CALF_News_April_May_2018

11 CALF News • April | May 2018 • www.calfnews.net Looking Ahead The Commute  CALF VOICES By Rachel Lewis Contributing Editor I commute to work about 35 miles one way. I have always had this commute time and I actually enjoy it. In the morning, it allows me to drink my coffee and map out my day on the way in, and catch up on my phone calls and leave the stress of the work day behind on my way home. As luck would have it, I have always made my commute primarily on interstate so, although long in miles, it isn’t typically long in time. When I transitioned to Arizona fromWashington, I went from cruis- ing down two-lane interstate in rural Grant County at 70-ish miles per hour, to cruising down three to four lanes of interstate at 75-ish in population-dense Tucson, with cars on the left and right also going 75-ish. At first this was so overwhelming. I could only imagine what a big sneeze and jerk of the wheel would do to the mob of cars flying down the interstate. In Washington, I was used to only slowing down for farm equip- ment on the freeway. Traffic here in Tucson, though, has peak hours where the interstate actually is at a standstill to allow for people merging on and off. The first time I was going 75-ish down the freeway and came upon a parking lot – poor Spice. My dog’s crate skidded from the back of my Ford Edge to come to rest on the passenger floor. It was unbelievable to me. I thought there must have been a disastrous wreck like the ones I imagined when I first started traversing I-10. I soon found that wasn’t the case. This is what traffic at 7:45 a.m. looks like here. People were all trying to get to work by 8 a.m., merging on and off. As I sat there waiting for the glow of tail lights to subside and traffic to move faster than a crawl, I noticed a phenom- enon; people were zigzagging through the sea of cars, filling gaps between vehicles that a responsible driver would call a safe following distance. Just to get 10 feet closer to their office door, people were scrambling and throwing caution and, in my opinion, common sense to the wind. It was mind blowing and maddening! I felt my blood pres- sure rising; the profanities began to spill from my lips. It’s a good thing Spice can’t repeat what she hears; my mom would want to wash my mouth out with soap if she knew. The question is, why? Why do people drive like mad just to get a few extra feet down the road? In the long run it couldn’t even get you to your destination a minute sooner; so why? Have you ever heard,“Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine”? Is EVERYONE running late? Is that the excuse for their driving? I think traffic is a physical manifesta- tion of the things in today’s society that make us all cringe. Typically, these quali- ties are blamed on Millennials – they’re self-centered, entitled, irresponsible. But there are drivers of all ages and sizes on the road who are acting this way, cut- ting in like where they’re going is more important than anyone around them. It’s like they are the center of the universe, and using a responsible following dis- tance when traveling at high speeds is an invitation for them to cut in. The other phenomena in traffic that mirrors society is when you see a lane merge coming up. Responsible drivers begin to signal and merge once it’s pos- sible. Then there are those people who don’t. They rush up to where the lane disappears and demand to be let in. Ever notice how someone you were cussing moments before becomes brethren when they don’t let that person in. This exem- plifies how people band together against a common enemy. Seems like if people would just consider everyone on the road and plan ahead just a little, the commute would be more pleasant for everyone. Wouldn’t using the “Golden Rule” – treating others the way you want to be treated – mixed with a little respect and consideration fix more than traffic?  E-mail comments to rachel@animalhealthexpresscom