Lane changers

Travelling West on 94 you cross the St. Croix River and proceed through some Minnesota suburbs. As you approach St. Paul you notice a phenomena known as lane changing. Often these are the little Hondas with the wings on the back end of the trunk, sometimes with loud exhaust systems, but not necessarily. These quick change artists drive nearly everything, including old clunkers. The common denominator seems to be personal anxiety or an accelerated desire for progress, and/or perhaps the desire to display driving skill only known otherwise on race car tracks.

Because of the nearly total absence of law enforcement on this highway (except when there has been a collision or other disaster -- perhaps caused by a lane changer) my suspicion is that no one has ever been ticketed or even warned about these crazy patterns run by the "devil cars"; except, perhaps, when the changer has been drunken or on some drug of some kind, or fleeing from the scene of a crime (?) ... not sure.

Now, least you think that I have a bias against this activity, or that I am fearful and can't imagine my considerable time behind the wheel as preparation for the dangers cause by these drivers, that isn't it. I think it is more the futility of it all that gets me concerned; acceleration, dodging around, braking and more dodging, and then waiting behind the cars that the hapless driver has sped up to ... perhaps a traffic jam of earlier lane changers who are now stuck in freeway traffic, forced to cool their lead feet and white knuckles. Hurry up and wait, one of the delicacies of contemporary driving.