From Red to Green

My mother repeatedly asks where these blog posts originate from. Always a "smarty-pants," I say that they start with an idea, followed quickly by answering the following question: Will this get me fired? Hence the conspicuous absence of postings over the last week. Last week I was on the road quite a bit (go ahead...it's okay to make your ambulance chasing jokes), and as you may have guessed from recent postings, I am not the world's most patient driver. Therefore, I decided that posting entries to this blog after hours of sitting in traffic would likely result in an unfortunate answer to the above-mentioned question due to the angst and inappropriate language that would likely spill over into said posting. This, I have decided, would not result in a smart career move.

Last Wednesday, I spent a considerable part of my late afternoon sitting still on Interstate 540 in Raleigh for who knows what reason. I presume negligence and curiosity was afoot. As a highly educated lawyer, I thought I would be smart and exit the city's largest parking lot onto Lumley Road and take an alternate route back to my home in North Raleigh. Apparently, every other driver on Interstate 540 that day was also a highly educated lawyer as much more sitting ensued after exiting the interstate. Between furious eye twitching and much hair pulling brought on by annoyance, I noticed all the driving habits that used to enrage me: tailgating; abrupt lane changes; inattentiveness (this means you text messaging mini van driver on Lumley Road who took forever to realize the light had finally turned green); and, the token jerk who weaves in and out of traffic just so he can beat us all to the next traffic light by a quarter of a second (Woohoo!!!! Watch out Jeff Gordon! We got ourselves a contender here!).

Before I became an attorney, experiences like these would result in my car horn wishing it was fighting Mike Tyson so it could take less abuse, and the tendons and ligaments in my middle fingers becoming the most developed muscles in my body. But over the years, my "road rage" has tempered and I have become more patient with the world's negligent drivers. And patience is what those other drivers need to learn as well.

Drivers in situations like the one last Wednesday should endeavor not to see red in rage that leads to impatience, but rather think about the green that negligent driving can cost them. Negligent driving can result in court costs, lawyer fees, repair costs, and insurance rate increases. Not to mention the fact that you can injure another person. If you have been the victim of somebody's negligent driving, then consider consulting with an experienced attorney to protect and defend your legal rights.

Disclaimer: The views of the author are his own. Nothing in this post should be construed as providing legal advice to any specific individual. The author's wife has pointed out that the author from time to time may have been the token jerk, text messaging driver, tailgater, and/or the abrupt lane changer. The author would say, "Ditto," in response. The author further would point out that this is irrelevant and renews his objection to further inquiry into his driving habits in that the information sought is protected by his Fifth Amendment privilege and it is irrelevant, overly broad, unduly burdensome, and a bunch of other legal junk that would preclude his having to provide specific details.