Hey, You're Number 1!

On the drive to work this morning, I nearly got sideswiped by this total jerk. I had already entered the Route 20 rotary in Waltham, MA and was making my way around it. Then suddenly, some guy comes barreling down the onramp to my right and cuts directly in front of me. Good thing my spidey-sense was tingling and I had to slam on my brakes just to avoid a collision. I gave him a piece of my mind by honking loudly (as I have been known to do to everyone else that drives this stupidly). Then this jerk had the audacity to give me the finger (and remind me that, "Hey, you're number 1!") as if I'm the one who did something wrong. What's even crazier is that he did all this with a passenger in his car.

I hate this rotary. I really do. I always cringe every time I drive through here. I got rear-ended last year on my way to work because apparently, I was (foolish) enough to actually yield to the row of cars that were already making their way around, and the driver of the van behind me decided to get a closer view of my rear license plate. After making sure he was okay, he then tried to flip-the-script on me and accuse me of some sort of traffic violation. To which I metaphorically backhanded him by pointing to the "Yield" sign 30 feet from his vehicle.

Rotaries are just part of driving in Massachusetts. The Drum Hill rotary isn't that bad. The Concord and Route 20 rotaries are only bad because stupid people make it bad. Rotaries would be just fine if people just followed these simple rules. If there are cars already in the rotary, you slow down (or stop if needed) and let them pass. Then you enter when it's safe to do so. I'm just incredulous at the number of drivers out there who just refuse to obey the traffic laws.

So the next time you approach a rotary, please use some common courtesy and yield to the other drivers. You may save a life...and because you can't assume the next guy was fortunate enough to have been bitten by the same radioactive spider.