Life in the (kinda) fast lane

I'm a slow driver, although you wouldn't know it from the flurry of speeding tickets I accumulated in Prince George's and Montgomery counties a month ago.

(Note to the City of College Park: Speed cameras on Route 1? Really? The 4,241 people you have giving out parking tickets aren't generating enough revenue? Just set up a tollbooth charging people $25 to enter and exit College Park and get it over with.)

My friends would say a No. 2 pencil has more lead than my foot. I'm not the guy doing 40 on the Beltway, more like 60 to 65. The left lane, like the middle button of a sports coat, is sometimes territory for me.

My driving gene comes from my father, who has never met a speed limit sign he didn't like. One of my mom's favorite and frustrating hobbies is counting the cars that pass my dad when he's driving. You should hear her when the car gets passed by a truck somewhere in Delaware farm country on the way to Ocean City.

Personally, my driving has never bothered me. I still get to where I'm going and get there safely. You don't need one of those driving school, passenger-side breaks if you're riding shotgun with me.

That said, I do have a tendency to tailgate, at least accidentally. For example, say I'm in the right lane of the Beltway less than a mile away from my exit and I'm quickly approaching a slower car.
My first reaction would be to wave to my dad. But then I have a choice: do I stay in the lane because my exit is quickly approaching? Or do I change lanes to pass the slow car?

Most times, I stay in the right lane. Then I start tailgating and getting angry I didn't pass the car. Which makes me tailgate more, as if I can will the car in front of me to get out of the way. It's all I can do not to glare at the person when I finally pass them.

There is one instance, however, when tailgating is wholly appropriate - nay, required. It happened to me the other night as I was driving home on a two-lane road. There were no cars behind or in front of me. As I was coming upon the entrance to a development, a car took a quick right-hand from the side street into my lane, causing me to put my foot on the brake. The car then proceeded to go, and I'm estimating here, -23 mph.

This driver, and his ilk, should be arrested on the spot. It's one thing to make the quick cut-in and floor it; it's a whole other thing to cut someone off and essentially rub it in his face.

I just wish it happened in College Park. That move is worth at least a $50 fine, right?