Warning – impatience can be a dangerous travel companion

I really wasn’t in a hurry. Sure, I had promised to be somewhere in Dublin by noon, but that was almost three hours away and I knew I could make it easily.

Was on the road for almost five minutes and my navigation system calculated 2.5 hours.

So why did I have to try to gain a few seconds by overtaking a large tractor and trailer on a relatively narrow road when a slight widening presented itself?

Nothing was obviously coming in the opposite direction, but I really should have waited for a wider section.

A wobble of the tractor or trailer would have narrowed the opening to possibly impossible dimensions. Just to save a few seconds. It’s crazy.

What do we think of when we have to drive slowly behind a large or slow-moving vehicle for any distance?

Is it because we feel like we’re “in the country” and don’t have to obey the same road rules that apply in urban areas?

That you attract much less attention?

My passengers gently reprimanded me in that direction and honestly I felt a bit guilty because it was a bad example for one of them in particular.

I have to stress that I would never have overtaken if there was even the slightest chance of something: the road ahead was clear and straight.

But what if something came out of a hidden gate, for example?

So I got thinking. What should I have done? Definitely waited for a wide, straight, clear stretch.

There was one a few minutes up the road.

Yes, I would have “lost” a few minutes.

But it would have been the right thing. Impatience is a dangerous travel companion.