Antique & Classic Cars Blog

In this internet age of constant communication, nicely tailored phrases like “go with the flow” become careworn quickly. It’s a good description, though, for capturing the benefits of synchronized movement.

Last week, I was driving on 94 East. Suddenly the left lane of traffic braked hard, so drivers did what pedestrians and runners and bicyclists and any other movers do–they swung wide to clear the impediment disrupting more lanes of traffic and inviting trouble from any distracted driver.

Naturally, we wonder “what’s the holdup?,” expecting to see a front-end loader, wide load, sputtering vehicle being nursed toward an exit ramp….

This time, the log in the stream was a van doing 40-45 mph among hundreds of vehicles doing 60. The abrupt speed and lane shifts this caused was a nicely printed, promptly delivered invitation for a pileup.

When my turn to get by arrived, I saw a large sign on the back of this road-target: “Caution Children Aboard.”

Why, when you have precious cargo, would you get out onto an interstate filled with swiftly moving multi-ton vehicles and put those children “in harm’s way” by creeping along when the safe course is to go with the flow.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 4th, 2008 at 5:47 am and is filed under Car stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.