Commuter Update!

Hey guys (and gals)! Welcome to the first ever Commuter Update! This is where we will be sharing with you just some of the crazy, scary, and weird things that we encounter during our commutes. As we have previously mentioned, we are one of the people who unfortunately have fairly long daily commutes (and we live in… ahem… Maryland- Worst Drivers Report of 2018 anyone?) so we get to experience a whole lot of crazy every day. And what better joy is there than to share those experiences with you? Now you can cringe in fear, yell in anger, and even laugh as you experience some of our best commuting stories right from the comfort of your home (or work, coffee shop, restroom… wherever you are reading this- we don’t judge!).

With further ado, we will begin with more of a thriller type-genre incident as seen from the perspective of your co-host, Bhavneet:

2 people ran red lights in Baltimore on my way home from work today. And no I don’t mean they turned right on a red light or they hit the gas as the light turned from yellow to red. I mean the light was red for some time and they just sped through. (Well, we must keep up our reputation as the worst driving city in the US somehow).

The first incidence happened when I had just turned onto Howard St from MLK Blvd (anyone know the place?). If you are not familiar, this road has a speed limit of 25 mph. Let me paint you a beautiful, yet scary, picture. There are 3 lanes to this road and there are a series of stoplights consecutively after each other as there are many intersecting roads (it is a city after all). I was in the left most lane (not because I wanted to go fast… there is a speed camera there… but because I had to turn left in 2 lights, and I am not very skilled at pushing my way in at the last second). So, I am in the left lane and I am approaching a light that I saw turn yellow from further back so I eased off the gas to crawl to the light. There is already a car in the middle lane that was stopped at the light and the right-most lane was completely empty. As I am coming to a full stop, this black Chrysler comes speeding up behind me, swerves to the middle lane because I am an obstacle in their real-life video game racing simulation only to realize that there is a car there as well. At this point, I think the fun of the speeding is beginning to wear off because the driver swerves to the right lane, realizes that the light is red, hits their brakes then realized that they will not be able to stop because… well, physics, so they abandon all hope of abiding by at least one law and hit the gas instead. Luckily, there was only a side road to the left at this particular light and none to the right closest to this stellar driver, because things might not have ended so well.

If you think my story was going to end there… might I remind you where I was driving.

The light turns green following this incident that I was happy to escape from unscathed (and without witnessing any serious accidents!) so I proceeded to drive past the next light towards my turning point (John St. for any of you familiar with the area). As I approach this light, what do you know, it has also turned yellow and then red (because that is the way that traffic lights work 🙂 ). This particular light was a 4-way intersection, so there were cars coming from the right side, mostly making left turns going past where I was waiting. The road that I wanted to turn onto was a one way… so no cars coming from that direction. Luckily, there were not that many cars in the line coming from the right, or I might have seen an accident! Our light was very much still red, and there were no more cars coming from the right, and lines were beginning to form on both sides of the main road which I was on. There is no left turn signal at this light either so I knew I would have to wait for the other side to clear. This white SUV comes speeding down from behind me and I experience serious deja vu as I wish that I had a reverse honk! The guy decides that he has no patience to wait… or he figured he was not going to be able to stop in time… but he just swerves from behind me and turns left… just as the light turns green and the cars on the other side begin to move. Now, for a 25 MPH zone, people do tend to go anything but (and mostly the over 25 mph anything, not the under… because at that point you could just walk).

After those two incidents, not only have I affirmed that we must rightfully have claimed that last position on the Best Drivers of 2018 Report, but I have learned two things: Baltimore will probably have a record for this position because I don’t think we will be relinquishing it anytime soon and someone needs to invent the reverse honk because I will be your first customer!