25 Feb The Streets are Watching

Don’t be “that guy.”

By Aaron Gaghagen

I have a kid. He’s almost two years old now and getting him to nap can be a bit of a challenge. Well, it was a challenge until I discovered that nothing puts him to sleep quicker than cruising in my FA5 Civic and listening to music.

A cruise through the backroads is good for the mind and children needing to sleep.

This week I was on one of those nap drives on a nearby road with little traffic and plenty of twisty bits. As we passed by the only road that intersects for nearly 10 miles, I saw an old-school muscle car. It was jacked up in the back with some wide, meaty rubber. I couldn’t tell if the dude had a mullet or not. I immediately thought “Look at this jackwagon!”

Well, the jackwagon did not disappoint. On the two-lane road he tailgated the car behind me and in the only passing area he flew by all of us at nearly 30 miles per hour over the speed limit before cutting off the lead car. It turned out to all be for naught. There was a slow-moving semi with a trailer just down the road and we were all caught up in less than a mile while doing the speed limit. But Mr. Muscle Car would not have any part of this. He rode the truck’s ass like a hemorrhoid until the truck pulled over to the side and let us all pass.

From just behind the jackwagon I could tell the car was set up for straight-line driving. In every corner it leaned like the Tower of Pisa. So why would somebody tailgate and speed just to be caught from behind by me driving the speed limit trying to get my son to nap? I told you he was a jackwagon.

The sad thing was that I was already expecting that kind of driving from this guy just based off of the car he was driving. Whether we like it or not people can form the same assumptions about modified Honda drivers based off of the way we drive.  I’m not saying that I always drive like an angel, but I do try to always show common courtesy to my fellow drivers. After all, I’m not just representing myself out there. People are forming opinions about our community on every drive.