The madness of driving in Pittsburgh

Hans Küng

There is a new blog post entitled, “I do not mourn Hans Küng alone.”

Times, “Hans Küng obituary,” April 8, 2021, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hans-kueng-obituary-qvfd5wprl


So I’d driven most of the way home, and stopped for gas. I was back on Pennsylvania Route 51 for the final leg home, when some asshole, Pennsylvania license plate KTX 3013, cuts me off passing on the right, so close I had to veer into opposing lanes to avoid a collision.

There was no reason for it. There was hardly any traffic. I was in the left lane because that’s the side the gas station is on and to avoid artificial potholes (manhole covers that are significantly below the road surface because I guess nobody in Pennsylvania knows how to use shims—yes, they exist and I’ve seen them—for this sort of thing). He was self-righteously speeding, even more so than most people do on this road.

Of course, as he completed his much too close maneuver, I put my very, very, very bright (LED) high beams on him. He stopped suddenly short of the next traffic signal, forcing me to jam on my brakes, got out of his car and informed me, “You put those lights on me one more time, mother fucker, I dare you!”

So of course I did. I didn’t learn much in kindergarten through the eleventh grade (I dropped out via California’s proficiency certificate and skipped the twelfth) but the one lesson I learned very well is that submission to a bully simply encourages them.

He turned around, rapped my fender, not hard enough to do damage, but he sure wanted to, then got back in his car, and as the light turned green, went into reverse. He stopped short of my front bumper, then went forward. It was all a futile display.

That was the end of the incident. Except in my head. But it’s what driving on Route 51 is too often like and I don’t have much alternative since it’s the main route home.

What amazes me is that people pull that shit when there are so many gun nuts in Pennsylvania. I might have been armed. If I had, I certainly would have pulled my weapon on him when he was out of his car threatening me. And said, “Now, what do you think, asshole?” Because that’s really the only correct answer to such a man.


Sometime early tomorrow afternoon, it will have been a full two weeks since I received the second shot of the Pfizer vaccine. In theory, I will be “fully” vaccinated.


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