Geek Habitat

…when I tell Justin that, based on how people drive around here, I want to get some of that reflective “STAY BACK 200 FEET” tape for the rear liftgate window of my Ford Escape Hybrid, coupled with a so-big-as-to-be-gaudy radioactive symbol. I’m tired of being a poster-child for hybrid drivers locally, and would rather people just stay the hell away from my vehicle when I’m underway!

What precipitated this post? Nothing out of the ordinary. I routinely get cut off in traffic, despite driving a red vehicle that doesn’t blend in (gray or white) and isn’t invisible to all but perhaps the most grotesquely proportioned large SUVs (Hummer, FJ, Excursion). I also routinely have mental midgets run up my bumper in traffic (like they can’t see the long line of vehicles in front of me, and assume I’m going 35-40 mph because I’m a hybrid) only to jockey to my left or right and, you guessed it, cut me off… usually their total forward progress is nil, since I end up parked beside them at the next red light. And I really, really love the types that think riding my bumper is going to encourage me to speed or move over (particularly when I’m in the right-most lane), since, if they’d look at their spedometer, I’m already going the speed limit or 5mph over it.

It could be psychosomatic, but I swear the drivers around me drive worse the higher gas prices creep upwards… it’s a passive aggressive reaction to the fact that, parked in horrific traffic for a couple light cycles, they’re burning dead dinosaurs that cost almost $3 per gallon, and I’m literally humming in electric mode.