What blindspot?

Last night, I was driving home with my sunroof open during a welcome break from the heat, enjoying the floral scents and smell of the salt air. Last night, some idiot in a pewter Nissan Pathfinder SUV didn't check his blind spot and almost ran me off the highway while we were traveling at 70 mph. He (or she) was trying to read a map with his courtesy dome light on, and when he realized that the exit was upon him, cut across three lanes of highway to make that exit.

He never so much as turned his head to check that I was there. As he veered right, I was in the middle lane enjoying the scents of the evening. I veered right as well, slamming on my brakes. I came to a stop on the shoulder as the idiot blithely drove away up that off ramp. I leaned on my horn to remind him to check where he was going the next time. I don't think he cared.

I was calm as this incident happened. Only as I started to merge back into traffic that had also slowed to a stop as they tried to avoid both of us, did I become angry. Angry over the near loss of my hard earned and newly purchased car. I didn't fear for my life. This wasn't as harrowing as some other near accidents I've been in.

One time, I was cut off while driving on a rainy night on a two lane off ramp. Another driver in his IROC-Z decided the right lane wasn't fast enough for him and he veered into my lane before checking his enormous blind spot. I veered left to avoid him, overcorrected several times before losing control of my car. I did four 360 degree turns watching as headlights of other cars spun rapidly by across my windshield.

When I regained control of my car, turned it around to face the correct direction, miraculously not hitting any of the cars surrounding me and sped up to find this guy. I admit that I was angry enough that time to park my car in his driver side door. However, that idiot's luck held up for him as he immediately sped away. He was smart enough to run away and hide before I could have done something drastic to him.

Then there was the time a police cruiser who was so focused on catching a speeder that he almost drove his car in front of me on the highway. I was less than a hundred feet away from him as he started to edge onto the highway. He stopped just in time before I, brakes locked and skidding, would have plowed through that cruiser at sixty miles per hour. I admit that I was quite shaken after that and had to pull over to regroup as the police cruiser sped by to chase his prey.

As I sat in my Driver "Improvement" program earlier yesterday to lower my insurance rates, I reflected on these previous incidents. The thought that came to my head was that those idiots belonged in this class more than I did. It brought an amused smile to my face as the instructor droned on about checking blindspots. And after last night, I have in mind another driver who should have taken that class.