LETTER
Driver courtesy?
Just when I thought driver courtesy had hit rock-bottom, I found some drivers digging below the rock. I know drivers are impatient and don't necessarily wait their turn at a four-way stop. It happens so frequently that I don't bother to react (honk my horn, give them the salute, etc) when someone else takes what should have been my turn. But twice this month - once in Aylmer, once in Hull - I encountered displays of abject ignorance (to put it politely) that I could not abide.
As at all four-way stops, I waited my turn. In both cases, there were only two cars at the stop sign, so it was straightforward whose turn was next. The person whose turn it was to follow me, leaned on his horn to indicate it was (somehow) his/her turn to go. I couldn't help myself! Halfway through the turn, I stopped, rolled down my window and yelled at the other driver! Of course, they yelled right back.
What I'd like to know is this: are drivers unaware of their place in a lineup? Do drivers think that their needs are so important that they have the right to "jump" their turn? What I have learned from 52 years of driving is that one has to be prepared for any action from other drivers on the road. The defensive driving course I took 40 years ago was one of my better investments. I know I have avoided countless accidents because I can see in the faces of some other drivers the determination that they are, come hell or high water, "going for it!"
Steve d'Eça
Aylmer