I have a 46-mile commute to work (one-way) each weekday. I don't love that I have a long commute, but I do love where I live and that makes up for the amount of time I spend in my car every day. Public transportation is not an option for me in my area, so I am forced to drive my vehicle. I have accepted this fact a long time ago.
Also, I live in an area of the United States which experiences all four seasons, and the winter season can last anywhere between November and March depending on the weather patterns. This can make commuting to-and-from work a bit of a nightmare for me and the many other drivers on the road.
At the beginning of my commute I have to navigate 17 miles to the nearest interstate, and 11 of those miles is a 2-lane road (one lane in either direction). There are back / country roads that could be taken as an alternative route, but these 11 miles of 2-lane roadway is the main thoroughfare for practically everyone in my surrounding neighborhoods. The speed limit is 50 miles per hour so it goes by quickly, especially since everyone routinely drives 5-15 mph over the speed limit.
This particular 2-lane roadway is not very straight. That is, the road twists and curves gradually around a body of water. This enables a great line of sight between the front of the "line" of cars, and the back of the "line" when there is traffic.
Overnight we experienced a light dusting of snow, but nothing that was threatening to the roadways. This morning had very heavy traffic conditions on this 2-lane road, and it wasn't until I got around a curve did I realize what the holdup was: an uneasy driver, at the front of the line, literally holding up over 80 vehicles.
First of all, safety is critical. I don't fault this woman (and it was a woman) for driving slowly. What I DO fault her for is not getting out of the fucking way. At the beginning of this 11-mile stretch, traffic was already moving slowly. So slowly, in fact, that traffic was moving along at a whopping 31 miles per hour with a lot of stop-and-go action. At the moment the road first curved and I could see what was going on, I knew that my commute was going to suck hard.
People began passing when it was safe to do so. As I mentioned, this particular road is a main thoroughfare both in and out of town, so it's not like there wasn't any traffic going the other way. People were so desperate to pass her that they often used a center turn lane when it became available (for a short stretch of road), and some even used the shoulder.
Here's my main complaint: she could see both in front of and behind her vehicle for quite a ways (up to a mile in some spots!). She could definitely see that traffic was piling up behind her. She could definitely see that people were attempting to pass her illegally. It is my opinion that if she noticed these things, she should have pulled off the road, let traffic pass her by, then proceed to continue slowly with her commute. She shouldn't make everyone else suffer because of her lack of confidence on the road.
Once I was able to pass her, my timing was already pushed back into rush hour even worse than it was to start with. My commute this morning which normally takes about an hour, took nearly 2 hours because of the initial delay and now the additional traffic. Thanks a lot, bitch. As if my blood pressure wasn't high enough already.
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