Seriously? You Have a Driver's License? (Part 2 of 3--The NJT "Revver")

Having lived in a small town for years, I saw teenagers, both boys and girls, spinning "cookies," jumping snowdrifts, and "revving" their engines to let bystanders know just how "hot" their vehicle was! But the driver described in my next encounter, has them all beat. Please, do NOT try this while driving!

The first time I drove on the NJT (New Jersey Turnpike), I was venturing to a conference in Atlantic City. Early on in my journey, it became apparent that drivers on both the NJT and the Atlantic City Expressway were FAST (driving at least 20 miles over the limit) and FEARLESS (of being ticketed for speeding.) When I spotted red and blue flashing lights in the far distance, I thought that the driver who had just passed me had been "nabbed." I couldn't have been more wrong. Those flashing lights were from a patrolman who was not capturing a speeder, but was parked in the barrow pit watching cars whiz by. I was baffled but wasn't going to second-guess a highway patrolman. Perhaps he felt safer alongside the highway rather than ON the highway.

One Sunday afternoon, TC and I were headed home, having spent the day riding the roller coasters at Six Flags in Jackson, NJ. Traffic was moving right along at perhaps an 85 m.p.h. clip when vehicles came to a screeching halt...stopped dead in their tracks! Because merging traffic was not usually a problem on the NJT, this meant either there was an accident ahead or the toll booths were backed up due to heavy traffic.

I'm not sure why it is that when no cars are moving, some drivers have a tendency to either honk the horn or "rev" their motors. Do they think that this will make fellow drivers move any faster? Or is it perhaps their way of entertaining everyone?

This particular day we had a "revver" beside us who immediately got my attention. Varoom! Varoom! ... louder and louder...yet not moving! Hmmm... young--perhaps late 20's; a fairly new car though I didn't notice the make and model; impatient?--didn't appear to be as he looked in my direction and grinned broadly. Oh, sorry to burst your bubble, Kiddo, but I'm not the least impressed.

By now, we were idling forward inch by inch at about 5-10 m.p.h. Every so often, traffic would surge ahead two or three feet--that was progress! The "revver" occasionally fell behind, but always seemed to end up next to us. Varoom! Varoom! I just shook my head and laughed, thinking that he surely must be bored as he continued to try to get my attention.

Eventually, he did!!! He was approximate four or five car lengths ahead of us when suddenly our lane of traffic began moving, rather quickly I might add. As TC accelerated, I had my eye on the "revver," who had obviously seen our lane open up. As he looked to the right, he, too, accelerated. "VAROOM! VAROOM! CRUNCH!! BANG!! SCREECH!!" and ran right SMACK into the back end of the car in front of him! Whoopsie!! It seems that his lane was not moving as fast as ours!

What a total idiot!! Of course, we became the "rubber-neckers" as TC slowed down to assess the damage of the vehicles. Oh, he thought that there was only several thousand dollars in damage...but still quite an expensive price to pay for a little entertainment from the "Revver." So much for traffic moving in both lanes for the time being as the drivers would attempt to move their cars and "fallen bumpers" to the shoulder of the highway.

A reminder to my readers: Always drive beside a "revver" and never in front of them!