Slot Car Drivers
First let me apologize for not updating this in a while. I had several things which I wished to post, and still intend to, but they all require pictures and I don't have a host to put them on yet. When I remedy that there will be some interesting material here.
With that out of the way, I would like to take a moment to whine about a certain type of bad driver. Bad drivers are everywhere, you can't avoid them. The best way to deal with them is to accept that they are going to be there and just let out a sigh when they do something stupid. I don't have much trouble with road rage because as soon as I start to get mad at another driver I just sigh out the words 'What an idiot.' and let that be the end of it.
However, there is one type of bad driver that can get under my skin. I call them slot car drivers. For those of you too horribly repressed in your youth to know, slot cars are little race cars which run on a track side by side with a peg in a little groove to keep them on the track. They are controlled remotely by an analog trigger which controls how fast the car goes.
Slot cars can't take corners at their highest speed without coming out of the slot and flying off the track. Slot cars are one car per lane, so there is no passing to be done. The skill to driving a slot car is to slow down just enough on the corners so that your car doesn't fly off the track.
The people who I like to call slot car drivers love to speed. They always have a lead foot. However, if the road takes the slightest curve they will slow down drastically. They seem to fear their car flying off the curve. They also have an inability to pass other vehicles unless given their own lane. They will fly down a two lane road at 90MPH until they get behind another vehicle, who they will tailgate mercilessly until a passing lane presents its self.
It doesn't matter if there is a dashed line and clear sailing to the horizon, these drivers will stay glued to the bumper of the slower car in front of them. Sometimes if you pass them, and the car in front of them, they will gain the confidence necessary to leave their lane. But even that isn't a certainty.
The thing that frustrates me the most about these drivers is when you end up behind one on a windy mountain road. For you can never pass them. They creep fearfully around the corners at half the recommended speed. Turnouts are an unknown quantity to them, and when you get to a long straight section of road where it might be safe to pass they push their gas pedal to the floor to try and make up the time which they lost to those horrible curves!
On my last long trip I got behind some of the worst slot car drivers I'd seen in ages. Just as I managed to put one behind me I'd find another. It was enough to drive me batty. Finally, I just gave up altogether and resigned myself to taking corners like an octogenarian out for a Sunday drive.
So remember folks, when you see someone who is deathly afraid of corners and seems glued to their lane, the slot car drivers are out there and all you can really do is *sigh* 'What an idiot'.
With that out of the way, I would like to take a moment to whine about a certain type of bad driver. Bad drivers are everywhere, you can't avoid them. The best way to deal with them is to accept that they are going to be there and just let out a sigh when they do something stupid. I don't have much trouble with road rage because as soon as I start to get mad at another driver I just sigh out the words 'What an idiot.' and let that be the end of it.
However, there is one type of bad driver that can get under my skin. I call them slot car drivers. For those of you too horribly repressed in your youth to know, slot cars are little race cars which run on a track side by side with a peg in a little groove to keep them on the track. They are controlled remotely by an analog trigger which controls how fast the car goes.
Slot cars can't take corners at their highest speed without coming out of the slot and flying off the track. Slot cars are one car per lane, so there is no passing to be done. The skill to driving a slot car is to slow down just enough on the corners so that your car doesn't fly off the track.
The people who I like to call slot car drivers love to speed. They always have a lead foot. However, if the road takes the slightest curve they will slow down drastically. They seem to fear their car flying off the curve. They also have an inability to pass other vehicles unless given their own lane. They will fly down a two lane road at 90MPH until they get behind another vehicle, who they will tailgate mercilessly until a passing lane presents its self.
It doesn't matter if there is a dashed line and clear sailing to the horizon, these drivers will stay glued to the bumper of the slower car in front of them. Sometimes if you pass them, and the car in front of them, they will gain the confidence necessary to leave their lane. But even that isn't a certainty.
The thing that frustrates me the most about these drivers is when you end up behind one on a windy mountain road. For you can never pass them. They creep fearfully around the corners at half the recommended speed. Turnouts are an unknown quantity to them, and when you get to a long straight section of road where it might be safe to pass they push their gas pedal to the floor to try and make up the time which they lost to those horrible curves!
On my last long trip I got behind some of the worst slot car drivers I'd seen in ages. Just as I managed to put one behind me I'd find another. It was enough to drive me batty. Finally, I just gave up altogether and resigned myself to taking corners like an octogenarian out for a Sunday drive.
So remember folks, when you see someone who is deathly afraid of corners and seems glued to their lane, the slot car drivers are out there and all you can really do is *sigh* 'What an idiot'.
posted by Jason Naylor at 9:10 PM
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