QOTD: What Do You Do When You're in the Wrong?
Just the other day, I was making a left turn onto a busy street, and just when I thought the course was clear, I look up to see a Volkswagen GTI bearing down on me from the passenger side.
Already halfway through the turn, I followed the long-ago advice of one of my driver’s ed instructors — acceleration can often get you out of trouble — and gunned it. The Nissan Rogue test vehicle protested a bit, but it gave me enough go to keep a VW badge from imprinting itself in the front passenger-side door.
I don’t know how I didn’t see the GTI. The day was clear, I wasn’t hungover or sleep-deprived or intoxicated, I wasn’t distracted. Sunny skies, dead sober, paying full attention, and I still missed a hot hatch blasting down the street.
At the next light, I pulled up next to the guy, ready with a sheepish wave. Perhaps I’d roll the window down and say, “Hey man, sorry! I simply didn’t see you.”
No chance for apologies, though, as Mr. Man was too busy talking to his broseph in the right seat and never noticed me. He turned left, I thanked God and other deities that nothing happened, and life moved on.
But it got me thinking. We all screw up out there. I’m sure even Lewis Hamilton makes the boneheaded move on the street every now and again. So, that in mind, how do we apologize when we KNOW we done messed up?
What do you do to show remorse to your fellow human when you make a mistake on the road? Let us know below.
[Image: Sam72/Shutterstock]
Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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Only last afternoon and night, I goofed up. I missed an exit on the interstate after a long trip across the Sierra Nevada's, forcing a 45 mile detour and a delayed 'pit stop'for both my spouse and cat before we could arrive home. Yes, I apologized, and vowed to look up and write down the correct exit number so this mistake isn't repeated, as we'll have to make this same trip once again by the end of the month.
If you don't have a NAV system in your car, try using Maps (Google or Apple, depending on your smartphone of choice) to help you make those trips. Even if you think you know them end to end, changes to the routing do happen and it's nice to have a guide if you're not using a paper map.
I'm a gun it and get out of the way guy. I usually have the issue where I'm turning right, think the lane is clear only to have misjudged the next driver's speed. I punch it and hope no poo's come out. That said a few weeks ago I was honked at for turning right, into the correct lane. There was a motorist who was in the adjacent lane and didn't like that I was moving next to him, even though I was fully in my lane and not swinging wide.
I'm with the palms up and shale my head sorry but some are simply butt hurt and looking for anyone to unload on . Screw those jerkhoffs . -Nate