Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Etiquette of a One Lane Bridge

I understand that there are many fancy things to learn when you drive in new places (those round-a-bouts that keep popping up might seem easy until its too dark and you go one arm off the circle too far), and I know it is unfair to be critical of those people who are confused by new and unusual traffic patterns, especially if you have been driving it since before you drove and they're lost and confused.

Not all of those people out there driving on the same roads as me are lost, confused, or new to one lane bridges, heck, I'd even venture to say that the lost/confused/new people are more careful about the whole one lane bridge thing than most people who drive them everyday. If you ever find yourself at a one lane bridge please take a deep breath and follow the following rules:

1. Slow down before you cross the bridge.
2. If another vehicle is approaching the bridge, stop. (And that goes for both sides, because really we all know that the other person wants to kill you.)
3. If you are the person closest to the bridge or you were too retarded (I use the term loosely don't be    
 offended) to stop out of the way of traffic, make eye contact with the other driver and cross.
4. After you've crossed wave politely.
5. If you were behind a stopped car and it crosses the bridge but there are cars waiting to cross from the    other side, DO NOT CROSS. Wait until one of the cars from the other side passes.
6. Most importantly, remember to not hit a car that is crossing a one lane bridge. (This happened to  me once, it was [I was the hittee not the hitter] and it is a bit of a mess, if the person following me had know the appropriate etiquette for crossing one lane bridges and hadn't been following so close he would have spared himself the embarrassment of rear ending me and busting his headlights on my '86 Trecel [built Ford tough].)

For those unfamiliar with one lane bridges, note that many people will not follow these rules, they will consider themselves superior to proper form and just drive however they please. Use caution whenever you chance upon these secret speed traps.

Please also note if a bridge has a double yellow down the middle of it, it can handle two cars, do not treat it as a one lane bridge. I will be forced to drive into you head on if this ever happens again, keep to the right.

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