Time: 8:30AM
Wait Time: 2min
Car: red prius
Audio: NPR
I should have known when I saw the red prius flip a bitch in the middle of Pierce street and land cock-eyed in front of me, ass still in oncoming traffic, that this was not going to be a very good driver. I got in the back seat, and passenger 2 behind me tried to get in the front.
"No," the driver said curtly when P2 opened the door, "I have too much stuff in the front seat - please sit in the back too." First off, the car was basically empty, so I have no idea what was in the front seat that couldn't have been pushed to the back. Secondly: It is super awkward to drive in the back of a car that has no front passenger, unless you are in the back of a cab or a police car. P2 got in a sat next to me. She was wearing dark glasses but I could see by her raised eyebrows that she was not thrilled. Then we took off down Pierce and I swear this lady could not keep her hands steady on the wheel. The whole Prius seemed to shake and swerve as she barreled down the road.
The problem with the Pierce street pickup is that, once on the freeway, drivers try to make a mad dash to the carpool lane through four lanes of super heavy traffic. I can always tell an experienced driver from a novice by how well and how calmly they navigate across the lanes (in fact, the very most experienced drivers will skip this altogether and head down the frontage road until we get Emeryville, screwing carpool altogether until they hook onto it just before the maze). This driver had the fear of god in her eyes as she looked in her mirror, over her shoulder, back in the review, over her shoulder again, and then jumped and lurched between trucks and buses to get all the way over. At one point we were almost like a ping pong ball between a big rig and a cement truck. I started gripping the door at Gilman and didn't let go until we were across the bridge.
Finally, when we neared the drop-off point, we got caught in the long line that forms as you go down the off-ramp. We were still on the off-ramp but not moving because of a red light at the end of the block, when she said, "Want to get out here?" On the ramp. While the other lane next to us was still descending off the freeway. P2, who was on the driver's side, peeled out and ran to the sidewalk in a hurry. But I would have had to open the door into speeding oncoming traffic. "No," I said, "This is not a safe place to drop people off. I will wait until we get to the sidewalk."
"Oh," she said, sounding confused, "Ok."
As the light turned green, she edged up to the sidewalk and then stopped, with cars waiting behind. Usually when this happens, drivers proceed through the light so as to not hold people up behind them, but not this lady. At that point I didn't care. I was just happy to finally get out of the car.
I'm the last one to talk about bad driving - the fact that I am not a comfortable driver is one of the top reasons why I will always be the passenger in the the carpool relationship. But if you are going to introduce two strangers into your car, please, at least have taken a driver's lesson!
