Everyone is always on the go, frantically searching for the quickest way to the next stop. This behavior is seen all over: on campus, at the supermarket, at the mall and everywhere else. But it is most dangerous on the road.

Impatience makes people do stupid things. Last week, sitting in the 7-Eleven parking lot while waiting to make a left turn onto La Riviera Drive, two ladies appearing to be in their early 20s found themselves in a tough situation. They wanted desperately to make an immediate left turn but the traffic was just too thick.

They jumped back and forth repeatedly, looking for any hint of a space where their car might be able to sneak by, but it didn?t come. Then, finally, thank the Lord, there it was: an opening! They went for it, without taking any notice of another vehicle, three times its size, sitting eight to 10 yards directly in front of it. The other car, with the right of way, was in the center median, and waiting to make a left into the 7-Eleven lot.

The second there was a break in the stream of cars, both drivers jetted for it, and the girls? car met the other gentleman?s right in the spot they so desperately wanted to get passed. The girls just couldn?t wait their turn. They wanted so badly to move on, they couldn?t see the Explorer-sized monster directly in front of it. The girls then ended up heading the wrong way into the eyes of oncoming traffic, and pulled back into the lot they wanted to leave so badly. Although nobody was hurt in the accident, the girls chalked themselves up to the long list of victims of that dreaded impatience.

In the identical spot, four days later, there was another accident, involving another two drivers. They collided and the parts their vehicles shed in the accident remained in the road in front of that same 7-Eleven driveway. They both pulled to the side of the road, mere yards from the impact spot. The small pile of debris that flew off the car and the parked vehicles created a dangerous situation. However, cars continued to zoom by on the busy road, right where it begins to turn dramatically.

Ninety percent of the cars didn?t even bother slowing down one mile per hour, letting nothing impede the progress to their next destination. Some zigzagged between the pile of debris and the cars to the right, while others simultaneously chose the route (dipping into opposing traffic) on the left.

They would then join together seconds later, horns at full volume. It seemed that nobody was willing to slow down and check how others were going to deal with the unexpected detour, they just kind of spun the wheel and hoped for the best, still on schedule.These are just two examples of extreme impatience by drivers that I witnessed last week. Everybody is guilty of being in a rush once in a while, but some people appear to equate driving with stepping on a pedal and staring directly out the windshield in front of them. This does not make much sense to me, because at any moment, disaster can strike.

Many people rush through the moment, completely blind to its existence, in order to get to where they?re going. Sometimes you get their quicker if you slow down and relax.

Bad drivers unite! Give Russ Edmondson a piece of your mind at [email protected].

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