Driving in Port Hawkesbury

I have been driving here for nearly two years and I am still scared. I have driven in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton, Calgary and Halifax…and I was never as scared as I am when I drive here in town. I don’t know what the problem is, but I know what the result is…people who do not know how to drive. Common things like right of way, traffic signs, signal lights and other regular rules of the road are tossed away like schmuck.

For example, when the power goes out, everyone knows all traffic lights become four way stops…well, NOT HERE! Look out mama, they will RUN YOU DOWN LIKE THE DOG YOU ARE. I came back into town one day last year when the power had been out and I knew what to do…too bad I was the only one sitting at the traffic light. Everyone else was barreling through the town, leaving those going across the highway waiting for gawd knows how long.

Another example…where I used to live, I could take one of several streets going “up the hill” in Port Hawkesbury, and because the hill is so steep, several of these streets have no stop signs, as it would be tricky to get going again in winter. HOWEVER, there are stop signs for the roads that cross them. This fact did not appear to be important though to people who drive here. In fact, when I would drive up the hill, I felt like I was in shotgun alley, waiting to be nailed by the next car flying through all those stop signs. Nearly got me three times too.

Another place that feels like shotgun alley is the Sobey’s Plaza parking lot and the Wal-Mart Mall parking lot…you think you are doing the right thing by driving in the painted lane, but bolting out of nowhere is some dumbass crossing the parking lot, not looking at what is coming down the painted lane, and WHAM, you can be the next smear on the pavement. NO one looks where they are going…then add some snowbanks to these lots and we are in for REAL FUN.

Signal lights…why bother? I know where I am going, and it is no one else’s business where I am going, they are only going to talk about me anyway. OMG! They seem to be an optional thing. I don’t know, I am in the habit of using them all the time, even for turning into my own driveway or a parking space…is that not what they are there for? What I really hate is people who slow down, but you have no idea why, until they begin to turn and then flick their blinker on, as if the car crossing the other lanes wasn’t clue enough by then that they were turning….or there is my personal favorite…pulling up behind someone in the inside lane who doesn’t have their signal light on, so you figure you can drive through the lights when it turns green…OH NO. that would be too easy…as soon as the light turns green, they flick on their left turn signal and you are trapped behind them. Lovely.

Right of way…what in the HELL is that? I am sitting at a traffic lighted intersection…the light turns green on me and the fella across the street…right of way goes to those going straight through, or turning right and then when they are gone, left turners can go…right??? Not in Port Hawkesbury. A green light is an opportunity to cut you off while they turn left. Or better yet, an opportunity for someone who is turning right to sit in the opposite side of the road and wait for you to inch your way out to turn left and the light to go yellow before beginning to turn. Look at my hand, I am signing a message for you and I can even do it left handed. Go already.

Then there are those sweet old ladies who sit in the left turn lane, frozen in time and terrified to make that left turn in any traffic…so there I sit in a town of about 4000 people, with a rush hour that lasts 10 minutes and only 4 sets of traffic lights, waiting through four green lights while sweet old lady gets up the courage to turn left.

And then there was the time I was sideswiped coming out of the Sobey’s plaza parking lot. I just turned right into the outside lane when WHOOSH, SCRAPE, PEEL, someone skimmed my new car. I only had the car about 6 months. They kept on going, looking over their shoulder and seeming unconcerned. They were driving a very old blue car. I was in shock, I didn’t think to get the license plate number. I now have a chip of paint off my car and a new rusty spot…I am going to have to pay someone to fix it for me. Aren’t I pleased.

Get me off the road already.