Listen to the episode
Driving Profile: Bri & Chris
(sneak peek)
CHRIS: [00:00:00] When I was in high school and I went to prom, our prom was not on
campus. It was like in the middle of downtown Dallas. I lived in Dallas. And
they did not give you directions. It was before we had smartphones. And so with
the ticket that you bought for prom, they gave you MapQuest directions printed
out.
But then after prom. I figured, well, I can just
reverse those directions, and then that will take me home. That is not what
happened
(intro music)
BHAVNEET: Happy
Saint Patrick’s Day and welcome back to Drive With Us Podcast. A podcast where
we explore driving cultures around the world by bringing on a new guest each
episode to talk about the crazy things they’ve experienced on the road, who
they are as drivers and how they became the driver they are today. I’m
Bhavneet.
TARANJIT: And I’m Taranjit.
And just a few quick reminders or car keeping.
BHAVNEET: We’re
still going with that.
TARANJIT: Yeah, we do have
a giveaway
going on for a [00:01:00] 2-year
anniversary or giving away two Alexa Echo dots and one DWUP Merch
bundle. The last day to enter is March 26th. You can check out the details and the link
in the show notes below and we also have a Discord channel. So come hang
with us on Discord and chat with other listeners and us about driving…
BHAVNEET: And
more driving.
TARANJIT: Lots of driving
stuff. Or if you just want to support the show and are not interested in any of those
things, which I don’t know why you wouldn’t be interested in the giveaway,
but maybe you’re not. You can help support the show by Buying Us a
Coffee. That link is also in the show notes below.
And as always we are super thankful for all the listeners that we have. Without
you guys were going to be able to continue doing what we love.
Let’s get into today’s driver. Today’s driver is well actually
today’s drivers are Bri and Chris. Bri is a Colorado girl living in New York
City and is a writer and director of a web series and short films. She co-hosts
Burn, Noticed podcast with her friend, Chris. Bri and Chris [00:02:00] have done it all when it comes to experiencing the crazy on the
road. Bri has been involved in a hit-and-run and boy did she try to run, but it
didn’t work in her favor and Chris has run a girl off the road while out to get
a donut. The two are pretty good at getting lost, too. Let’s meet today’s
drivers Bri and Chris.
(transition)
BHAVNEET: [00:02:17] Welcome Chris and Bri to Drive With Us Podcast.
Thanks so much for joining us.
CHRIS: Thank
you.
BRI: Thanks for having us.
TARANJIT: I’m super excited to
hear your crazy stories. And one of the first things we love starting off the
show with is asking what is one of the most craziest or most memorable things
that you have experienced while on the road?
CHRIS: When I
was in high school and I went to prom, our prom was not on campus. It was like
in the middle of downtown Dallas. I lived in Dallas. And we lived on the
suburbs and they did not give you directions. It was before we had smartphones
and everyone had GPS on their phones. And so with the ticket that you bought
for prom, they gave you MapQuest directions printed out.
BRI: Classic.
CHRIS: Yeah,
and Prom itself was nice. But then after prom, again, we’ve been given MapQuest
directions and I figured, well, I can just reverse those directions, and then
that will take me home. That is not what happened. So it is [00:03:17] 11
o’clock at least. If not midnight in the middle of downtown Dallas, I’m trying
to get on the freeway that does not happen.
And suddenly I am going
down one, one way street. I run like three red lights. I have no idea where I’m
going and driving is the worst when you’re lost, because when you’re on feet
and you’re lost, you can just stop and look around and, and get your bearings.
But you can’t just stop in the middle of the road and be like, huh?
Especially, not in the
middle of downtown Dallas. So yes, I ran three red lights. The girl who we
invited is sobbing. She’s like, Oh my God. Oh my God, what are we going to do?
I have no idea where I’m going. And here’s the thing. I don’t mind being lost
myself because if I’m lost myself, the worst case scenario is I die in a ditch
alone, but I was responsible for these girls.
I could not let these
girls die in a ditch. And I eventually did find a highway that I recognized and
was able to get home, but that 00:02:00] was like a solid hour of just, but I
got home. And then for graduation, my parents got me a Garmin GPS.
BRI: When my mom got her
Garmin GPS, when I was a kid, we named the voice Hugh because we gave it the
male, Australian accent voice. And we would refer to him lovingly as Hugh. And
we would like take him on vacations and put him in rental cars with us. We
would like, he would be part of our vacationing party.
TARANJIT: He’s part of your
family.
BRI: Yeah, well Huh. And
then when we would get upset with him, we would get upset with him at like, as
a human being like, Hugh, I can’t believe you’ve done this to us. You have
betrayed us Hugh.
TARANJIT: I feel like that’s
something, a lot of people there when CPS is first came out like the Garmin,
they would give it a name.
BRI: You had so many voice
options, like they were all distinct people and to not refer to them as such
would feel dehumanizing. In college, my, one of my roommates had a GPS. I don’t
know if it was Garmin, but I’m sure it was because what other GPS was
[00:05:17] there?
CHRIS: There
was also Tom, Tom.
BRI: I, I don’t believe in
Tom Toms, but in, in college we named his GPS.
Uh, it was the female
voice and we named her, I think maybe Linda, I dunno, we picked like a really
basic middle-aged white woman name so that when we got upset, it would sound
like we were in some kind of fifties family show that was low key, extremely
sexist, but it was Metta, you know, we were like in, on the joke.
So it was fine to just
scream obscenity at Linda or Martha or whoever it was. Well, that was a good
story. Chris, you reminded me of my story. So backstory is that when I was 16
years old, I was in a very emotionally intense, long distance relationship with
a boy I met on Facebook. And he lived about five hours up I-70 from me.
So I grew up in
Colorado in a place called Grand Junction. Uh, he grew up in Evergreen,
Colorado, just near Denver. And we were only [00:06:17] one highway away from
each other. I could have taken a single road to get to him had I been able to
do that on my own at 16, but he was about five hours away. And he was the drum
major of his high school marching band.
