Slice of Life Story Day 20 -A Driver On The Road To Nowhere

I am driving along the Monash Freeway in Melbourne’s early morning gloom. The traffic is moving steadily, despite the volume of traffic that is a constant feature of the early morning rush.  I am bound for a school in Melbourne's west.

 A small dark coloured Mazda is on my tail. I sense urgency from the driver. She drives behind me with a closeness that is both dangerous and disturbing. I am driving at the speed limit and the cars in front of me are doing the same. Still the driver pushes- impatient and so close I can almost see her eyes. She sticks close, always close.

Suddenly she veers left across three lanes of traffic and accelerates sharply before cutting back into the lane beside me. Her snaking manoeuvres across lanes of traffic have placed her two car lengths ahead of me. She repeats this lane change dance, however this time her efforts place her in the lane directly alongside me.

The lane I am in moves ahead and eventually she slides across the lane to take up a position directly behind me again. She had undertaken a mad dash to nowhere. Unable to defy the inner screams that demand haste and impatience she felt compelled to test the truism that the other lane always moves faster. There was no space in her head to hear the quiet, yet truly powerful voice of reason. As the Beatles sang, ‘Switch off, relax and float down stream.’