Let me tell you about Ducatis in the big city [“Leave Your Big-city Driving Habits at Home,” Feb. 18, Xpress]. The drivers “SMOKE YOU.” On the freeway, they approach you going 120 mph. Before you even see where they are, you hear them, then they are on your “tail,” then they pass left or right, it doesn’t matter to them, even squeezing between two cars on the yellow line. Then they cut in front of you and do a wheelie, oh, and in [some states], helmets are not required.
On “your” back roads I see more crosses with flowers on the side of the road from speeding than I do in the city. There is no looking “for the beauty, for the slowed-down pace, (“I love speed”), blah, blah, blah.” Your aggressive driving habits may not exist in the city, but they certainly do on the back roads, where I continually get tailgated, passed on curves and face oncoming traffic “cutting” the curves.
So, why don’t you let us appreciate the mountain views, the shadows and clouds creating breathtaking, often changing landscapes, the trees and flowers and a breath of fresh air by not making a NASCAR racetrack out of OUR back roads.
And finally, your knowing that “we” are speeding “because for fun I’ve sped up to see the speed you are doing” is illegal on your part because now you are speeding as well, and your AGGRESSION in doing that sounds like ROAD RAGE to me.
So, ask yourself this: Have you put serious thought into how you will feel … if you kill someone because you’re so busy tracking how fast I am going and not paying attention to your own driving? By the way, “I’m not ancient yet!” No, “you’re just immature!”
— Aila Sundelin
Hartford, Coconut Grove, Coral Gables,Tampa, Balsam Gap, Canton, Leicester and
Asheville
