¶ … Vacations or There are numerous different types of drivers. On some days, I (or some other single individual) can manifest the characteristics of all these drivers, or at least a good deal of them. In many ways, driving can be considered one of the key distinguishing features of someone's personality. There was a lyric in a song once that you can tell people's styles by the way they park a car. If the styles and personalities of the following drives can be determined by the way in which they manipulate a moving two ton piece of steel, metal, and plastic, then it is no small wonder that the world is in as much trouble as it is.

First and foremost, then, we have the ubiquitous cab driver, synonymously operating in every city in every state, while seeming to thrive in metropolises and other cramped places where the value of cars is considerably higher than that of pedestrians. Key distinguishing trademarks of cab drivers are number one -- they speed up at the sight of oncoming pedestrians, bicyclists, unicyclists…whoever does not happen to have his or her own two ton defense from these road warriors. In truth, this tendency may be largely reflective of their source of income since they are constantly prowling for passengers, but it does not account for there inexplicably high speeds in narrow spaces (say, when abruptly switching lanes or when encountering such daily occurrences as morning or evening traffic) when someone happens to be crossing the street. It does not matter what color the light is, whether or not there is a stop sign, or any other traffic law to obey. Cab drivers unerringly speed up and brake as an after thought when there is pretty much anything (even other cars) spotted in their path. If they do have to yield to a some sort of traffic law, they will have to settle for merely unnerving the passenger or giving the willies to some helpless grandma...

In virtually any city, cab drivers make it known that they, and no one else, have the right of way.
Next you have the 'running late' driver, which is an unfortunately routine phenomenon when some misbegotten guy (or gal, as is frequently the case these days) has neglected the decency of leaving his or her domicile, place of employment, what have you, a mere five to 10 minutes earlier to ensure that he or she will arrive at some selected destination in a timely fashion. These jokers usually appear during that rush hour traffic in the mornings, during the evening traffic blitz, and occasionally on the weekends when little Jimmy has left his soccer shoes at home and the minivan has to pull a sudden u-turn before making that afternoon game. Running late drivers will seize any and ever opportunity they can summon to advance ahead of the next driver -- regardless if that is only how far they get. Character traits include weaving in and out of lanes multiple times to leapfrog a car or two, and doing a brutal job on the brakes when they come screeching to a halt at the impeding sight of a red light. The yellows, of course, get ignored as though they were any other color but red, and the amount of velocity these guys muster on residential streets or interstate highways is all the same -- outta here.

Then you have what can best be termed the hater driver, whose only apparent purpose for being on the road at just about any hour in which he or she is spotted is to get in the way of people who actually have places to go. These are the drivers who got 65 in the fast lane, blissfully oblivious to all the honking and attempts of others to pass them and, who when they do happen to get flipped off by someone zooming 85 miles per hour in front of them, shrugs and notes that they're 'only going the speed limit'. Somehow, these guys or gals have an uncanny knack for knowing just…