New Directions in Driving

Over the past several weeks, my wife and I have observed on multiple occasions a driving maneuver that shocked us, first by its audacity and soon thereafter by its frequency.  It apparently requires that you start in the far lane on one side of the road and then, with no notice or signaling at all, cross at least two lanes of traffic to make a turn in the other direction (e.g., a left turn from the far right lane).  We’ve dubbed this the “double-cross” for both the number of lanes you must inconvenience (terrorize?) as well as for the unexpected and misleading nature of its execution.  We were further disheartened to hear from our daughter that this practice has now spread as far as Long Island.  The icing on the cake, however, came during a recent local outing.  My wife and I were waiting behind a driving school car to make a left turn at a huge intersection.  Suddenly, the driver veered out of our lane, drove across the two lanes of cars next to us, swerved into the right turn lane and took off.  We still don’t know who these people are or why they’re doing this, but we now have a better idea where they’re learning it.