Honk!

My midwife's office is located in a neighborhood with very straight, narrow roads. Many of the intersections in this area are four-way stops; many are two-way stops; and some are just intersections where one person has no stop and the other has a yield sign. I had never really encountered yield signs, apart from merging, until living in Utah, where they are used quite abundantly in neighborhoods. They are actually quite nice because when you approach them, you just need to slow down and have a look around you rather than coming to a full stop.

I've noticed when I drive in this particular neighborhood that many people come to full stops even if they don't have to. I think it is just habit because there you are driving along when you approach an intersection and see that there are other cars to your left and right that have stopped. You don't happen to have a stop sign, but you see that these other cars are stopped and assume you are at a four-way. But usually people just slow down a bit, look around and realize they don't need to stop. I drive very carefully in this neighborhood because the intersections can be confusing.

On Wednesday I was driving North and I came to an intersection in which the northbound and southbound drivers had neither a stop nor a yield sign. The eastbound and westbound drivers, however, had a yield sign. As I approached the intersection, an eastbound driver was also approaching the intersection. Because I was turning to go East, I slowed down, and it was a good thing, too. Because this lady just plowed right on through the intersection not even realizing that she had completely ignored a traffic sign that gave me the right-of-way.

I rarely honk at people, but I honked at this lady. It was partly because I was irritated, but also because she seemed completely oblivious as to her error. I wanted her to realize that she needed to pay better attention to the signs.

And then, what do you know? But she turned into the medical offices parking lot that I was turning into. (We were at the intersection by our medical offices when the near-miss occurred.) I went into my midwife's check-in area, which due to construction in the building is now being shared with some OB/GYNs. Incidentally, this lady went to the same place. As I was checking in with one of the midwife's secretaries, this lady was checking in to see an OB/GYN. While she was checking in I heard her tell the secretary that she had been having contractions for 18 hours, and they were now spaced 5 minutes apart.

I began to feel a little sheepish.

But then, when I was leaving, she was leaving too, and the secretary asked her where she was going. She replied that the doctor told her that her contractions were not strong enough and to call at a later point.

I do feel a little bit badly about honking at a lady in labor. But I also don't. Lady, if you are in labor, you maybe are not qualified to be driving.