And they were having
some kind of marching band competition in my hometown. So for the first time
ever, we were actually going to literally be in the same town. So his whole
school had come down. And so I conspired with my best friend to stay the night
at her house, quote, unquote, but I wouldn’t get there until much later because
right after school I was going to go meet him.
And then there was like
this amusement. Like a mini amusement park. It wasn’t like big rides, but they
had like, uh, uh, bumper cars and they had laser tag and they had mini golf. It
was like one of those, like a family fun arena place. And so his whole marching
band was going to go there after their competition because they needed
something to do with these 50 kids that they had brought down here for the day.
Before they took them
back to the hotel. So they were there. That’d be there. [00:07:17] And that’s
where I was going to meet him. The problem is that I had only ever been to this
place once and it’s on a back roads in my hometown. That is, it only has like
three entrances to it. So for the most part, like you can see it from most
places in town.
But the actual entrance
to the street that this fun park was on was few and far between. And so I was
driving to try and go meet him there, but I kept getting lost and I could see
the fun park and the giant bus that his whole school was on multiple times in
my drive, but I couldn’t figure it out.
And I was texting while
driving, which is not safe with my flip phone. So I was texting a friend and he
was trying to give me directions and it wasn’t working. So eventually I had to
call my ex-boyfriend to try and give me directions to go meet the new boy that
I was obsessed with. And I was hysterical because I was so stressed out and I
was like, it was the only time I’d ever lied to my parents about my whereabouts.
It was the most
rebellious thing I’d ever [00:08:17] done to go meet this stupid boy at this
fun park. But I’m on the phone. Like, um, so I’m at, uh, I’m at 24 road and
he’s like, okay, you’ve gone too far. You need to find a way to turn around and
come back. And I was like, ah, I don’t know how to turn around. And he’s like,
you need to relax?
And so it was just, it
was very a lot, but then I eventually found it and, and everything was fine.
TARANJIT: Yeah. I feel like,
especially as in your situation where you were one already hiding something and
on top of that, getting lost would just make it way more stressful. And I am
personally not good with directions. So like, even if someone were to give me
direction…
BRI: I’m not either
TARANJIT: Even if someone gave me
directions on the phone, I feel like I still would end up more lost than I
originally was.
BRI: Well I was for a while.
And then eventually I like, cause the problem was is that I would describe
where I was and it was the wrong place. So first he would have to give me
directions to get out of wherever I was and then come back around. And then
once I was on the right track, it became a lot easier, but like, it took a
while for him to just figure out like where the heck I was and how [00:09:17]
to put me back on the right path.
And the the worst, the
worst part is that I could literally see the fun part. Like I could see it with
my own two eyes. I just could not physically get to it because there are only
like two entrances to this particular road, because it was parallel with the,
um, with the train tracks. And so obviously you don’t want like a lot of
intersections.
BHAVNEET: At one
point, I feel like I would be like, how would I just park the car and walk over
the train tracks and get there?
BRI: Park it, just leave it
on the side of the road. Just fully abandon it.
BHAVNEET: Yup.
BRI: I was close to that.
TARANJIT: So I know Bri you’ve
mentioned that you’ve had another instance where you were going to park and
then you scraped a car.
BRI: It’s true. The first
time I ever drove by myself, uh, I had gotten my license and it was gonna be my
first trip out alone. And it was going to be really easy. Cause it was a trip.
I’d take it many times. I was going to borders books that ages me as well in
the most upsetting of ways. Uh, and I was going to go and I was going to write,
so I got [00:10:17] my laptop and I was like, so excited to just like, go be an
adult, you know, get some coffee.
Uh, and sit in the
bookstore and just like, feel really good. And, uh, as I pulled into park and
important note, I learned to drive in a 1999 Ford Ranger. So like a pretty big
truck, all things considered. Um, so it was a very big car and I was a very
small person and, uh, I was not very good and still, I’m not honestly, uh, good
at, uh, like figuring out my own girth in a vehicle.
Um, my, my angles are
always off. And so as I was pulling into a parking space, I hit a car that like
the car next to me that I was turning into. Panicked. I was gonna just drive
away. Cause I was so freaked out. But a family was walking to their car at the
same time. And so as I kind of started to drive away, the dad like ran after
me, like waving his arms.
So I like pretended,
Oh, I was just driving to a less [00:11:17] populated part of the parking lot
so that I could park and collect myself. Uh, which is what I eventually told
him. And he was like, I sure, I believe you. And so I left a note on the car
and then I drove immediately home, just like so humiliated. Like I’m never
going to drive again.
Uh, and my parents were
like, well, it sounds like you did the right thing. So you’re fine. And I was
like, no, I’m the worst person in the world. And then like, six hours later. I
finally get a call from these people. It was an absurd amount of time in
between. I was like, they must be doing this to torture me and the people
called and they were like, so thank you for leaving a note.
Uh, we can’t even tell
where you hit us. Cause like, frankly, our car is already kind of messed up.
You know, we’ve, we’ve had a lot of scrapes, so we appreciate the note, but
like genuinely, if you hadn’t left the note and like indicated where you would
hit us, we would have never seen it. So you’re all good.
I think on the note, I
was like, I will pay for everything. I’m so sorry. He’s like, it’s fine.
TARANJIT: Well, it seems like you
lucked out in that situation.
BRI: I did, I am a very,
very lucky person.
BHAVNEET: [00:12:17]Yeah.
Cause I, I don’t think many people would do that. It’s like, if you had pointed
out, they’d be like, Oh, okay. Yeah. Pay for it.
BRI: Yeah, no, I was lucky
that they were nice. I was lucky that the car that I hit was like already kind
of roughed up. Uh, I think it was like a Jeep or something. So like, it was
definitely a car that they took in the back roads. And I’m also lucky probably
that I grew up in a rural area. So most people did not have nice cars like my
car wasn’t nice. My car was a used Ford Ranger that could barely go 50 miles at
a time. So, you know, I think that a lot of factors worked in my favor there.
BHAVNEET: Since
you guys were both have grown up in like different areas. There are typically
like stereotypes that are associated with drivers of certain areas. So are
there any like stereotypes of drivers in your area?
