UTAH DRIVERS!

OK. I know that my title says it all, but I need to vent!

So today I drove down to Payson to visit with a friends while our kids were in school. I had a nice chat and enjoyed a delicious smoothie. My day was going fabulously (is that a word?). When it was time to head home I hopped on the I-15 northbound only to find that there was some minor construction going on (they were filling potholes- a whole 'nother topic!). I passed a sign that said "Left Lane Closed Ahead" and soon after passed one that said "Lane Ends Merge Right." Soon after I passed another sign. Everyone has seen this sign and knows what it means. It does not have words but shows a picture of a two lane road with one lane is ending and merging into the other lane. So why do people in utah

WAIT UNTIL THEY HAVE A CONE IN THEIR LANE BEFORE MOVING OVER!

I know why they do this. You see, they can see up ahead a slight bottle-neck in traffic. Brake lights are on as people begin to slow down. Then these people think "Hmmm, I don't want to slow down, I might be late for my BUNCO game" so they rush ahead to where the lane ends and squeeze in at the last minute. What they don't realize (or maybe they do, and just don't care) is that it's people like them, that are causing a major backup in the first place. Then there's people like me that realize a little traffic is normal in a construction area (or Utah, period). And, like I learned in my 10th grade driving class, signs are posted for a reason. It's these people that suffer because we get stuck in the one open lane a mile back because everyone else waits for the last minute to sneak in and we all have to slam on our brakes to let these bozos in. If they would just move over WAY BACK when the first sign is posted between Payson and Spanish Fork where there is not a ton of traffic, then the slowing would be a minimum and a bottle-neck would never develop!

Today this very thing happened and I took matters into my own hands. I slowly drove my car in teh left lane, right along side the car in the right lane that has been in front of me. A guy in a pickup pulled right behind me (I swear his bumper almost touched mine) to which I almost came to a stop. I prefer to do my road rage in a not-so-violent manner. Anyhow. When he honked his horn and threw his hands in the air I pointed towards the right lane (y'know the one he should have been in a mile back). Guess what? he got the point and moved over. I continued my protest, at a slow pace, keeping others from rushing past. Then, amazingly, traffic started to move a little faster. Many more cars backed up behind me, but the one's in the right lane (I think) were happy that I was keeping them back. And when I got to the end and had a cone in front of my car, the guy in the pickup let me in.

Of course, once I was in, there was a load of cars behind me again having to squeeze in. But at least me and the 50 cars that obeyed the traffic signs, got to drive through the construction without a million people trying to beat them through. There. Take that!