Intersections: the good the bad the ugly and the 8 minute wait

well people there are intersections all over...and in suburbia most of them have an issue and some associated drama too boot!!  we intersect with some many situations and people...and often a physical intersection can bring about an emotional response...good, bad and if you are in your car waiting at a 4 way crossing...ugly...a friend called the other day to tell my about her driving stress around our small suburban community...our town has gotten too big and full of entitled individuals, driving all to nice vehicles and yet we still have busy intersections without clearly marked directions...people it is the year 2011 and folks need to be told what to do are they act on their own instinct....oh and i don't mean a simple stop sign or arrow...no we need soup to nuts directions...who can go...what do the cross hashes means...if i am stopped with a car in front of me and another car comes from a different direction...the car in front of me goes...who goes next??? everyone is in a rush and their drama is more important than yours or mine...so there will be no yielding...no regard for my position in the intersection and certainly no regard for simple traffic signs....we need a "do to" list at every crossing!!

we have a four way intersection in the center of town...from one direction a right hand turn lane appears and disappears...from another direction  into the intersection there is a perfectly singed stop...the main street has only a "stop for pedestrians" sign...and you can imagine how likely that is to happen with the rush, rush, me, me mentality...i admit to my fair share of driving induced aggravation but i try to balance that with an overtly nice gesture on occasion of letting someone who is painfully waiting to make a left take the turn in front of me...i think the left turn courtesy is old school and hearkens back to a time of gentile civility...when most families had one car...not three..oh yeah if your asking i have three...blah blah blah.

..so a friend called me with her story of the eight minute wait...our conversation put me at an intersection between work and play...a positive intersection...i got to chat with my friend...by for her she just spent eight long minutes face to face with entitled bad manners...so what is the intersection etiquette...she patiently waited at the stop sign behind several cars...finally got her turn as first in line at the stop...just at that point a car across from her entering the intersection by making a right pulled into place...she started in ease into the street to make her left and head home...just at that point the car making the right pulled right in front of her...into the center of the intersection and stopped in the pedestrian walkway...the gentlemen driving had nothing better to do that get out of his car and chastise her for her left...he had the right of way...come on...we have all lived here long enough to know that we need to share the intersection...yes in a perfect world he had the right of way...but in a small town without detailed traffic directions we need to share the roadway and be civil to our fellow drivers...i know it is a stretch...but stretch yourself...but a little...think before you make your right-hand turn...we know right is right...but sometimes our left turn buddies have been waiting patiently, are in just as much a rush and would love some consideration to their plight...otherwise we will turn suburbia into Lexington Ave and all try to beat the lights heading downtown...Consider the intersections in your life and take a moment to give some thought as to what mark you want to leave at each encounter.