CHRIS: I mean,
I, I tend to think everyone assumes that the drivers where they live drive the
craziest in general.
BRI: But only Texas is
CHRIS: [00:13:17]
But only Texas is right.
BRI: Texas is a wild place
to drive. I’ve driven there exactly once. I, my family is, uh, some of my
family lives down there and like specifically Dallas, I will say my family is
in Austin. And Austin drivers aren’t great. But when we drove to Dallas one
time, uh, cause I wanted to go to a concert there while I was visiting.
Oh my goodness. I never
felt more unsafe except for possibly when I, when I went to Paris and the Paris
drivers. Oh my goodness. I kept taking pictures of people parking their
people’s parking jobs because like literally millimeters separate the cars,
parallel parked on French streets, but it’s rivaled only by Texas, which you
would think shouldn’t be because like, you know, Paris is tiny and it’s, it was
built without cars.
So like there’s no
space on the streets, but Texas, you know, everything’s bigger in Texas, right?
Like you have so many lanes. Why are you so rude and rash? And like out to get
me, I don’t understand.
CHRIS: No,
it’s terrible. Yeah. I think I don’t [00:14:17] even realize the full extent of
it because I grew up in it. I was cooked in the crucible that is Texas driving.
Kind of speaking of Austin. I also do have an accident story that makes me look
like a bad driver. I was in Austin. I hadn’t been in Austin terribly long. I
actually know exactly when this happened, uh, to the date.
Um, it would have been,
I guess, November 2nd or November 6th, 2008. Specifically, it was the day of
the presidential election.
BRI: Presumably the sixth.
CHRIS: The
sixth. Yes, that’s right. I sometimes forget what day we, uh, vote for
president.
BRI: Yeah. It’s like the
eight or the ninth usually most recently. So the six was closer of the two.
CHRIS: It’s
that day, the president day, you know, president day, but not president’s day.
That’s a different day. And I had to like go find my polling place, which I
did. I voted my very first [00:15:17] presidential election ever. And I felt
really good about myself and it was really early in the morning cause I had to
go to class later.
And so I was like
driving back and I thought, you know what? I voted, I did a good job today. I
was a citizen. I deserve a donut. And so I turned on my trusty Garmin, GPS, and
I said, Garmin shall be a donut. And it did. And it gave me directions to this
donut place. And I am not the best at directions. And sometimes when you’re
driving on one of the, on one of these streets with like a GPS, suddenly it
comes up so fast and you’re like, Oh no, I’ve got to turn.
And I was in the left
lane and I realized, Oh no, I’m about to miss this donut shop. I need to get
into the right lane. And then it turned out, there was a girl in my blind spot.
BRI: Oh, no.
CHRIS: I know.
And so she had to kind of turn and move. [00:16:17] And so she pushed her car
up onto the, um, onto the, not the median onto the curb and like messed up her
wheel.
Well, of course, like I
realize what happened immediately. I immediately parked and I was freaking out
so much because, Oh my God, what did I do? And she was fine. Everything was
fine. She was sobbing. This is another story about, um, me causing a woman
sobbing with my terrible driving. But like, cause it was her dad’s car, but it
was thankful for me because that meant I couldn’t panic.
So I suddenly had to
comfort. And so suddenly I became the one, like, no, don’t worry. It’s fine. I
have insurance. I’m calling the police. Everything’s fine. They came, they
looked at it, and it was good. And she was fine and everything got sorted out.
And eventually I did get a donut, but it did not taste the same as it could of.
BRI: You know, I was going
to ask, did you actually end up letting yourself have the donut? Cause I feel
like your civic duty kind of got [00:17:17] negated there.
CHRIS: No,
because then it was a sorrow down that it was, it was a calm down donut. Cause
like my day turned out not to be as great as it could be.
TARANJIT: So for you, Bri, what
would you say is a differences in drivers? You’ve noticed. I know you said
you’ve lived in Colorado and then you’re in New York now. So what are some
major differences you’ve noticed between the drivers?
BRI: Well, so I haven’t
really driven a lot in New York. The only times I’ve driven in New York have
been when we would move. And for whatever reason, I was always the U-Haul
driver, uh, of our, of our little crew. And the one time I drove a 15 passenger
van for a production that we were a part of, but I will say of pedestrians.
Pedestrians are
certainly boulder in New York, which probably isn’t a surprise. It’s a very
pedestrian city and I’m not a honker, but I am a roll down the window and shout
at people-er. Or Chris, were you in the [00:18:17] car? When I yelled at that
guy, when we were moving. I think the last time that you and I lived together
when we were moving out from the apartment that we lived together in. Were you
in the car?
CHRIS: I
believe I was in the back in the actual, like moving van, U-Haul part.
BRI: Because U-Hauls only
have two seats, which seems short-sighted because, especially in New York, like
there are lots of people in an apartment. Um, but I, I, uh, there was, I was
driving down the street in Brooklyn and it’s already scary enough because
Brooklyn. Because it’s not like there’s tons of cars, but like it’s not a car place.
The light street
markings are faded or gone completely. So you can never tell a if you’re on a
two way road or a one-way road, almost impossible to tell to how many lanes
there are on that row. And three, if there is actually like a parking lane on
the shoulder, or if people have just parked there and it’s become one, but it
used to be a lane.
So it’s like, you have
no idea what’s happening. And you’re just sort of, everyone’s just trying to
just doing their best. [00:19:17] And as a result, people, pedestrians sort of
take this to heart and we’ll just like, wander into the middle of the street,
even though there is a crosswalk, like two feet further down while the light is
green.
And so there was this
guy who was like, just wandering around in the middle of the street and like
saw me coming and just continued on his merry way. And so I rolled down the
window and I shouted at him. Um, and everyone in the car was like very freaked
out. And I was like, no, he needs to know how dangerous this is.
And I’m mad about it.
TARANJIT: Oh, wow. I can just
picture this happening.
