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On rude driving behavior

Editor, Index-Tribune:

    

  On this Friday evening, as I returned home from a day’s work on a wet roof, I approached the intersection at Fifth Street West and West Spain. I was driving south on Fifth and I stopped at the four-way stop intersection as the cars to my left and right proceeded through the intersection.

  I then started to pull forward when the car opposite me, a light green Prius or Subaru-type vehicle, driven by a young man wearing iPod earbuds, attempted to turn left in front of me.

  As I was already committed, I proceeded. He then flipped me the bird and screamed a string of obscenities.

  Now, it has been more than 40 years since I got my driver’s license and at that time I am pretty sure that at a four-way intersection, when two vehicles face each other and one is turning left, the person going straight through has the right of way. The only thing that bothers me more than the ignorance of the rules of the road is the extreme incivility this man displayed.

  This is Sonoma. If there is no one behind me, I pause to allow cars to enter the road. I stop for pedestrians. I know that the difference in time-to-destination anywhere in this town will scarcely change whether I drive like a jerk or with Slonoma courtesy. The rude sort of driving behavior is becoming commonplace here. Maybe an editorial on the Slonoma attitude, that made this such a wonderful place to live, is in order?

  C.W. Mapel

  El Verano