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Don’t be left, be right
By GERIANNE WRIGHT
Staff Writer
Okay, so I’m driving down Cornelia Street in Plattsburgh the other day by Burger King and Dunkin Donuts when someone pulls a Good Sam maneuver.
You know what I mean: They think they’re helping someone out by waiving them into traffic from the Dunkin Donuts parking lot.
But the person was making a left turn out of the place. Instead of waiting for traffic to clear or making a right turn and turning around down the line, the Donut Eater impatiently inches the car in that “let me out; let me out” way some drivers employ.
The Good Sam wasn’t giving up his place in line. He had a red light up ahead anyway. He was letting the Donut Eater cut in front of two lanes in order to pull out into west-bound traffic. Good Sam may have had a clear view of his lane of traffic – he stopped it for Donut Eater. But he didn’t know I was coming along beside him in the left lane.
Donut Eater pulls out, and I almost T-bone him. I hit the brakes; I hit the horn. And Donut Eater gives me the finger. I’m the bad guy because I’m tooling along with the right of way.
Good Sam high-tailed it out of there. He wasn’t going to get tagged for doing someone a favor. And now I have to sit there while Donut Eater, he of the middle-finger gesture, blocks my lane of traffic because not only does he not know how to make left turns onto Cornelia Street, he also doesn’t know how to use the middle turn lane once he’s out in oncoming traffic.
He sat his Honda in front of my car, waiting for the west-bound traffic to clear instead of pulling into the turn lane so the rest of us right-of-wayer’s could keep going the right way. Once he had the chance to pull in front of yet another oncoming car, this time going west, he flipped me the bird one more time — take that, you — and went along his misguided way.
Good Sam, you do no one a favor by waving people through. Let them wait. A few minutes isn’t going to matter in the scheme of things, and you might actually be doing more people the favor of saving their lives by avoiding a crash.
And Donut Eater, you’re not going to be waiting there forever. Just sit and wait your turn. If someone tries to wave you out, give them the “thanks but no thanks” wave and wait your turn. If it really looks like you’re not going to get a break in traffic to cut across or to at least cut across and sit in the turn lane, then make the right turn and turn around down the line. You’re in the wrong. Good Sam is in the wrong.
And those two wrongs shouldn’t make a left.
Comments
I was once the victim of one of these cursed Good Sam maneuvers. I still have not recovered, and I miss my Monte Carlo that died that day on Cornellia Street.
Posted by: Casey Vock | July 2, 2007 10:58 AM
I am no longer a Good Sam on Cornelia St. I am one on other streets in Plattsburgh but I won't even consider it on Cornelia anymore. It's just not safe.
The last time someone flipped me the bird when I was driving, I was with my (then) 10-year-old daughter. She was horrified as she had never seen that before from a driver.
That was a long conversation with her. Trying to explain what an idiot is without swearing and such.
Posted by: Rebecca Leonard | July 2, 2007 3:27 PM
Interesting, it seems like everytime someone has rearended me, cut me off, or almost caused an accident, I would hit my horn, and of course, I would get flipped off by the offender. Must be a north country thing.
Posted by: Anonymous | August 1, 2007 11:07 AM