I Honked in Anger

Since moving to New Paltz, Shirra and I have noticed that we rarely encounter aggressive drivers, a marked change from our lives in Manhattan and Brooklyn. This no doubt contributes to our general low level of stress and high level of happiness. Sometimes we find ourselves behind poor drivers like the ones who practically need a written invitation before making a left turn across Main Street, but this type of behavior is understandable: Not everyone is accustomed to having to make split-second decisions in a car. In NYC, you need to do this on a minute-by-minute basis, but in the Noop, it's rare to have to do that more than a few times a day. When I find myself waiting behind a slow turner in the Village, I usually wait patiently, but occasionally I'll deliver a brief toot of the horn as a reminder that I'd like to move, too, and that perhaps the driver should check again for that inviation. Until last week, however, I'd never honked angrily at anyone in New Paltz.

It happened as I drove down Rte 32 N heading towards the Village. A woman in a minivan suddenly pulled into my lane heading in the same direction. She forced me to slow down precipitously, and had I been distracted before she made her move, there is a good chance I would have smashed into her rear bumper. Most annoying of all was the fact that there was no car behind me for a mile. She should have just waited for me to pass. This sort of thing bothers me not only because she nearly caused an accident but because she forced me to slow down and then speed up again, a waste of gas. I'm really hyper about saving gas these days, tree-hugger that I am, and anytime I have to use the brake and then accelerate again, I know that I've wasted gas. That woman is bad for the environment. HONK!