Wednesday, August 22, 2007

I Hate Slow Drivers

Unfortunately, my brother has turned into one of them. He used to be a fast driver. Actually, I would have called him a too fast driver. But now he has started driving like an old man . . . at the ripe old age of 31. It drives me crazy.

I thought it was bad enough to be a passenger when he is driving slowly. I found out this weekend that it is much more annoying to be the driver of the car he is following. This weekend, we often drove two cars places (too many people plus two car seats) and I would lead and he would follow. V e r y s l o w l y. So slowly, in fact, that I often had to stop on the side of the road to allow him to catch up. And I don't drive that much over the speed limit in town (maybe 5 miles over). He missed several lights that I made it through because he was going 25 miles per hour. On University.

When we stopped at one point, I told him that the speed limit on residential streets is 30, not 25, like it is where he lives. He said, "Oh, okay, but I just like to drive slow." ARG!!!!

Perhaps this would not be so shocking if he had not previously been an absolute speed demon. He got pulled over once in Montana going 92 miles per hour in the mountains. At the time, Montana had no speed limit - you were just supposed to go a "reasonable and prudent" speed. When he was pulled over, he said to the cop, "I was wondering what a reasonable and prudent speed was." The cop said, deadpan, "It's not 92." I was with him and laughed my ass off. I also refused to give him the cash to pay the ticket immediately (which is required in Montana) because I had previously asked him to slow down. The cop escorted us to the nearest cash machine where my brother promptly handed over $80 in cash.

Who knows what changed him but I think it is a combination of several factors. First, he became a parent. While that didn't slow me down much, I think it worked on him. Second, his wife is a really annoying safety-freak and yells at him whenever he goes over the speed limit. Third, he almost never drives anymore. He and his wife are tree-hunger, granola types and they only have one car (a hybrid, no less) and she gets to drive it to work. My brother's business is less than a mile from their house, so he walks. Rain, snow, sleet, or shine, my brother walks his son to day care and then walks to work. And they live four hours north of Peoria.

Anyway, now all he needs is a seed cap, a pair of coveralls, and a pack of cherry lifesavers and he will have transformed into my grandfather.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

My wife always says she's going to get me a t-shirt imprinted with the word "Poky" on the back.

She thinks I drive too slow also.

Unlike your brother, I am not a "tree-hugger granola type".

I generally don't speed in town, though I don't drive 25 on University either. 5 miles over on the interstate is average for me, again, except in town where I drive 55 or in construction zones.

The only time I don't follow my own rules are when both lanes of traffic are doing 80, such as on I55.

Ms. PH said...

PI - remind me never to take a long trip with you.

Oh, wait . . . too late.

Anonymous said...

Hey, I wasn't that bad, was I? Besides that diversion into Michigan, I mean.

Car Dealers Houston said...

Looks like he changed his driving habits due to getting older and family influences, wife etc. Sometimes people just mellow out when they get older and simply don't like driving fast anymore. 5 mph under the speed limit isn't that slow in my opinion. Slow is going 50 mph on the fwy