I am always thoroughly amazed at the quality of drivers. I’m not speaking of just Richmond, but in general. No one seems to understand simple rules of the road, especially in understanding traffic circles (AKA roundabouts). In a matter of 3 minutes of leaving my apartment, I had two cars nearly sideswipe my car. Three minutes! It was in a roundabout, which I understand is very difficult to know what to do because after all….the rule about staying in your own lane gets thrown out the window when that lane becomes slightly curved. So seeing as that I was entering the circle, I yielded to the cars in the roundabout already (another simply fact people have yet to understand despite the YIELD SIGNS TELLING THEM TO). Although I was in the outside lane, the car on the inside lane felt it necessary to drive into my lane to exit the circle. Now this would be all fine and dandy to do if my car didn’t happen to be in the way, not to mention the fact they didn’t use their blinker (another big inconvenience I find for most drivers). So, after that car decided to leave the roundabout through my lane with me in it, I continued to drive around the circle when….ANOTHER CAR DID THE EXACT SAME THING, except this time the car had the audacity to start to exit the roundabout, have a second thought and swerve back in, to right at the last moment decide to leave again. I just don’t understand how these drivers haven’t had accidents or pulled over.

The second car obviously had no clue where it was going. Note to all bad drivers: know the route you are going before you leave your house. This will prevent future accidents as well as not cause the drivers around you to become aggressive. This note goes to all the drivers that don’t know their route, but rather than swerving or cutting other cars off they drive very slowly at each intersection. This is a regular occurrence especially I find those mornings when I am running a few minutes late. Although it may be my fault I’m late, please don’t make me even more late. These drivers are going 5 to 10 miles under the speed limit at each intersection almost coming to a dead stop (with no blinker of course) and then decide that “Oh no, this isn’t the right road.“ It is understandable that sometimes one might mistake one road for another, but when this happens for 6 blocks straight that’s when I start to become annoyed.

So here are some helpful hints to driving:

1. Drive in your own lane.
2. Use your blinker if you intend to turn.
3. A solid line means do not change lanes.
4. A yield sign means you yield.
5. Know your route before you leave your house.
6. (To pedestrians) If you see a car coming, do not cross the road. (If you are not at a crosswalk, I will not stop.)
7. Yield to bikes in your lane. They are considered vehicles and are not to be hit, honked at, or yelled at.
8. (To bikers) Do no instigate aggression in drivers. Allow them to pass you on the road by not taking the entire lane.
9. Know what flashing lights mean. A red flashing signal light means stop as if a stop sign. A yellow flashing signal light means slow or caution.
10. If you don’t know how to drive, don’t.

Thank you.

Note to readers: Although I may gripe, I would never drive aggressively. That’s just plain stupid.