Driving has its ups and downs
and I don't just mean the potholed roads.
One day you catch all the traffic lights green
but then turn in the bus lane a yard too soon
unaware of the watching camera
and a charge that's anything but fine.
An empty road is a brief enjoyment
before a T-junction tailback queue
caused by a cautious driver ignoring
the long gaps in the crossways traffic
in case that stretch of road is needed
for a jumbo jet emergency landing.
Stopping to let an on-coming car pass,
you get no gestured thanks from its driver
and later the woman who won't pull over
despite your obvious right of way
V signs you when you beep your horn.
There's the careful driver who won't overtake
the weekend cyclist labouring uphill,
unconcerned by the queue he's causing;
and the polite driver who stops to allow
a car from a side road to filter in,
delaying the traffic waiting behind him
unaware that the road will be clear
as soon as a few more cars have passed -
too kind to the side, a pain to the main !
But in fact road traffic is a great example
of cooperation by all involved.
Sure there are accidents, some of them fatal,
and sometimes drivers break the law,
but if some committee were asked to approve
the idea of vehicles travelling fast
in opposed directions able to pass
each other a matter of inches apart,
no way would it be allowed.