As I arrived at the nearby intersection this morning, the cars perpendicular to my path were lined up at the red light.  I was waiting for a break in the traffic to make a right turn.

A car passed me on the left.  He appeared to need to make a left turn.  A driver who was lined up at the red light moved his vehicle a bit so the car could cross through and make the left turn.

My thought at the time:  People are really helpful to one another.  How nice.

SWISH!  SWITCHEROO!

The bastard made a right turn.

What happened to civility? Some might call that driver’s behavior chutzpah.  I call it a crime.  Yes.  A crime against civility.

Until the birth of our granddaughter almost a year ago, I thankfully hadn’t driven the freeways much.  Now, once a week, I get to experience the best and the worst of road manners.

Once on the freeway, I usually ask my wife, “How many road cutter-inners will we see today?” The average number of cars that cut in to our “freeway headed” lanes, during that 9-minute trek is 10.  Two or three of these criminals cut in when the lanes are only feet from the last fork in the road.

Whom do they think they are?  What if everybody drove like that?

Wait a minute.  What if they are really foreigners who are not familiar with our rules of driving civility?  Make them be familiar – and fast!

Where are the police officers when you want them the most?  They are nowhere.

Let’s create a civility police force.  They can give out tickets.  They will check fingerprints.

The first civility driving offense will be a $100 fine.  The second offense, $500.

The third offense will be two years in jail.  Yes.  That makes me feel a lot better.

Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at robertebsen@hotmail.com