BRI: Colorado doesn’t as far
as I know, really have a stereotype, um, even growing up, uh, I never thought
that Colorado had the worst drivers. Um, I think just like humanity is bad at
driving. I think that’s something that is unique to us as a species.
CHRIS: Orangutans
great drivers.
BRI: Yeah, the red butted
Baboons, excellent drivers, terrible, terrible [00:20:17} parkers, but really
good drivers.
But we are, I will say
I think the reason that I never thought that Coloradans were particularly bad
drivers is because I grew up in the mountains where there is a lot of like snow
and ice. Uh, during the winter. And so we were all very used to that. So any
time there was like an inclement weather thing, I never felt particularly
unsafe, but when I would be anywhere else during the winter time or during like
a rainstorm, any other place in America that I traveled to seemed like everyone
just had like meltdown and were going way too fast all the time.
And like we’re super
unsafe. And I was like, Oh, this would never happen in Colorado. So maybe I
think that Coloradans are safer drivers just because we have to like deal with
much worse conditions on a more regular basis. And we’ve all collectively
decided like we want to be alive tomorrow. So we’re going to all be cool about
this, but I have never been anywhere else in the world where that has been true.
TARANJIT: Yeah. I feel like that
is the case with, [00:21:17] I know here in Maryland, once the second and even
just starts raining like a, can we just be a couple of drops? People just
forget how to drive. And I’m like, it’s not that bad. Like, what are you guys
doing?
BRI: Yeah, no, it’s wild.
CHRIS: Oh,
gosh, if it snows in Dallas, like, forget it. I have driven through, I remember
the heaviest time it ever snowed in Dallas while I lived there. Uh, our power
went out and we had to go drive to a friend’s house to spend the night cause
like we would have frozen and I had to drive and my mom like, literally she’s
like, I cannot drive this.
Like I can not drive in
snow at all. And so I was like, I guess I’m doing it.
BRI: How old are you?
CHRIS: I mean,
I was like, um, I might’ve been in grad school already or no I’ve made it been
between actually. Actually, no, I know exactly when this happened. I was living
at home for a while. Once again, I have a specific date and it was the first
time, the season three Halloween episode of Community aired.
So if you want to go
look up when that aired, [00:22:17] because it got interrupted by the power
going out. So I had to drive across Plano taxes because our friends lived in
East Plano and we lived in West Plano. And the thing about Texas also is that
it’s full of these Ford F150. They love them in Texas. And no one cares about
snow there.
So like, I’m just
trying to go along, not like scared or anything. And these guys are just like
plowing past me at like 45 miles an hour on like snow, without snow tires, just
going its like, okay, because they’re confident that they’re not going to die
because they’re in the big truck.
TARANJIT: So based on the
experiences that you’ve had so far while driving, if given the option, would
you rather be a driver or the passenger?
BRI: Driver.
CHRIS: Passenger.
BRI: That says a lot about
our friendship. Let’s be real.
CHRIS: It
really does.
BRI: No, I love driving. I
hate being in cars that I’m not driving. If I’m in the passenger seat, like the
front passenger [00:23:17] seat, it’s slightly better. Cause like I get to have
a little bit more control, but I would rather be driving most of the time
unless it’s in a city I’m still not good at city driving because most of the,
of my time driving was spent in smaller towns.
Like when I went to college
in a very small town in Oregon, I grew up in a very small town in Colorado. And
also those are real big wide cities with not a lot of like highways with
multiple lanes. So I don’t love multiple lanes and highways, but like I would
rather be driving than not
CHRIS: no.
Yeah, I don’t trust myself that much. Also. Now I can just look at my phone or
when I was a kid, I could read a book because I do not get car sick.
BRI: Oh, I was just going to
say, yeah, you can read a book. Say I can’t even look at a cell phone for more
than like 30 seconds in a car without getting motion sickness, but I don’t ever
get motion sickness if I’m driving. If I’m in the driver’s seat, I am good. And
it’s,
CHRIS: well,
hopefully you’re not looking at your phone or reading a book.
BRI: Uh, I usually am doing
both. Let’s be [00:24:17] real.
Uh, no, but I think
that I psychologically respond better to being in control and the psychosomatic
kind of body feel of being in control is marketedly different.
CHRIS: I also
do not like driving other people. I’m okay driving myself. Then I sometimes
kind of like it, especially I do like highway driving and by myself. Like I
used to drive between Austin and Dallas all the time on 35. And I always liked
that drive. 35 is a garbage highway, but I, liked that drive. And I enjoyed
that because there’s a nice sort of solitude to it.
Now you can play music,
you can sing along. Uh, I miss that a little bit.
BRI: Yeah. I like driving
friends. I don’t mind having friends in the car or like my partner, if there’s,
if he’s in the car, but I don’t like driving with my mom in the car because we
are the same person and yeah. We are very critical people. So whenever I’m
driving her immediately, it feels like I’m having a driver’s test.
And so [00:25:17] like,
every turn feels like it’s a little bit too fast, even though I’m not doing
anything different. But when my mom’s in the car, I feel very unsafe and she
lets me know when she she’ll she’ll do things like a little fast there, you know,
like she’ll do things like that. She can’t help it. I’ve tried to get her to
stop.
She’s like, it’s just
an impulse. I’m sorry. And that, like, we never argue more than when I am
driving and she is in the car somewhere. It’s always funny when we’re home for
Christmas and me and my brother would like trade-off driving depending on who
is in the mood. And I, anytime like I’m driving. And my mom does that, my
brother has finally started being like, Mom.
It was fine. And then
my mom will like heighten it and be like, Oh, I feel very unsafe. Like as a
joke. And my, and then they’ll get into like a fake argument. And that helps a
little bit because at least they’re occupied so that I can take a turn without
panicking. But yeah, when I’m with friends, it doesn’t matter at all, but it’s
specifically my mom in the car.
I can’t can’t do it.
BHAVNEET: Do you
tend to try differently if someone’s in the car with you just in general.
[00:26:17] So I guess with your mom, you do.
