It's All My Fault. I Never Should Have Used That Turn Signal...

I was driving home from a spring training baseball game the other day and needed to get into the left lane so I could turn left at the next light. There was quite a bit of space between the cars in the left lane, so I put on my blinker, as all good citizens are taught to do in driver's ed.

(I'm not sure why they teach that. It generally causes the opposite of the intended response. And in this case it caused a chain-reaction of events that will lead, directly if not immediately, to my receiving a speeding ticket sometime in the future. It was a bad plan, really.)

Predictably, the fellow who was driving the car I intended to be in front of didn't want me there, so he sped up, as folks often do in response to a blinker on the car in the lane next to them, looking to "close the gap" so there wouldn't be one more car in front of him at the light.

There was a line of cars behind him, all packed pretty close together. I either had to get in the lane in front of him, or I would miss my turn at the light by the time the line of cars passed me.

I took another quick look in my mirror, calculating the odds that he would actually hit me if I went ahead and cut in front of him, despite his obvious opposition to the idea. Since his car was both much nicer (Mercedes sports car) and much smaller than mine, I figured the odds were about 100,000 to 1. So I sped up a little and got in front of him.

But then I remembered the photo radar camera that was approximately 1/10 of a mile ahead. So I slowed down to go the speed limit.

I sympathize with the guy behind me, I really do. I absolutely hate it when people pull in front of me and then slow down.

Then again, we were approaching the traffic light, which was red, so slowing down a bit was actually a pretty good plan. Not to mention the photo radar.

But the fellow behind me was determined to be in front of me at the light, so he hit the accelerator, passed me quickly on the right, cut back in front of me while, for some unknown reason, showing me his middle finger (apparently he was proud of it?), and kept speeding on down the road.... and *flash*!!!

(Did you see it coming?) He got a photo radar ticket. He hit the brakes, but it was too late to avoid the ticket.

Just in time to stop for the (still) red light, though.

One could say that it was Karma theory in action. The Universe was exacting its retribution for his unnecessarily aggressive driving maneuver. Or one could say he got what he deserved.

Either way, I found it terribly amusing that he sped up to at least 55 miles per hour in the 40 mph zone just to pass me so he could slam on his brakes and wait at the red light... and get a photo radar speeding ticket in the interim .... possibly while still showing his (above-average looking?) middle finger to the world.

So I laughed heartily. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

* * *

I have come to realize that was a major error in judgment. Under that same Karma theory, surely, someday soon, I too will get a photo radar speeding ticket....

Will I never learn?

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