Monday 8:24 AM. Chealsea, Mass
Locale: Route 1 Southbound, A 3 lane highway that leads into a toll bridge.
Perpetrator: Red Dodge

Traffic is a pain in the ass. Boston traffic, much to my amazement, did not recently rank in a survey describing the Top 10 worst traffic cities in the United States. I guess I need to travel to some of these places to see what traffic is really like...well, maybe I won't. I don't really want to think about traffic being worse than it is here. Where was I? Oh right. Traffic: it sucks. The traffic on this route has become increasingly worse, as the 3 lane bride is under construction, and it is now two lanes. It gets backed up much further out than it did, which of course leads people to do more and more stupid things to get through it.

I understand the desire to get through the traffic ASAP. I definitely switch into a lane that is moving faster (despite the fact that it always stops once I do). I'm even constantly aware of which cars are in the lanes near me, so I can regret not shifting into lanes when I see certain cars way ahead. I've seen people do just about everything to get every inch they can, and this one definitely is in the top 10 for me.

We're coming up to a point on the highway where an exit lane merges with the rightmost lane of the highway. I'm riding in the right lane, just doing the old stop-go motions, when this Red Dodge behind me turns into the exit ramp, drives about 400 feet, and merges back in about 3 cars in front of me. Now, granted, there were no cars coming at the time. Who is to say that one wasn't coming just out of sight, and could have not expected a car in his lane that wasn't there a few moments ago. Further still, did it really make him feel satisfied to have leapfrogged 4 cars? Is that really going to make him feel like he won? Well, he did. He won my award for the day.