it's impossible to take the blame

I do not like to generalize people as a whole. We are all individuals, yet there are some traits that bind us together as a group. Whether that group is Republicans, Blacks, Europeans, female drivers...there is some running joke, true or not, believable or not, that characterizes us and places us in that group. To not be outdone, the Spanish have their own group and one characterization is their inability to drive, follow rules and most of all their self righteousness.

As most of my 2 readers know, I am quite long winded. I like to describe in detail a setting before I get into the story thus prolonging the punchline in the end. But still I have to attempt to paint a mural for you to give you some idea of Spanish life.

Driving here is no different than driving in America. We have flashing yellow lights at crosswalks. We have street lights but i am finding them to be only really used in large intersections in highly populated towns. But mostly the Spanish use what I call roundabouts. These roundabouts are like little pinwheels if you were to study a street map. They are used in place of traffic lights. The rules are simple: you yield the right away to your left, follow thru the roundabout until you get your exit and exit right. If there are two lanes, the inner lane is reserved for motorists who will ultimately exit to the left direction (like making a left at a standard 4 way intersection) or if they are doing a U-turn to head in the direction they came from originally. The outer lane is reserved for those exiting to the right (like making a standard right turn at an intersection) or continuing straight thru the intersection heading in the direction they entered the roundabout.

I will give you a moment to work it out. If not here is a visual:
http://www.azdot.gov/CCPartnerships/Roundabouts/Roundabouts_1.asp

But what i am finding living in a semi rural area, there are many one lane roads feeding into these roundabouts which are two laned roundabouts. The fact you go from one lane to two is not the problem. The goal of the roundabouts are to add some ease to traffic and alleviate buildups if you keep traffic flowing. The inner lane, as said before, services those who may want to deviate from their northrn approach and head west. The problem comes when people use these advantageous spaces for personal gain.

Some impatient drivers will use the roundabouts as passing tools. sure there may be 500 cars ahead of you, but they find some comfort in not having one more car then they could help in front of them. 499 is so much more relieving than to have 500 in front of you when you have to get to the cafe for your afternoon latte. There are so many issues with using the roundabouts as a passing lane, but the one that puzzles me is being cut off. sure the inside lane has all the advantages of beating the outside lane to the rapidly coming exit. So the inner lane driver, guns his vehicle to get in front of you while you follow the rules and head on the much longer outside lane. If this makes no sense to you, imagine running track...would you prefer the inside lane or the outside lane. how many people do you see jogging around a track staying to the outside? anyhow, there are more times than i wish that I have been cut off by the over zealous driver who just cannot seem to stare at the minor dent in my hatchback.

When these fuckers go Evil Knievel on you, it does nothing but raise panic and fear. My male bravado can do nothing but want to get all street race on them but playing chicken with my car and family inside is not a way to go out. Still what is right is right. Just because others don't follow the rules don't mean you have to. We will always have people who will get away with things and feel it is their right to do so. This problem is multiplied tenfold when motos or motrocycles decide to enter the frey. Its amazing how a cyclist thinks he ownes the road when riding in an open air death trap. One would expect them to be extra careful, but no, they seemingly dare you to hit them even if they are disobeying the road. from what i can gather, the Spanish allow this to happen. Surely it is arrogant of me not to be a defensive driver no matter if i am driving a tank or a smart car. Still, if i am riding my bycycle i am goign to be extra careful as not to cause harm to myself. That is just my opinion.

So now onto the story. I thank you for bearing with me to paint this picture. But it was mostly to give you background into how the Spanish treat their driving and cars. i am sure most Americans can agree we love our cars. We have memorable movies and television shows where you can't remember the name of the movie, but we know which car Baretta had or the rebel flag atop the General Lee. I have seen on more occasions i care to remember, the bumper car effect when the driver uses the car in front and to the rear to assist parallel parking his car.

Nor will you find used car lots like Carmax anywhere in sight. This country has no tolerance for cars and treat them as such. sure you are going to find some sweet rides here but most of them are driven down from France or the UK.

So I am sure yo know since we have been here we have had one car totalled and another ding a few times. Admitedly one ding on the new car was my fault trying to manuver in a parking garage and the corner of a wall won, hands down. Car is fine, just my pride is bruised. Carme backed into our parking spot in our garage for our apartment building and went too far and the bike we keep in the rear of our parking space puckered the hatchback. But my experience last week told me a lot of the Spanish mentality.

I was driving out to the soccer fields one day and was behind an old beat up van. Behind me was a family who's son plays soccer with Alex. I was alone and just enjoying some tunes when the van in front of me suddenly stopped a few yards shy of the stop sign. I was puzzled why he stopped short. I was still a good 20 yards from him when all of a sudden I see his white lights light up and he began accelerating towards me. i freaked and laid on the horn while bracing for the impact. It was not a great impact but enough to wake anyone sleeping in the car. i let off the horn as he began to roll forward and reached for my parking brake to inspect the damage. Just then I realized he was rolling forward but still in reverse. He accelerated again and backed into me but this time with less impact. I laid on the horn again until he rolled off my car and took his car out of reverse. he slowly rolled forward and pulled off the side of the road. He did not exit his car, but now I can see he is looking out of his side view mirror. Something he was doing probably already rather than his rear view mirror. I pulled the parking brake and walked around the front of the car to look: not one scratch. I realized my car was too low and he hit me in a good spot and square with his higher bumper. I was furious still and yelled at him asking what was he doing. He responded and told me to get out the way he was trying to park.

Let's take a moment here...

His intentions were to parallel park on the side of the road to our left. Not once did he put on a signal, also I had left him plenty of room to turn his wheel. but instead I guess in his mind I had not and to "pay me back" he decided to bulldoze me off the street. I so wanted to walk over and lay some road rage on him to give him a taste of American street justice. But I figured i should not and retreated to my car in a huff. The family behind me were amused. they had surprised looks on their faces and smiles. I wonder if they thought it was comical how blatantly horrible the other driver was and how he justified his gross actions with apathy and ignorance. Or were they laughing that I took so much care in a car. Or maybe my Spanish sucked and I said something like "get off the table you stupid cat". Who knows. but it is every man, woman and car for themselves in the mean streets of Spain