Over three-fourths of the students attending George Mason University are commuters. Unfortunately, living off campus and driving to class is not as simple as it sounds.
When you factor in the traffic, the drive around Patriot Circle dodging pedestrians, and of course, that tortuous hunt for a parking spot, suddenly the daily routine of a commuter begins to reveal its true, ugly self.
Granted, there are certain conditions of commuting that cannot be changed. There are, however, some issues of commuting that could easily be solved.
For purposes of this article, today, you are a commuter. You are driving down the road and you seem to be making good time until a minivan on Braddock pulls in front of you in the left lane and goes no faster than the speed limit.
You would go around them but the car in the right lane is going the speed limit as well.
We have reached Commuter Issue Number One: People who do not use the passing lane correctly.
For those of you who find yourselves frequently being tailgated in the left lane, it is not because Virginia is full of aggressive drivers who are out to get you.
It is most likely because you have not yet learned the concept of the left lane, often referred to as the “passing lane” or the “fast lane.”
This name is actually quite self explanatory. This lane is intended for faster drivers to pass slower ones.
While it is perfectly appropriate to drive slowly in the left lane, proper road etiquette kindly asks that you move into the right lane when a faster car approaches you from behind.
It does not matter how fast you think you are going – there will always be drivers who would like to go faster and that is precisely what the left lane is for.
Swallow your pride, accept that you’re not as fast a driver as they are, and move the hell over.
Finally, you get past the law abiding minivan and turn onto campus.
Unfortunately, there are pedestrians left and right and you must maneuver your way through them, slamming on your brakes when someone distracted on their cell phone steps onto the road without even looking up. Commuter Issue Number Two: Ignorant pedestrians.
Yes, pedestrians, we all know you have the right of way.
However, this does not mean that your mother’s warning to look both ways before crossing the street suddenly means nothing.
It is still a street, there are still cars and they can still kill you, so unless the text you’re sending says, “I’m about to commit suicide by stepping in front of a moving car” hold off on sending it until after you’ve crossed the street.
This way you don’t risk stepping in front of a driver who does not see you.
Finally you pull into the parking lot and begin the arduous search for a spot. You go up and down the rows with your eyes peeled, occasionally cursing the short cars that had your hopes up that their spot was open.
Then, suddenly, you come up behind a car inching along as it follows some (1) unknowing or (2) creeped out student to their car. Commuter Issue Number Three: Stalkers in the middle of the row.
To those of you whose method of finding a parking spot is to select some random student walking through the lot and trail them creepily until they arrive at their car, more power to you.
All we regular people ask is that you kindly do not take up the entire row in the process of stalking your prey.
That way, while we look for parking spots the way God intended, we don’t have to wait behind you.
After several minutes you get past issue number three and finally find a spot. However, the d-bag in the spot next to it decided their car required more than one space so there is barely enough room for you to pull in. Commuter Issue Number Four: The double spot parkers.
This species of parkers, for whatever reason, has no regard for anyone but themselves and sees nothing wrong with using more than one spot for their vehicle.
The only thing I have to say to those of you facing number four is I hope someone attempts to squeeze into the half spot you’ve left and damages your car in the process.
The bottom line is we all have somewhere we need to be.
Still, no matter where that place is or how late we are, making life more difficult for other people in order to accommodate our own needs is never OK.
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