Instant karma

I love it when two negatives cancel each other out.

So here I am, driving into Washington DC, and as usual, I'm late due to traffic.

One of the reasons that traffic is backed up is a Virginia State Police cruiser about three or four cars ahead of me, doing exactly 55mph on the inbound Dulles Access Road. And of course, no one is willing to man up and pass him. I would pass him myself at this point, but I'm locked in by the cars ahead of and along side of me who won't. So we all coast on down the highway at 55mph, with no cars in sight ahead of us because they were all going faster and left us behind a while back.

Cue the jackass...the solution to the problem.

As I'm driving along, fuming. I catch a glimpse of something fast and white in my right side mirror. It's a Mercedes, and it's hauling.

The Dulles Access Road, for those not familiar, has a wide right shoulder which doubles as a bus-only lane. Car use of this lane is strictly verboten and the fine is high enough that few risk it. This guy in the Mercedes is risking it though, and I have the prime seat as he flies by me on the right then suddenly sees the marked State Police cruiser just before he passes it. He brakes. He tries to cut back in to the normal lanes. Sadly for him, no one else is willing to let him in. Not that it matters, because the trooper's seen him now. The trooper pulls to the right and just waits for the Mercedes to slink past, then the blue lights come on. Got him!

Now the arrogant jerk who couldn't wait his turn is getting his comeuppance, and the trooper who was slowing up the traffic is the one giving it to him, meaning that the road is now open for the rest of us to take off. My speed immediately increases by 20mph. Thanks, Mercedes jerkwater! And thanks, trooper, for snagging that scofflaw. Lane cheaters suck even on a good day, and this was far from being a good day.