Tuesday, April 03, 2007

A drive on the highway

Today I had to go downtown to the Secretary of State office again to do some business filing (yes, just as boring as it sounds).

They have a security guard at the checkpoint at the entrance and his English is so bad that you have to take wild guess on what he is saying (And hope there are further instructions in the elevator on what department is on what floor, because it's absolutely, impossible to understand what he says. But he has a very nice smile and is very courteous. And so far I've gotten to the right place eventually, so I guess it doesn't really matter).

To get downtown I have to take one of the highways. I don't mind American highways any longer (if you had asked seven years ago I would have told you they are c-r-a-z-y). But when you have to go downtown, you have to pass a part of the highway called the "split". This is were two highways merges at the same time as you have several exits - I think there are at one point 12 lanes which are becoming 6 lanes within 500 meters. Meaning cars are switching lanes like absolutely crazy at the same time as the lane you're in might suddenly be gone and you find yourself in between two.

This is where I turn of the radio, tell passengers in the car to shut up, and get into "focus mood", hands on the wheel like in driving school.

I have never seen an accident here, which must be pure luck...

4 comments:

SweFlo said...

That sounds scary! I get cold sweat in difficult traffic! I know I am a decent driver, but there is no telling about the other people on the road, I see so much crazy tuff all teh time! Not to forget all the people who drive under the influence... We live pretty rural compared to a large city, though people think the traffic is mad here in tourist season. At least I know all the twists and turns...

Desiree said...

The split låter hur läskigt som helst. Jag kan säga med en gång att jag aboslut inte hade vågat köra där. Tycker att mycket av trafiken är helt crazy här i USA. Jag har väl inte vant mig ännu.

Annika said...

Vet du, fortfarande efter alla dessa år så blir jag asstressad av sådan körning, och det är ju ofta man utsätts för den också. HATAR! Jag försöker till varje pris ta alternativa vägar OM jag kan.
Blir kallsvettigt nervös! Inte bra.

JaCal said...

Sweflo - yes it is! You have to be so focused... and hope everyone else is...

Desiree - man vänjer sig - fast jag är fortfarande nervös och väääldigt fokuserad när jag kör i motorvägs-"splittar" (finns flera omkring här).

Annika - ja!! Det är så stressande. Jag förbereder mig flera kilometer i förväg, lägger mig i bästa filen, stänger av radion, säger åt alla att vara tysta... ;-)