Sympathy Is Overrated

17 Feb 2004 By

Say you’re driving down the highway. There are two lanes. You approach an entrance/exit. You are in the left lane. There are cars ahead of you. The cars in the right lane are braking to facilitate the merging process.

Why the scratchafrick do cars in the left lane also feel the need to hit the brakes?! I call this sympathy braking.

Seriously, it’s completely unnecessary. Nobody is coming into your lane. You are not merging. You have no other cars you need to accommodate. Just keep going. Please. I beg of you.

*grumble*

  • http://www.dawnpennington.com dawn

    If they live in D.C., then they are probably thinking, “Hey — I wonder what’s at that exit that I’m missing! I think I’ll just merge over in front of those people who are trying to get off the highway!” And, of course, nobody will use a turn signal to ease that process along.

  • http://www.gotons.com Jarad

    Stupid stuff like this is the exact reason I spent 12 hours on a 4 hour trip on Sunday. It snowed a little bit on the interstate and people got all hot in the crotch and were all over the place driving like madmen.

  • http://jenben.info/home.html JenBen

    i have an answer for you! If the people on the right are braking, maybe it’s because there is a cop on the side of the road so I better slow down too to avoid a ticket!