BRI: I think I am driving
differently. I just, it, all of a sudden everything is heightened and feels
like I’m doing badly, even though I’ve been driving for a very long time and I
love driving and I am a very good driver. I’m very cautious, but as soon as she’s
in the car, I’m like micromanaged. And so like every tiny thing that would be
easy to write off if it’s just me gets hyper-focused on.
CHRIS: Yeah,
how I feel. I don’t, I think I probably drive the same, but I’m so much more
self-conscious. Although I think perhaps having people in the car and being
self-conscious does probably make me drive worse. You actually sat in the car
while I was driving for the first time. I think a while back while you visited
LA and you did not care for it
BRI: I did not. No, I did
not care for it.
TARANJIT: When you think of other
drivers on the road, what would you say is your biggest pet peeve when it comes
to driving?
CHRIS: Signal,
obviously the amount of people that sometimes don’t say no, or if someone say
signals, but then they leave their signal on for a long time. [00:27:17]
Sometimes people will leave their signal on and then I’ll, we’ll give them
space to change lanes.
BRI: And then they won’t.
CHRIS: And
they won’t.
BRI: It’s like, what are we
doing here, guy?
CHRIS: Exactly.
And it gets so incredibly frustrating.
BRI: Yeah, my, I think mine,
my biggest pet peeve and keep in mind that I’m irritated by most things. So,
you know, it, it matters that this one goes first. Uh, my pet peeve is when
people like tailgate me or like really aggressive about passing me if I’m going
above the speed limit. And this is probably consistent most places, but like
when you’re on a highway, especially for long stretches, And in Colorado and
Utah, which is right next to where I grew up, I was 20 miles off the Utah
border.
The, the highways are
like really long stretches of nothing for a while. And that means that if the
speed limit is 75 miles an hour, you’re going 82. If you’re going under 82,
you’re going too slow. And so I will, you know, set my, my cruise control 81
miles per [00:28:17] hour on a 75 mile per hour road and all feel real good and
like, um, you know, moving ahead with my life and then somebody will come up to
me and get really, really close to me.
And if we’re on like a
one lane stretch, which the. Grand Junction to Salt Lake City stretch is mostly
a two lane highway. Just one way, one direction, one way or the other with the
occasional passing lane for three miles, uh, every about 10 miles or so. And so
if you’re on one of the, the stretches where it’s just the two lanes.
I’ll be going five
miles over the speed limit or more. And these people will be up at the very
back of my car, clearly upset with me. And I’m like, I’m already going faster
than allegedly I should be going legally. Why are you, so why are you like
this? I’m already doing a good thing. And I feel very defensive about it
because I’m like, I’m, I’m doing the social contract thing.
I’m going fast enough.
That it’s fine. We should have all collectively agreed on this, but you’re
acting like I am, you know, [00:29:17] going 40 miles an hour.
TARANJIT: So is 80 miles per
hour, not considered reckless driving. I know here in Maryland, if you go 80 or
above, but you could get to like the point for reckless driving.
BRI: Stretch of the, you,
the Salt Lake City to Grand Junction, Colorado road, where the speed limit is
80. So in that case you go 85. But yeah, we, we, uh, because we have such wide
open spaces and like on the, that Salt Lake stretch in particular, there’s like
barely any towns it’s just road. Otherwise, no one would get anywhere.
So yeah, like the
actual speed limit is 80 in some places or 75 others. I was actually surprised
when I moved to Oregon that most of the, I think maybe all of the highways
there, the highest speed limit was 65. And I was like, gosh, this is so slow.
How can you people drive like this?
BHAVNEET: That’s
really interesting. Yeah. I think the highest of seeing here is 70.
BRI: Yeah, but like the,
the, the Northeast is like, you know, everything is so much more
[00:28:00]cramped, but in the West, like things are so spread out, you know,
it’s, it’s safer to go that way. Otherwise we’d have 200 miles of roads with
two cities completely backed up. Yeah. There’s there would be no way we’d never
get around.
We’d never get
anywhere, right?
BHAVNEET: So
would you say, or have you ever experienced road rage or had someone who was
having road rage, like towards you?
BRI: Well, I described it an
element of road rage earlier where I rolled down a window and yelled at a man.
Uh, looked him dead in the eyes. I don’t fear anything. I’m no coward. Uh, no,
I get road rage approximately every time I drive. I also have the personality
of someone with road rage when I’m a pedestrian.
So I’ve just, I think I
just have a lot of rage and I am indiscriminate about where I am when I am
feeling that rage. Yeah, no, I I’m always angry. Um, I, cause I have the kind
of personality type where it’s like I’m right a hundred percent of the time and
any time someone steps it. I get infuriated because I’m like, no, I’m [00:31:17]
right.
You’re the wrong one.
And then I get very upset. I don’t scream in cars. Well, I mean, I did when I
was a teenager, cause I was a teenager and you know, I’d go for a drive and I
just sort of scream. Did you guys ever do that? Just like scream and cry in
your car as you just drove around your town. Cause you were too afraid to go
too far away.
Otherwise you get in
trouble, but you did need to go and scream somewhere. Anyways. Um, but I, I
have, uh, like improvisational debates with people, loud debates in my car. Um,
and sometimes people will be in the car with me and, you know, then it will become
kind of like a routine I’m doing to entertain them.
But if it’s just me, I
will continue doing it. I will have like full conversations with the people
around me that I’m upset with. Uh, as I’m driving and, um, I will like imagine
there, you know, counterpoints, which are of course always bad because I am
right. A hundred percent of the time they are wrong and foolish and they should
know that.
Uh, and so I’ll just do
like full conversations where, Oh, Oh, I’m sorry. Are you, are you rushing? You
want to rush man? I am. So I can’t believe that [00:32:17] I know, you know
what, I’m I’m wrong. You’re no, you know what, actually, no, I’m not wrong. And
here’s, you know, and I’ll, it’ll be a whole, it be a whole production.
CHRIS: I think
a lot about when I’m driving, how the thing about driving is that you’re all
driving weapons. All of you are driving these giant metal machines at sometimes
ludicrous speeds together. There’s no point in like your life wherein it is
more important that you recognize the humanity of other people so that you can
follow rules and share the space effectively.
