I blew the settings on my alarm, yesterday, and woke up about an hour later than usual. I skipped the customary three snooze alarms, scrambled out of the sack, and started biking to work from my apartment only 18 minutes later than usual. No big deal, right. It was a pretty good recovery, I thought.
Anyway, I quickly discovered that the 7:44-to-8:09-a.m. world is a very different place from the 7:26-to-7:51-a.m. world with which I’ve become so familiar.
More cars. Higher speeds. Less courtesy. Way more anxiety for me.
Because I tend to quickly turn observations into theories, here’s my latest. I’ve always maintained that certain times of the day or week are more dangerous than others, like when schools let out, and at the end of work on Fridays when people are rushing to get ready for date night, happy hour, or whatever other event that makes them feel entitled to nothing less than a full police escort.
Now I’m adding the top of the morning rush hours to that list: 7:45 to 8:15 and 8:45 to 9:15. My theory is that most people start work at 8 or 9 a.m., often flirt with tardiness and, thus, drive more recklessly to try to show up on time.
The closer the big hand is to the 12 on weekday mornings, the more mtorists are on the road and the more reckless they become. I feel a lot safer biking to work when the big hand pointed in a southerly direction.
Have any evidence of your own to support or debunk that theory?
--Wordsmith 1953
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