I’ve made two serious errors in driving judgment in the last week or so, and it’s bothering me.  Normally, I’m a pretty decent driver.  I’m probably not the best driver in the world, but I’m humbly willing to bet I’m the best driver in Utah.  I don’t say this to brag at all.  Utah is the number one state for bad driving, hands-down.  Nowhere else in this entire country is there a collection of drivers so insanely bad as right here.

The other day I pulled out in front of someone as I crossed lanes to make a left turn.  I get extremely agitated when people do this to me, and yet here I am doing it to someone else.  It was an honest mistake though, but that doesn’t excuse it.  I got thoroughly honked at by the offended cars, and I felt really bad for several minutes afterward.  I was an idiot and I didn’t pay proper attention, and I admit it.

Just last night I was waiting at a red light, and when it turned green, I promptly turned left.  Sounds fine up to this point, but the fact that there was no green arrow caused the oncoming traffic from the other direction to give me my second thorough honking within a week.  I don’t know what I was thinking at the time, but it apparently wasn’t to check if there was an arrow.  I basically crossed oncoming traffic.  How stupid and dangerous a moment of distraction can be.

My only saving grace in all of this is my Utah state license plate.  People will see the plates and simply say to themselves, “that figures.”  I’m sure people instantly peg me as just another bad Utah driver.  It’s embarrassing to have to use that as my defense, but I do what I have to do.  At least my mistakes were honest mistakes and I own up to them.  Typical Utah drivers simply ignore traffic rules altogether for no other reason except inconvenience.  Blatantly running red lights, excessive speeding, puling out in front of traffic, and just general weaving all over the road, not to mention driving while texting (now illegal in Utah, and you WILL get pulled over) are such common occurrences here that I guess I’ve simply grown oblivious to them to the point where I’m beginning to assimilate into the local culture.  The bad driving culture.

These are mistakes that I would NEVER have made before.  How sad and pathetic.

You know what I don’t understand?  Bathroom attendants.  I mean really, why does there need to be a guy in a tuxedo in the bathroom, opening the door, directing me to a urinal, and holding a towel out to me after I wash my hands?  I’m capable of doing all of these things easily on my own.  The point of these people is completely lost on me.  And no, I didn’t tip him.

I encountered this bathroom attendant at a restaurant in Las Vegas over the past week.  Not even an upscale place either, just a small place on the strip near New York New York.  Really good food though, to be sure.

I was in Las Vegas for a couple of reasons.  One, a friend from back home in Ohio and her husband were out having a time-away-from-the-kids trip, and she asked me if I wanted to come down and see her, since it’s been a while.  Two, I used the trip for a change of scenery for my photography, since I’m sure people are getting tired of my trees and mountains, and three, I just wanted a break from the dullness of my life since becoming occupationally challenged last January.

I admit, I love Las Vegas.  It’s a bonus that I live close enough to drive the distance.  It’s a bit far, right at six hours, but in all honesty it’s not a bad drive.  Interstate the entire way, and desert for a good 99% of the drive, so although there’s not much scenery, at least traffic and speed limits aren’t much of an issue.  I rented a car, since my poor aging Ford Taurus has her long trips days behind her, and the car I got had satellite radio, so after coming across a station that was nothing but hair band rock from the 80s and 90s all of my driving entertainment was settled right off the bat.  Singing along to Warrant and Winger and Whitesnake and Ratt and Skid Row and Scorpions and Honeymoon Suite and Motley Crue and Dokken and Queensryche and Damn Yankees, etc. made the time fly right by.  I suppose I could have taken a plane, but I’d have needed a car when I got there anyway, so I decided to make the drive.  It was relaxing in a sense. 

I stayed at the lovely Hooters hotel and casino.  I’m kidding about the lovely part, but then I’m not picky about hotels at all.  Give me a bed and a shower and I’m happy.  Besides, when you’re in Vegas, you don’t spend time in your room anyway.  At $20 a night, I couldn’t complain about the price, and Hooters is only a half-block off the strip.  Not a bad place at all, and I’ll definitely stay there again.

As for gambling, well… I’m not a very good gambler, so I don’t really even bother.  I played penny slots.  Lost about $20 I think all together, so it wasn’t a big deal.  I’m just not lucky in that sense, and I’m smart enough to know it, so I don’t gamble.  Like I said, no big deal.

I do love the food though, and if there’s one thing Las Vegas has in abundance, it’s traffic, hookers, washed-up entertainers, Mexicans promoting call girls, Asians taking pictures of absolutely everything in sight, fountains, construction, scams, time-shares, old people good food.  My diet definitely went by the wayside over this past week, and I’m gonna have to be good again for a couple weeks to make up for it, but it’s worth it.  Food is essential to the Vegas experience.

So I got a much-needed recharge, got to see some friends I haven’t seen in a long while, and had a really good week.  Unfortunately, I’m not happy with any of the pictures I took, but that just means I’ll need to go back, right?  The point is I needed a little lift to my spirits, and I’m glad I decided to go.  I’m glad my friends invited me down, and I’m glad for the opportunities I have in my life. 

Viva Las Vegas.

A rant:  I was out and about today, doing some of this and a little of that.  Driving around town running some errands and getting things done.  You know, the usual.  I’ve come to observe that In my time living in Salt Lake City, nothing has been more apparent to me than the lack of driving skill demonstrated by my fellow motorists.  It’s truly appalling.

Apparently, sometime in the 20 or so years since I’ve had a driver’s license, stopping at red lights has become optional.  I’d like to say this is wrong, but I’m not sure.  I have yet to obtain my Utah state driver’s license, so perhaps when I go in to take the test I will find that the law has changed and it is indeed optional to stop when the light turns red.  Or maybe it’s just Utah.  Hard to say.  I will say though, and I know I’ve stated this in the past –probably in this very blog somewhere– that I’m quite the expert on driving.  I have literally driven in almost every major city in the continental United States.  I’ve operated a car in Los Angeles,  New York, Orlando, Las Vegas, Chicago, Denver, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Seattle, San Francisco, Columbus, Cleveland, Washington DC, Indianapolis, San Diego, Tampa, St. Louis, Boston, Detroit… I mean the list keeps going and going.  You must believe me when I say, because I know, that the worst drivers anywhere are in Salt Lake City.  Overall driving skills… I’m talking about obeying the rules and just common courtesy, are atrocious beyond belief here.

Just in the few hours I was out this afternoon, I started counting the number of red lights run.  I lost count somewhere around six or seven.  These were blatant red light violations too, not just close calls.  In many instances, the light had already turned green for the cross traffic.  A majority of these were lights that had turned yellow a good three or four seconds before these cars approached them.  There was no way the drivers could have thought even for a second that they’d actually made the light.

It’s not like the police aren’t around.  I do see cars pulled over occasionally on the interstate, or on the roads.  Perhaps it’s not for traffic violations though.  Maybe they simply weren’t displaying the proper sticker in the rear window.  I don’t know.

I asked a coworker shortly after moving here why the drivers were so bad.  He was a native to Salt Lake, and fully admitted wholeheartedly that Utah residents were indeed the worst drivers (he traveled with me around the country too), and told me that it was simply the driver’s education programs.  Worst in the country, he said.  I didn’t get any statistics to back this up, but it made sense.  People here literally can’t drive well because they simply don’t know how.  It’s logical.

At any rate, I’m going to end my rant now.  It’s been a long and tiring, but productive day, despite all the near brushes with disaster I encounter daily whilst commuting to and fro.  I think tomorrow I’ll go down and finally get my Utah license.  At least it’s good to know now that stoplights are optional.