On a recent trip in rural Pennsylvania, I was nearly killed by a couple of drivers. Why? Because they felt that merging should be completed well (as in at least 1/2 mile) before the actual merge point. In fact, they seemed to think that they should enforce this opinion by the application of murderous energies toward those attempting to use the available highway lanes.
There's something very disturbing about this generally, but the most distressing thing to me was the vehemence with which these drivers gesticulated and yelled. They seemed to feel fully entitled to regulate the traffic in this way.
Hypothesis 1: a new group of truck-based transportation officers had been formed for PA.
Unlikely.
Hypothesis 2: Perhaps I was insane. After all, I learned to drive in New Jersey, a state generally recognized as having bad drivers. Possibly I had no idea of what I was doing, and I should have meekly sat in traffic for a mile while letting a perfectly good highway lane go to waste.
Well, maybe, but that still didn't explain the other drivers who were also trying to use the "forbidden lane."
Next step: research
After calling 9-1-1 and asking for a police officer to please come, I decided that my next step was to consult the driver's manual for PA. Sure enough, it's perfectly legal to pass a car on the left on a multilane highway. It also appears to be illegal to swerve in order to hit another vehicle or run it off the road.
Where does that leave my hypotheses? In scientific theory, the best answer is always the simplest.
Simple answer: two jerks tried to kill me (and my lovely passenger) on Wednesday.
Oh dear.
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