A Rantlet

I encountered an annoying situation on the way home from church today when the middle two lanes of Central were effectively blocked for a while by two vehicles that were 1) going way below the speed limit, and 2) not using their headlights. It made for a really big and really unnecessary backup, and probably made the roads even more dangerous than they already were.

As far as the headlights thing goes, a good rule of thumb that I've always heard is that if you're using your windshield wipers, your lights should be on too. To me, this seems like common sense, but we all know how little common sense is in evidence on Texas roads. I wonder how many people almost ran into the slow guys because they couldn't see them in the driving rain (and why do they call it a 'driving' rain anyway? Seems like that's the last thing you'd want to be doing in that weather).

As for the going-40-on-the-freeway thing: Sure, you should use caution in wet weather, but going substantially below the speed limit doesn't help things at all, because anyone going the speed limit who comes up behind you may have to use their brakes, which is hardly desirable behavior in wet weather. Sure, people going too fast when it's wet are also dangerous, but probably not as much as the creepers are. If you're too uneasy about driving on the freeway in wet weather, well, that's what the service roads are for. (Incidentally, I was not at all surprised to see Oklahoma plates on the slower of the two offending cars. Apologies to my northern neighbors, but it does fit the stereotype.)

OK, I feel much better now...