Driven to tears....

Dear Congressman,

I figure that since you became the leading Republican in the House of Representatives that you probably have not spent much time in line at the West Chester, OH office of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles renewing your driver's license. In fact, in all probability have to sit in the back of a limo fielding calls on your cell phone as a driver takes you to the destination of your chief aide's choice.

As for the rest of your constituents, we still have to convey ourselves to and fro utilizing our own resources, mainly via automobile. Which leads nicely to the topic of this entry: the inability of some of your voting public to properly operate a motorized vehicle.

Now don't get me wrong. There are some very capable individuals living in southeast Ohio who get behind the wheel daily and perform that task admirably, but I would be remiss if I did not point out some of the annoying habits of some of the voting public out there and the danger they cause to the rest of the voting public.

The first quasi-criminal group that is contributing to both accidents on their part and forlorn head shaking on the part of other drivers are the people who have decided that it is okay to both navigate a vehicle and text message their BFFs at the same time. As I driven the highways of Cincinnati on a daily basis as part of my commute from the Butler county suburbs down to the airport in Kentucky, I have on numerous occasions witnessed individuals having trouble keeping their car in their lane because their thumbs are otherwise preoccupied with their cellular device. It is bad enough when someone is yabbering away on the phone while totally ignoring the traffic around them, as at a minimum these types can manage to keep their auto between the white lines so nicely supplied by the highway department. But the texters are out & out dangerous. They might as well pop in a DVD and have a martini while they are at it, as it probably wouldn't be much more dangerous to the rest of us on the road.

The second felonious types are the regulators. In these cases, normally occurring on a two-lane highway, the individual in question feels it is safer to drive in the left/fast lane at a speed that, while technically the legal limit, is only slightly faster than a 98 year old man who can no longer see over the steering wheel. Not that I condone speeding, but lets face it, most people tend to drive 5-10 miles over the limit. That is, unless the regulator is on the road. It is his duty to pace a car in the slow lane driving an equivalent speed and back up traffic behind them until it has more resemblance to the black hole of Calcutta than an Interstate highway. So while trying to do his part for public safety, he has managed to line up vehicles in both lanes like the start of a NASCAR race, while at the same time infuriating the majority of the cars in the fast lane, who are now more inclined to do something stupid and cause harm to the rest of the pack. Not to mention if you are in the fast lane and your exit is coming up... well.. too bad, the regulator has decided to clog the road and make you drive at least two more exits before you can change lanes.

Okay... I'm done venting for now. Thanks for listening, Congressman...