It is not hard to take care of at all and it would make our easy traffic situation even easier.    The other thing that needs fixed is the messed up West bound 11th & Plum lanes. Similar situation except that people actually are caught off guard here too but in this situation the lane ends before the intersection. But the lanes shift prior to the intersection. Some creative striping just East of the Cosmosphere driveway would allow the right hand lane to be the "Goin' Straight" lane and the left lane could be the left turn lane. And you could get in the right turn lane if you need to.    This is an open invitation to the street department. I seriously will volunteer to do the striping on all of the intersections, just loan me your equipment. I'll have this traffic humming even better.    Oh yeah, Mitchell, the little escort tailgating me ussually get an eyefull of mascara when she is behind me.    I am a very courteous driver to the other courteous drivers, but I am always willing to sink to a bad drivers level for the sake of education, trouble is I doubt it works!    Peace!   » Reply to this comment...

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