I love to drive, but I hate to drive.

I love to drive on open roads when it’s my car and me. I’m even perfectly fine when a few other cars share the roadways as long as they’re not too close or scary.

But I don’t like drivers who drive too closely behind another car, specifically the car I’m driving. Don’t they remember the two-second rule for good weather and the four-second rule for inclement weather?

Also, what’s with the drivers who insist on weaving in and out of traffic and slamming on

their brakes every five

seconds because they cut it too close?

My biggest complaint is drivers who come flying down the road when I’m stopped. I’m afraid they’re not going to stop. When the only car I can see in my side mirror as I’m waiting at a red light is the one two cars behind me, the driver behind me is way too close.

Does it really hurt to stop sooner, to leave space between you and the car in front of you? You’re not losing much time by being back a little further when the light turns green.

All of these drivers are accidents waiting to happen.

For the most part, interstate driving is good driving because there are no stop signs or stoplights. However, my drive home Nov. 22 on Interstate 57 was

one of my worst driving

experiences. I know almost everyone heads north on I-57, but I must have left at the worst time because it’s never been so bad.

Nonetheless, I could have

handled the traffic. Yes, it’s frustrating when both lanes are only moving at 60 mph, but what can you do? I guess you can still go 80 mph and maneuver between all the cars. I saw more than one close call. Drivers in cars and even a UPS truck and

a Greyhound bus were

obnoxious.

Drivers did not just start bothering me a week ago. This summer a driver rear-ended me. I was driving on what’s normally a four-lane road; however, because of construction, only two lanes were open. I kept watching the woman in the car behind me because she seemed to be weaving a lot. Then, when I was stopped at a stoplight, she hit me.

It could have been a lot worse, and thankfully I was not injured. But it was a terrible experience. I didn’t do anything wrong, but my car was smashed.

I wonder how lucky I could have been with an emotional distress case?

Seriously, because of that driver, I’m more nervous about the cars around me. I’ve heard plenty of horror stories from other people, too.

The fear is probably in my head a lot of the time, but it happened once, why not twice? I hate that fear because I love to drive.

Why can’t drivers pay more attention, be more careful and be more patient?

I also don’t like when a driver takes on the task of driving, putting on make-up and putting her hair in a ponytail all at the same time. This particular driver scared me so much because we were in stop-and-go traffic on the same street I was hit on. I turned on the first street I could to get rid of her. Pathetic, ridiculous, I know, but I wasn’t going to risk it.

I shouldn’t have to feel such stress driving. Drivers should follow the rules of the road, not cut off other drivers, not pull out in front of other drivers, and leave some breathing space in between cars.