Excuse me while I set the rant mode to “active.”

We had a couple of days of rain last week, including one evening where the stuff really started coming down, during rush hour.   That resulted in the classic situation where the sky and road effectively merged into gray, a combination of the precipitation and the rooster tails and spray kicked up by vehicles.  As was typical around here, the accident reports started coming in on KMOX 1120, all of the major freeways plus secondaries like 141; I counted something like seven active accident scenes at one point.

And yet, there were plenty of drivers on I-44 westbound rushing home, headlights off, speeding, quick lane changes (usually unsignaled), jockeying for position, etc.  As I stated in an email that went out later that evening, more than a few drivers who apparently a) had great confidence in their abilities, b) an unfounded confidence in their ability to stop quickly – and under control – on slick roadways, and c) thought they were doing try-outs for the Blue Angels or the Thunderbirds.

I love the Midwest, thoroughly enjoy living in St Louis, but I’ll tell you, some of the driving habits I see around here are flat-out unbelievable.  I’m surprised there aren’t more accidents.

Rant mode to standby.