Utah Drivers

While I sit here at the library, pinching myself for forgetting my humanities midterm at home, I'm going to take a moment to talk about my experience commuting to Salt Lake City four times a week.

I've never been a fan of driving. Some people find it "liberating" or something, but I find it daunting and inconvenient. If the bus system was just an hour quicker to SLC, I would gladly sit in the air conditioning with a book or newspaper. Anyway, I usually leave my apartment in mid-Provo around 7:10-7:15 every morning, Monday through Thursday. Pretty early right? Considering I don't have to be to work until 8:30, it's always seemed like a reasonable time to leave. And I usually get to work by 8:30, but the last few weeks have been obnoxious. A commute that usually takes me a little less than an hour has taken me an hour and a half, and don't even get me started on hitting rush hour traffic at 5 p.m. outta SLC: nightmare.

1. People either go 80 mph in construction zones, or they go 45. And heaven forbid you go the speed limit, wanting to avoid that double fine! So if I go 55, I get tailgated like there's no tomorrow and forced over to the really slow lanes right next to the double-wide-and-long semi-truck with rocks flying from its bed. (I now have 3 rock chips in my windshield, and the windshield is less than a year old).

2. When traffic is at a standstill, everyone moves to the left. Then the left lane ends up being the slowest lane because everyone thinks it will solve their problem. So moral of the story is stay right, otherwise you add an extra 10 or 20 minutes.

3. Actually, everyone wants to be in the fast lane at all times. Guess what? If everyone goes to the fast lane, and then only goes 60 mph, then it's not really the fast lane is it? Either go the speed limit (or sometimes 5 or 10 over), or get the heck over to the right lanes.

4. What is with all the bottle necking? If I have to sit through one more 20-minute back up because of absolutely nothing, I'm going to go insane. Traffic goes faster when there's a wreck it seems like (unless it's a 5-car pile up). I understand it's always congested by the Draper on ramps, but when the highway is 5 lanes wide, what's the hold up? People who don't go the speed limit, and those who go 40 over the speed limit, really grind my gears... but it's the bottle necking that really puts the cherry on top of a long commute.

Well, that's my daily dose of "I always have something to complain about!" Now back to finals, which are going to be impossible. Will I sleep for the rest of the week? Probably not. But at least I've finally reached the end of the tunnel! DC in 2.5 weeks.