Another Prius Hummer story

[chogan]

Last week, my wife and I were driving our Prius out of Loehman's Plaza, a shopping center here in No. Va. The parking lot is a tight fit in the best of times. They are renovating the place, and the construction makes the space even tighter.

It's a pleasant evening, we have the windows rolled down, and we come to a three-way stop, trying to exit the parking lot. I have my left-turn signal on. At the same time, a Hummer pulls up to the stopsign on the the crossroad, to my left. The Hummer is one of the big ones, and it proceeds to pull what seemed to me to be damn near a third of the way through the intersection before stopping. No turn signal.

So, of course, I'm thinking, what a jerk. And, even though I know Virginia law in this case (in case of a tie at a 4-way, right of way goes to the guy on the right), I'm not going to push it, because I can't guess what this aggressive so-and-so is up to, and besides, it's a fair bet that he doesn't know the right-of-way rules even if I do.

So there we sit.

Then he starts to turn, and I start to laugh. And to get my car the hell out of his way. Basically, saying to my wife, oh my goodness, look at that thing, he can't make the turn, is he going to hit us? And laughing.

Because, in fact, he wasn't being a jerk by pulling partway through the intersection. He just couldn't make the turn without wiping out the stop sign, unless he "squared the corner" and swung waay past the middle of the road. I mean, the guy needed one of those "caution wide right turn" signs that you see on semis, because he had to drive his Hummer like a big rig in that congested parking lot.

So here I am, not pissed any more, basically feeling sorry for the guy, laughing about it, when I see, as he passes me (now cowering at the right hand curb), that his window's open and I guess he's heard ever word I said.

My guess is, that guy was more insulted by being sincerely laughed at than he would have been by any angry thing I might have said.


So, yeah, when it comes to climbing boulder-strewn mountains or having a head-on collision with another vehicle, I guess the Hummer's as good as any. But when it comes to driving around congested No. Va., I think Hummer owners pay a pretty stiff penalty. It's their choice. Like wearing heels to go jogging is a choice. From now on I'm going to laugh at them the way I'd laugh at any other fashion victim.

[Michgal007]

I haven't had any encounters with Hummers so far. Looking forward though