This morning I had to be at work at 6:00AM, and while there are just a few cars out, I notice a strange glow coming from a car that is passing me on the left.   “What going on in there” I thought to myself as the driver passed me…  

So having a “cat-like” curiosity, I decide to speed up to keep up with her.  That’s when I notice the car practically slid into a ditch on the left side (it was very slippery from the snow on the ground… just crazy!).  Then a little further down the road the driver almost ran into a car (stranded?) on the left hand side, missing it by maybe a foot (which is way to close when a car is moving 60+ mph). 

The near collision, must have spooked the driver, because she decided to move over to the slow lane.  This allowed me to catch up and pass her.  And low and behold, the glow was a lighting apparatus connected to her steering wheel, and she was reading a novel (or a very thick book of some sort)!?!?  (WTF?  that’s just plain crazy).  Now I’ve posted about Listening to Audio books while driving to work, but reading a book is way too dangerous, even during the wee hours of the morning!  After all, the driver almost got stranded in a ditch, next almost hit a car that was having problems on the side of the road, and is making herself an easy target for insurance fraud. 

Insurance Fraud?  What does that have to do with my story?

Well, there are fiendishly opportunistic people out in the world that, when seeing how the driver was driving and reading a book, would and do capitalize on it.  

How?

All they needed to do would be to sneak in from of the driver unnoticeable, and slam on the brakes.  The unaware (engrossed in her book) driver would plow right into the baiting insurance fraud fiend!  So the insurance crook gets a new car and most likely money from the insurance company for alleged injuries.  

Don’t think this happens?

I once had a friend in college driving down the road and a scam-artist did this exact thing to him.  He missed the crook the first time she slammed on her brakes, but then she did it again, and he lightly ran into her.  She claimed neck and back problems and claimed that his car did more damage to her car then it really did.  My poor friend has very unfortunate in that he was switching insurance companies at that point in time and ended up not being covered…  In his scenario, he wasn’t reading a book…  The young female driver stopped suddenly three times on him, so he’s sure it was intentional.  Why he kept following her, I have no idea…  I know that I wouldn’t have!!! 

People do reckless things sometimes (unless it me… I’m special 😉 ) 

-D