It is also the moment
when you were the most dehumanized, because everyone is separate in these
little metal cages, and you don’t see faces or like you barely see faces. And so
it. Just really people stop being people and they just start being other cars.
BHAVNEET: So how
would you, so your first, uh, I guess. driving test experience, where you’re
able [00:31:00]to get your license on the first go?
CHRIS: Oh
yeah. Totally.
BRI: I didn’t have to
parallel park for mine though.
CHRIS: I
didn’t either.
BRI: Yeah.
CHRIS: I was
bout to say we didn’t have to, like, I trained for it. And there was definitely
like a part of the course that was for it. But partially because I grew up in a
small town. There wasn’t a lot of parallel parking there. Wasn’t a lot
of, And so I worked so hard at perfecting parallel parking and then I got
there and the teacher was like, yeah, now we don’t even need to do it.
BRI: I never even learned
nobody. I think my dad tried to teach me once and I just like, like I said
earlier, like my spatial awareness in a large car is bad. In the best of times.
So we very quickly were like, yeah, I don’t think this is going to work. And
similarly, yeah, because we, I lived in a small town where there really weren’t
a lot of parallel parking opportunities.
Anyways. Just never
bothered to learn was never tested on it. Uh, yeah. So that was, that was
pretty [00:34:17] good. I know. I still have my first driver’s license
somewhere, but it’s not with me here. Yeah.
CHRIS: I mean,
I don’t have all, but I have my last couple partially because I don’t want to
get rid of them because it has personal information. So I have to cut it up and
that’s like an activity and I don’t want to do activities, but it also, like,
it’s kind of nice to have all of these pictures, although I hate all my
pictures.
TARANJIT: Wait, they don’t take
your old license from you. I know when I had to get mine changed, they took the
old one and it shredded it and gave me the new one. Like we can’t keep our old
license.
BRI: Weird for me. They just
did like a, like, uh, uh, uh, Oh, what is it called? They, they like punctured
it like a hole puncher, but like, it was a lot of little hole punches. So
there’s like a very obvious series of holes in it so that, you know, that it’s,
it’s no good anymore, but they let me keep it.
TARANJIT: So, I guess I kind of
make sense, like with the passport, they kind of hole punch your old one and
then you can’t use it so similar. And I’m also [00:35:17] shocked that
you guys didn’t have to do parallel parking. We live in a small town too, but
we had to parallel park on our tests.
BRI: Sucks for you guys.
CHRIS: I mean,
I was ready, but I also, wasn’t going to…
BRI: I was not ready. I
wasn’t ready. And thankfully it never came up.
BHAVNEET: Well,
do you think that it is important to know how to parallel park and that it
should be on the test?
CHRIS: I mean,
yes. I wish that I had gotten tested on it. Not just because I was good at it.
I’m not good at it anymore, but yeah, I guess they just weren’t counting on
either of us moving anywhere else. The most parallel parking I did was also
Austin. Cause when I lived in the suburbs of Dallas, there wasn’t a lot of
parallel parking either.
It wasn’t really, till
I moved to Austin, that I was suddenly parallel parking all the time.
BRI: I feel like parallel
parking should be illegal. So, no, I don’t think we should be tested on it
because I don’t think you should be allowed to do that. Cause it just,
especially since most times that you’re parallel parking, you’re doing so like
in the middle of an active [00:36:17] street. So like, even if you’re
good at parallel parking, you’re in the way for a while and it’s kind of
dangerous.
So I just think we need
more parking lots.
BHAVNEET: That’s
a pretty good point. We have a final bonus question for both of you. If you
could make one new driving law, what would it be?
BRI: Parallel parking is
illegal.
BHAVNEET: I kind
of figured that you would say that.
BRI: I’m going to stick with
that. Well, again, I mean like that, that’s an additional law, like I think the
first step is just making parallel parking illegal. And then if people are
like, well, how are we going to park on the side of the street? Then? You know,
if you want to have a collaborative law with mine, you can say, That we’re
going to replace all previous parallel parking spaces with this kind of backend
parking.
But I think that the
first step, the most effective move for the goodness of humanity is to make
parallel parking illegal.
CHRIS: And bike lanes everywhere.
BRI: Yeah, that’s probably a
good one.
CHRIS: More
bike lanes.
BRI: [00:37:17] This isn’t
so much a law, but I think that I should be allowed to have like a, a
loudspeaker to yell at people around me so that my, my little diatribes are
more public. I feel like people need to hear them. It’s going to be hard, you
know? And they might not always like it, but I deserve to be heard.
So, um, I don’t know if
that’s exactly a law, but
CHRIS: I think
we should have a law that everyone can have a loudspeaker except for Bri.
BRI: Anytime I buy a car,
they have to like remove the loudspeaker or disable it. It’s like one of those,
like those breathalyzers that’s attached to your car, but instead of blowing
into it to prove that you’re sober, you blow into it. And it’s like, Oh, that’s
Bri. Nope. You’re not allowed to use this.
CHRIS: I
actually do think, and other people have said things like this, that it would
be more useful if there were different things other than just honking.
TARANJIT: Yeah, I would help with
like communication in a way. Like, if you want to tell the person like backup
for my car, or like give them some warning, just the honking is like, what are
you honking at me for?
BRI: Yeah. Or, uh, or a honk
that yeah, honk. That’s like, Hey, [00:38:17] something’s about to
happen. Like or, Hey, look out instead of like, I’m mad at you.
CHRIS: Like a
friendly honk.
TARANJIT: Well, interesting laws.
Do you guys have any final thoughts or any tips that you would like to give
other drivers?
CHRIS: Stay
away from Bri.
BRI: I’m an excellent
driver. I will just shout at you if you do something wrong.
CHRIS: Drive
empathetically. I think one thing that helped me a lot with the road rage was
thinking about times when I have been in a car and not in a hurry and realizing
that that’s what everyone’s doing all the time. It’s just it’s anymore.
