Going My Way?

Whenever I am driving I find I have an internal clock which, when it goes off, tells me I am sick of seeing the same car in front of me. What is odd is that I never know when that clock is going to expire as it seems to vary from situation to situation. If the other driver is doing something to annoy me or the car is billowing exhaust, it obviously goes off faster. But sometimes I will be driving down the highway and, for no reason whatsoever, decide I just can't stare at the back of this Chevy Malibu for another mile - I simply must get around them and change the view. I often wonder if the driver is feeling the same way about me because I know I don't like having the same car behind me for too long as well. Even though I can't think of any excuse for anyone to ever follow me around, if a car has been behind me for several miles and starts taking too many of the same turns I start to get paranoid. Even if we're about to turn onto main highways, where 9 out of every 10 cars on the road will be turning, I become convinced they are going to follow me all the way home. I often joke about one day following through on following a random person for a few miles and then asking them a stupid question just to freak them out, but this afternoon I discovered the person who would be most freaked out by this would be me.

It started as I was driving on the street and a Chevy Tahoe cut me off. Admittedly, this would have made me annoyed in any situation, but I wouldn't have been as mad at the young guy for squeezing his 10-foot truck into a space which was 10-feet and 4 inches long if he had used a turn signal. However, no signal was given and so I fired a few expletives at him and felt better for expressing myself. Also, he did that move all drivers do when they know they just did something bad, which is I caught him looking at the mirror to see how pissed off I was. A few minutes later I needed to get over to make my turn and looked in my mirror to see if the lane was clear. It was, so I started to merge over. When I looked up I saw that the Tahoe had also begun to move over, a few seconds before I did. Strange, but clearly both of us are aggressive drivers so going for the same open space is to be expected. However, I don't think the driver of the Tahoe felt that way because he suddenly put on a burst of speed like he was trying to get away from me. I found that kind of amusing because he didn't have any place to go and by flooring it had gained maybe 50 feet of distance, but since I know people are always starring in their own personal action movie in their head I was willing to allow him his fantasy moment.

When we got to the next intersection I was having a moment of indecision about which way to go. I ultimately decided to take the turn and when I got into the turning lane I once again found myself behind my new friend in the Tahoe. This made me chuckle, because as I saw him once again looking at me in his mirror I had visions of him getting genuinely concerned I was still mad about being cut off and was following him to a place where I could easily voice my displeasure to his face. But, the turn we were both taking was still fairly well-traveled, so it is not like he had any reason to be concerned. The problem arose when we took the same four turns within the next few miles. Either he was doing the same errands I was or he also has a strange affinity for taking roads which may be shorter but require three times as many turns. At this point I was nearly home and the script turned. Suddenly I concerned he would be going down my street, like he was somehow following me from the front (damn my need to always use a blinker - it's a dead giveaway.) When I finally turned and he went straight I don't know which one of us was more relieved.

I assume the reason we get sick of seeing the same car for extended periods of time is because is goes against the very reason for taking a drive, which is to see something different. If we wanted to stare at the same thing for long stretches we would stay home and stare at the TV. It is actually far easier to explain why I get twitchy about a car making too many of the same turns as me. When I was probably too young to watch it I saw "Duel". For those of you who never saw that movie, it is about a traveling salesman on a road trip who does nothing out of the ordinary and yet somehow manages to piss off the wrong trucker. The psycho trucker spend the rest of the film trying to kill the salesman without ever giving a reason. Much like "Jaws" made me worried about swimming in the ocean, "Duel" (both Spielberg films) was a lovely reminder that road rage is real and there are tons of crazy people who have driver licenses. Sure the odds they were in the Tahoe in front of me were very low, but I bet the chances are better than getting bitten by a Great White shark and that happens several times a year. I can't very well stop driving, but I certainly will make sure to change the scenery outside my windshield every few miles.