Shoulder Checks Please!

Ok, what is it with the passenger side of my van? Am I invisible on that side? Is there some sort of minivan force field that makes it impossible for other drivers to see me? Over the course of the last week or so, I have almost been run into 3 or 4 times, and it’s always the same stupid move. Some loser to my right decides he’s changing lanes and starts moving into me. And it’s not like I’m riding people’s blind spots. I know about that and I avoid it.  Nobody does a shoulder check anymore. It just keeps happening.

My one and only car accident was due to a similar situation. An older gentleman in a big old Lincoln was in the right lane, I was in the left lane, both going the same direction.  As I was just coming up beside him he decided to do a U-turn. Yes, from the right lane. I had seen him slow down and thought he was turning into a driveway on the right, but no, he was planning a U-turn. So of course, he took out my right front fender. Not too bad, three or four thousand dollars damage. All on his insurance as the police charged him with unsafe lane change. That was last December when my van was all of six months old.

Last week, Kelly and I were returning from Waterloo on the 401 when a transport truck I was passing decided to move left and almost pushed me into the median. Then today it happened twice with cars. Both times on I-75 at about 70 miles per hour. The second incident was the closest. The idiot came across two or three lanes and just kept on coming. I was in the far left lane, and sure enough, when I was right beside him, here he comes into my lane. I moved into the paved shoulder a bit, laid on the horn and startled him back into his lane. I swear the left side of my van is a magnet or it’s invisible.