Broadway. It’s just a reformulation of like, be kind, because everyone is going
through something. Everyone who’s driving as a person and they’re going through
something and they might be in a hurry or like they might be nervous about a
job interview or something, and they don’t know what you’re doing.
So it’s like
unreasonable to like, expect them to behave in a way that benefits you,
[00:39:17] particularly because they’re doing their own stuff. So do your
stuff and be kind because we’re driving weapons.
BHAVNEET: Well,
thank you guys so much for coming on. Uh, you had some really, it was
interesting to see what kind of drivers do you are and hear your crazy stories.
So thank you so much for joining us.
BRI: Thanks for having.
CHRIS: Thank
you so much for having us.
(transition music)
TARANJIT: I can completely
relate to getting lost because I’ve gotten lost numerous times. And I am
horrible with directions. If I didn’t have a you to like guide me I will be
lost every time.
BHAVNEET: I
think I notice how bad you are directions because when I’m driving and I asked
you to give me directions that you are [00:40:00] not
very good at giving me directions. Like, can I just have the phone? I’ll look
at it myself.
TARANJIT: I can’t take you like
I can’t be the one driving and giving directions cuz I suck at that. And then I
also just bad at giving them too. Just bad at distractions in general. Fail.
BHAVNEET: What
would you do if you were like Chris before GPS on your phone and you had to use
like an atlas or like MapQuest directions?
TARANJIT: Well, funny thing
is I have a story of kind of related to that. I don’t know if I share this
before on the podcast, but of my most scary and memorable moments of getting
lost was in freshman year of high school, and I had just left campus.
BHAVNEET: High
school? You’re driving freshman year of high school?
TARANJIT: I meant freshman
year of University.
BHAVNEET: Oh.
We’re going that way now. University.
TARANJIT: Yeah. Well I went
to a University. So I can say University.
BHAVNEET: Yeah.
I know.
TARANJIT: I paid for it. I
paid for the right to say University. Lots of lots of money, but I had just
left campus and it was Monday cuz [00:41:00] our
dad was home cuz he helped me get back home foreshadow. But so I was taking the
route that I used to take home is more like a back road route through town as
opposed to going on the highway. I’ve never actually taken the highway route
home. I would just told like oh, this is your alternative option. So I don’t
know if it’s with you the same way. But like I have to actually go that
direction in order for it stick in my mind to be like how to do and not just
you telling me like, oh, yeah. This is another option. You can take it and get
you home.
BHAVNEET: The
thing is also if our dad gave you the directions they were not directions so
that I could also have been like if someone were to if I were to tell you the
directions, but again I give you more detail, but like if someone were to tell
you directions, I feel like you would at least have some sort of inkling of an
idea. If our Dad gave you directions, he would be like yeah, you know, you
could have gone on that. It’s like okay, but were just get on it. Okay.
TARANJIT: So I turned onto
this road that I usually take home immediately after I turned on it was blocked
because there was some kind of accident or something like they had the whole
thing block. [00:42:00]
Everyone’s making U-turns. So like great like
I have to make a U-turn and I had never taken the highway route, but I’m like,
oh, yeah, that’s my second way home. If I can’t go this way, take the highway
at this time. I had a I think it was called a blueberry. Is that what it’s
called? Like the…
BHAVNEET: Yeah.
TARANJIT: Black phone.
BHAVNEET: No
Blackberry. It was a Blackberry not Blueberry.
TARANJIT: Blackberry.
BHAVNEET: Blubrry
is for podcasting. The Blackberry helps you with is a phone. Blubrry’s the podcasting.
And strawberries are for radio. But blueberry, it’s Blackberry’s the phone.
TARANJIT: So I had a
Blackberry and it all I had on this was text and phone like nothing else so
there’s no way for me to GPS directions. So I feel like I was kind of in a
situation of before smartphones GPS.
BHAVNEET: Oh,
okay. So now we know what you actually would do.
TARANJIT: But at the same
time, I didn’t have an atlas either. So like I was completely on my own.
BHAVNEET: True.
True.
TARANJIT: [00:43:00] I had to like
remember what our dad told us it in terms of directions I get to the exit and
then you can either go left and right and left goes further into Baltimore and
right goes back towards our house. I was just like standing I slow down this
exit. There’s no cars behind me for a little while. So I stopped. I was like
left right left, right and I like left? So I went left.
BHAVNEET: Now
if you were thinking rationally and I freaked out I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t
like it was as South towards Baltimore. North like why would you be like, yes,
I want to go south.
TARANJIT: I didn’t it
didn’t go through my mind. So I was just like, oh. I’ll just go left. I started
driving down the left lane and I’m like and I’m going and going like, okay.
Somethings not right. It’s like this is not familiar to me.
BHAVNEET: This
is the road I drive on.
TARANJIT: The numbers were going
to be opposite counting they were counting up right that direction?
BHAVNEET: You
wouldn’t have seen any numbers.
TARANJIT: [00:44:00] The exits?
BHAVNEET: Yeah,
there’s no exits that way until you just hit the end of the highway and into
the next one.
TARANJIT: I don’t know. I
was going that way and know there were exes because I pulled off to the
shoulder after driving little while down the road. So like this is not the right
way. I can’t like U-turn and get back the other way. So I called our dad, and
again we were just talking about Indian parents’ directions or Indian
relative’s directions are not the best. But my dad tried to give me directions
and was like, okay, where are you? Okay just exit could come next take that
exit after you get off this exit. You should immediately see this sign then
you’re going to take that exit and it should bring you back around the
direction you supposed to go going towards home. And so I’m like, okay. I have
these directions to my mind. I take the first exit and I’m looking for this
sign that he said to look for the sign never comes.
BHAVNEET: Um.
Where do end up?
TARANJIT: So then I kept
driving and he was I was like he told me [00:45:00] it’s
like shortly after taking the first exit the next exit sign should come. And I
was going for a while down this way after the first exit. I’m like going and
going. And I’m like in this sketchy part of town now.
BHAVNEET: You
missed the exit.
