ASK A YOOPER: Alaska drivers: what’s the hurry guys?

I must say that my recent column on snowmobile versus snow machine stirred up quite a few email from the readers--some educational, some entertaining, and a few downright mean! My second installment on to use or not use a “1” the area code, and the large number of telephone prefixes here in the Mat-Su hasn’t brought one response...maybe you readers are just as perplexed as me.

My next observation is bound to get a few readers miffed while others, I hope, will totally agree with me. Before I arrived here in The Valley, the only time I encountered two lanes of traffic moving the same direction on the highway was on a passing lane. Baraga County (what we call a borough up here) had not one red light. Miles and miles of two-lanes and two-tracks. Usually both would get you to your destination, depending on how fast you wanted to arrive. We all had places to go, but the pace of getting there was slower.

During our long winters, it wasn’t unusual to walk out the door in the morning and trudge through four-foot snow drifts to get to the Tahoe when 12-18 inches of snow fell overnight. If I was lucky, the wing-plow hadn’t been through yet and I would be able to reach the main intersection where the road was at least plowed. If I was unlucky, one of two things usually happened: Either I would end up backing out over the crown of the road and on the opposite low side of the road or the plow had left me one hell of a pile to break through before I reached a drivable road surface. The former would usually result in my having to trudge to the garage and drag out the snow-blower so I could clear a running path to get started.

One major item worth noting is that you never thought twice when making a right-hand turn. You never had to worry about a lane of traffic next to you...it didn’t exist. I remember my first visit to Alaska in late July-early August of 2015. Leaving Ted Stevens International Airport in my rental car, I had to make a right-hand turn off Spenard onto 36th Street several miles into my journey.

Without thinking twice, I signaled and proceeded to make the turn. Reality check! A vehicle approaching from the rear in the adjacent right lane laid on the horn, and as the driver approached, she flipped me off and uttered some unprintable words here. Yes, I was totally at fault, but old habits of three decades are hard to break.

Now I’m in the world of three lanes of traffic on the Parks, red lights that seem to last forever, and median strips. And as one of Wasilla’s finest pointed out after pulling me over, in a world where using a wide and flat dirt surface alongside the Parks as a right-hand turning lane — no there wasn’t another lane beyond that, is not permitted. A world when you see a green light doesn’t mean go...unless you’re turning left. A world where two-tenths of an inch of snow can turn Hollywood Road into a giant skating rink.

I know, this is life in the big city...with the exception of all the black ice on the roads. It’s all foreign to this hick from the Yoop. But I am getting acclimated. My driving habits and techniques are still a work in progress, but making huge —and quick — strides. However, there is one thing that for the life of me, I can’t comprehend.

Here in Alaska, there are a ton of lanes where drivers merge right. A good example that comes to mind is the Glenn-Palmer Wasilla Highway intersection and southbound on Knik Goose Bay Road. I see some of the same vehicles every weekday heading to work. The drivers know the road merges, but they still won’t merge before the last minute. In fact, many will speed up to pass one of two vehicles at most, then slam on their brakes and have to wait for traffic like the rest of us...why?

Why are some drivers up here hell-bent on getting the jump on a couple of vehicles? In front of a couple of drivers who made the correct choice, many times hundreds of yards further back? I can’t tell you the number of times I have had to hit my brakes to let “Joe Jack-Rabbit” sling their vehicle in front of me and then, without fail, slam on their brakes so they don’t rear-end the rig in front of them. And the thing that miffs me most? A driver who does this and then makes a turn 300 feet up the road!

I’m not trying to start a fight here. I’m just wondering why. Am I the only one who’s noticed this? Or is this another part of Alaskan life this former Yooper just has to get used to?

As always, feel free to drop an email with your thoughts, answers or comments to chris.ford@frontiersman.com.