I am guilty of this and I will likely be guilty of most of the things on this node; that's what makes it FUN. But it's always more
engrossing when the car in front of you is doing it. Even if you're in the center lane and
you know this guy isn't in a hurry to switch lanes or turn. He stopped a couple feet from the faded painted white line and is now slowly rolling up to it. It's almost as if he has timed the stop lights on his
daily route and uses this rolling as a way to
kill what little time would have been spent at a full stop. I watch the back of his head to see if maybe he just
forgot to stop, looking to see if his right arm may be searching for something in the back seat or the glove box and that this motion has caused his foot to never
fully press the pedal. But no, his focus is straight ahead like mine is. He gets so close to the crossing traffic that I think I'm going to see him get clipped by an aging Cavalier. I absentmindedly grope for a business card, since
my business is car wrecks. Me and my boss would joke about passing a accident scene and tossing out our business cards with a
clay pigeon ejector, screaming Pull! and laughing.
You can't be too serious in our business, even if you don't have a card with your name on it.
With other drivers, there is always that irony of your own reaction. Sometimes you are helpless but to mimic the traits you abhor simply because you are behind them, you are in a line of lemmings. So it is no surprise that right after I am having a one way conversation with the man inching up to the red light that I find myself getting even closer to his rear bumper. I am inching up too, as though I am missing out on some communal effort of impatience, a rebellion against red lights. I may have to stop, but I don't have to fully stop. I'm going to rock back and forth instead.
The only time this act makes sense to me is when it is obvious the vehicle is a 5 speed. Though my Metro was possibly the least intimidating stick shift made, I hated having to take it out of gear or stop completely. Having all the control means often not wanting to have to apply it so regularly. Also, it was fun freaking out the guy behind me when he didn't have my brake lights to rely on as a sign that I had every intention of moving forward.