Did some people miss the memo about how turning lanes work?
Last week a friend was driving to my house and was trying to turn left on a solid green light.
“Ahhhh!!! Why is this person in front of me not getting into the intersection???”
My response?
“Welcome to Airdrie:) They don’t seem to know how the turning lane works here.”
Just now I turned into the development where we live after waiting for three lights because invariably the driver of the vehicle in front of me waits on a solid green BEHIND the intersection “just to be safe”.
Listen to me people! This is no way to move traffic!!!
Let me take you back to the words of my driving instructor… dad:
“Son, on a solid green you need to establish yourself in the intersection to keep TRAFFIC MOVING. When the light turns red everyone in the intersection has to clear it and it MOVES TRAFFIC. Again, it’s important to KEEP TRAFFIC MOVING” (I may have just added the last one:)
Thanks dad!
This seems at odds with an article I recently wrote about Airdrie having Little City Syndrome particularly with aggressive drivers. When I’m waiting behind someone who doesn’t know how an intersection works I’m wondering “Maybe the crazy drivers finally snapped waiting for people at traffic lights?”
Every time a light turns solid green there is a opportunity for left turners to sneak two or three more cars through, unless of course the first driver decides to mess with everyone by staying behind the line.
I used to think it was a driver being passive but now I’m starting to wonder if some people play a cruel joke by making people wait?
I have been self described as the “world’s most impatient man” which is mostly true if you believe the source, but I have recently discovered a different type of person in Airdrie I like to call “The Blocker”.
A Blocker is someone who is ideal for any employment requiring a ridiculous amount of red tape (i.e. Municipalities), whose main questions in life are “How do I stop progress from happening? How do I keep people and businesses away from us? How can I suck all the fun out of the room?”
“I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do to help you, you forgot to cross the T properly. I’m so sorry!”
“You will need to talk another department because nobody here has the authority to say YES to anything, we’re afraid of losing our jobs.”
A Blocker is adept at making vague promises but forgetting to put their name in a box so someone could actually look back and say “You promised this, so DO IT!”
In a frustrating conversation a couple of months ago I finally blurted “Is there anybody working here who can say YES to anything? I just need to find someone who actually wants to make money for their employers!!” Did I do it with a smile on my face? Yes. Was it a real smile? No, it was sarcastic.
I imagine after a long, exhausting, and unproductive day carefully guarding their own careers and blocking progress they might find themselves in front of me at an intersection, carefully checking their rear view mirrors. Bureaucrats spend a lot of time checking their mirrors.
“There he is! That awkward man trying to bring us business! I’ll show him! I won’t get through the intersection but neither will he!!”
It’s always hard to drive faster than the car in front of you, which is why some of us need to get the heck out of the way of progress.
In my experience from business to church to family I have come to the conclusion that the best thing some of us could do is quit trying to ram square pegs into round spaces and let someone with fresh ideas into our sacred places. (That rhymed and should be noted)
“But we’ve never done it that way before!” is written on the tombstone of dying companies everywhere.
I think there is a generation rising with something NEW that I desperately want for all of us, but for the love of heaven let’s give them some room to work and teach them that for anything to happen someone must take responsibility and go for it!
And if you could start by creating cars that automatically move bureaucrats into scary intersections for the sanity of the rest of us that would be much appreciated! I can’t waste another two minutes of my life!
I’m missing important TV…
COREY KOPE 
Very interesting, you sound like my husband.
Also I would like to know if you have a church. I do not go to church but would like to go to a church that loves Jesus but does not follow the same routine every Sunday. Eg, Lutheran.
Thank you
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Hi Carol, we do have a church called Venue that meets at the Bert Church Theatre in Airdrie AB Sunday evenings at 6pm. We love Jesus and would offer a very different experience than what it sounds like you are used to:)
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