TARANJIT: Yeah. I know. And
I’m just like, oh my gosh. What do I do? I can’t like call while I’m driving
because I’m driving and then I don’t want to pull over because I’m scared to
pull over anywhere cuz it’s so scary. It was sketchy. And I’m just like, what
do I do? So I’m just like, okay. I’m going to call while driving. The speed
limit on that road was like 20 miles per hour. So I was able to like call our
dad by kept the phone on speaker in my lap because I don’t want to get caught
by a police officer.
BHAVNEET: I do
want to put a disclaimer that like this was when you first started driving
because now you can confidently be like I’m going to call someone. Da da da
dah. But then back then you were also on a Blackberry, so you actually had a
keypad.
TARANJIT: Yeah, but now my
car has the…
BHAVNEET: Bluetooth.
TARANJIT: Yeah. Handless. [00:46:00] What’s it called? Handless calling?
BHAVNEET: I
don’t know.
TARANJIT: But I called him I
asked I tell him like I don’t know where I am now. I was looking for that sign.
It never came I don’t know where at this point. I was so scared because I was
driving the van I’m pretty sure tat hat point and I was like, I’ve no idea
where I am and I didn’t want to pull off to the side but it’s like I can’t keep
going straight because I what if I end up in the more scarier part of us are
the area and my dad’s like, okay, well find a grocery store parking lot or like
a CVS parking lot or something, you know, like a store parking lot and go
pullover there lock your doors. Go like hunch down. Like don’t sit up straight.
And don’t make eye contact with anyone and wait for me to get there.
BHAVNEET: Well
actually. I’m pretty sure that was our mom rationally like telling him to tell
you that.
TARANJIT: No. He wasn’t
with her. She was at work. He was at your uncle’s shop with my car cuz he was
fixing he was getting it fixed.
BHAVNEET: Oh.
TARANJIT: So I had to take the
van that day. He was like, okay. You know, [00:47:00] go
pull off somewhere first he’s like find a spot to pull off. When you get there.
Call me tell me where you are and I’ll come get you and I find this CVS because
I am like there’s nothing here. There was like no stores and I’m like, I’m not
going to keep going the first thing that came to CVS. CVS didn’t feel that safe
either, but I’m like it’s something right. I don’t want to keep going into
town.
BHAVNEET: Just
park by the camera.
TARANJIT: So I parked in
the parking lot. I lock the doors. I like…
BHAVNEET: Wait.
First off, weren’t they already locked?
TARANJIT: I made sure they
were locked. Like I hit the button again. And then I like sat down because I
was scared. And I was like, no one come near me. And then I called him, told
him where I was, and then he left our uncle’s shop. Which he said it would take
me like half an hour to get there. So I’m just sitting there so scared and then
he finally comes and…
BHAVNEET: How did
he find you? [00:48:00]
How did he know where you were?
TARANJIT: Well, he told me
it like as soon as I went on the exit how far down the road did I go. 10
minutes? 20 minutes? Like how far did I go? And so he came and got me and then
we like took the cars to another shopping spot like shopping plaza because we
had to go back to go. Oh no. He what happened was that he borrowed our uncle’s
car who had to go back to my car was still in the shop. So we had to go back
and get my car and come back and get the van and then went together home. So
but what happened was when he came to pick me up. He was like, oh there’s
construction there. They rerouted the exit a different direction. So what I
told you is no longer something that was…
BHAVNEET: Oh
no. So he did tell you right directions.
TARANJIT: So I was looking
for this sign the entire time not realizing that there’s…
BHAVNEET: It
didn’t exist.
TARANJIT: Not realizing
that there was a sign that would have indicated what he was telling what exit
he was telling me to take but [00:49:00] new driver.
BHAVNEET: Yeah.
New driver. You’re already anxious and you don’t notice these things I like if
you were driving now you probably call you that’s a reroute sign. I need to
look for something else.
TARANJIT: Yeah. That was my
one of my first getting lost stories.
BHAVNEET: I
don’t think I’ve ever gotten that lost because I’ve always had GPS and I’m
better at directions. So like I don’t know if I don’t think I’ve ever gotten
like lost. I always like before I go anywhere. I study the Google Maps
directions. Like I knew I had to have an idea where I’m going, but I’ve never
had the incident cuz I never had a Blackberry. I started with the phone with
GPS.
TARANJIT: Yeah. I didn’t. I’m
horrible at directions and…
BHAVNEET: Maybe
that’s just trauma from that situation.
TARANJIT: I don’t know.
It’s just that when someone gives me directions, it just doesn’t go through my
head.
BHAVNEET: Actually
no.
TARANJIT: You can just tell
me directions. It just won’t go in there. It just goes right out.
BHAVNEET: Even
when we’re walking like you just go, like you do it. I don’t know where were
going. I’ll follow you.
TARANJIT: [00:50:00] Exactly.
BHAVNEET: When
we went to Atlanta
to try and get food, you were like, here. You do it. I have no idea where were
going. I’ll follow you. I’ll follow you.
TARANJIT: Yeah. I helped
plan where we’re going, you get us there.
BHAVNEET: You
get us there. This is where I want to go, you get us there. Okay.
TARANJIT: Yeah. So I’m
curious to know, have any of you had any getting lost on the road stories? If
you have share them with us in the comments below or join us in our Discord group chat
with us there.
BHAVNEET: And
if you or anyone, you know has any crazy driving stories and would like to come
on the show fill
out the interest form on our website at DriveWithUsPodcast.com
TARANJIT: And be sure to stay
tuned until the end of this episode because there’ll be a sneak peek of next
week’s episode. Thanks for driving with us.
(outro music)
LAURA: I used to drive fairly often from Oklahoma City to Dallas. [00:51:00] And this particular time I had left too and it was dark getting darker and darker I’m by myself and I look and my gas tank is getting a little low, so I thought, okay, the next gas station I see.
I’ll pull off. So I see an exit coming up and I see a gas station there. Okay. Here it is like I get off. And go down the ramp, get to the stop sign. There is no gas station there at all.