I have no time for impatient people....

My car was almost rear-ended this morning.

The way I drive into work, I come up the north-south "main drag" in down, and then make a left-hand turn onto a small, sort of residential street, where my classroom and office building is located (we are some distance from the rest of campus).

Often, in the morning, there's a lot of oncoming traffic, and I've had to sit and wait to make my turn. No big deal.

(Incidentally, I should note: I'm a good driver. The discount I get on my car insurance bears this out, and also the fact that I've had people jump to ride with ME rather than with someone else who might be driving their car [when we're all caravaning somewhere]. I've also had only one minor - and I mean MINOR, it was less than $100 damage - accident in all of my driving days, and that was because I let myself get distracted - which hasn't happened since).

Well, this morning, I had a Jeep behind me. One of those fairly new model, semi-luxury models (but still: it's a JEEP. It's not going to be a comfy ride. I'm not sure why people would spend a buttload of money on a Jeep. But this one was all shiny and fancy so I assume the guy did.)

Actually, when I first saw the guy, he was pulled off into a parking lot by the side of the road, talking and shaking his fist at someone else in another car pulled alongside of him.

I mentally filed that away: watch out in case this guy tries to pull out in front of you; he's going to hit the gas and God save anyone who's in his way.

He didn't, though, and I wound up in front of him, stopped at a stoplight.

(Perhaps another factor in this was that I was BEHIND a piece of heavy equipment that took a while to get up to speed after the light went green).

But at any rate - I got to my turn, flipped my turn signal on the requisite distance before I planned to turn. Then I stopped for oncoming traffic, to wait until it was safe to turn.

Note that phrase: waiting until it was SAFE to turn.

Jeep-man comes TEARING up behind me (I guess all the fancy doo-dads on his Jeep affected its get-up-and-go coming from the stoplight). It flashed through my mind: Dude is going to hit me. So I braced for impact and prepared to leap from my car in case he hit the gas tank or something.

He stops short - like 2" from my bumper. And gives me this EVIL look. If I had had my windows open, I don't doubt I could have heard him cussing.

Because I was waiting until it was SAFE to turn.

A few moments later, it was, and I did, but I was shaking pretty badly - Jeep-dude tore off in a cloud of dust, doubtless to tell his co-workers about the stupid woman who waited too long on traffic.

Honestly, I hate that turn because people who wind up behind me never seem to want to let me wait to make the turn safely, and if I had another good way of getting into work I'd not go that way - I've also had people pass me on the right side (on the shoulder, which is technically legal in this state but which is driving maneuver that always startles me and which I tend to dislike - it's distinctly unsettling to have someone come up on your right side).

Why the hell are people so impatient, that 15 seconds matters that much to them? That fifteen seconds of waiting on an oncoming car - knowing as I do the pick-up, or lack thereof, that my car currently has - makes the difference between my going through the turn safely, or seriously risking being t-boned.

But, I suppose to some folks, they don't consider that.

(I will say, I suppose those "semi-luxury" Jeeps do bundle the "a-hole" option (as famously discussed on the FFOT some months back) with the fancy chrome and such).

It seems that drivers 'round here are getting more impatient. I don't know if it's slightly increasing population density, or if we're seeing an influx of folks who are fleeing a couple of city areas around us for "rural living" (and then face an hour or more commute, if they still work "in the city"), or what. But it irritates me - I should not be made to feel that I have done something wrong by hesitating to make an unsafe turn. And I shouldn't have to choose between being t-boned and being rear-ended.

Oh, and when I got to my building? I snapped on my left turn signal and hopped out of the car to check to be sure it was working, just to give Jeep-dude the benefit of the doubt. Nope, turn signal worked perfectly, and I know I put it on soon enough - so either he wasn't paying attention, or he was just so damn impatient that he thought I'd be as impatient as he was.