Traffic on Lamar has now officially become too scary for me. I mean, the construction is tolerable, and it being down to two lanes is merely a small inconvenience I use to listen to three extra minutes of radio on my way to work. The thing that's scaring me is self-righteous Austin drivers.
There's an area on Lamar between 1st and 4th streets where the spacious 2 lane northbound strip becomes a cramped, smaller-than-your-huge-Truck 1-lane scariness. That's OK, really, but what happens at these is not the usual thing, in which most people go ahead and get in the right lane, sit and wait their turn, some of us (OK, me) laughing at Howie Mandell in the car, while some people see the open left land, zip ahead, and sneak to the front of the line. It's the way people do things. I used to live in Houston (which is all under construction and has been since the 70's). People are used to that crap and they accept that human nature dictates that it will happen, no matter what.
Not in Austin. Here, people in the right lane see somebody coming up the left, so they pull out in front of them and stop. This causes a traffic flow interruption, but it damn well keeps the order of things. Also, it scares me and makes me glad I didn't eat breakfast, as I'd have lost it. I'm already a kind of nervous driver, as I've been hit by two cars this year (and survived. I ain't complainin' about that, lemmetellya), so I tend to assume that the other guy is out to get me. When he pulls out from behind me an into the path of an oncoming car, an act which would have killed all three of us, to stop them getting ahead in line (whiny voice: Mizz! She got cuts! I want cuts! Mizz! Miiizzzz!), I know it's a fact.
Grade school mentality, baby! Yeah!