I knew that the red car wasn't ready for the SR520 on-ramp the minute we entered arboretum way. Not that I lacked sympathy. I'm a new driver myself. That's why I'm always so keen to spot the fools and the idiots before they spot me, and this one was dead giveaway. She/he was much to tentative on the curves. Again, on a windy road where everyone goes 10mph over the speed limit AT LEAST, this is understandable. But arboretum way ends in a highway on-ramp that even the experienced drivers I know consider somewhat dicey, so when red turned onto the freeway entrance ahead of me, I knew that I wasn't going to like it. Then, going into the on-ramp, red and the three cars ahead of her all showed their brake lights. When you're going 40mph onto a short ramp leading to a highway that's going 60+, this isn't a good sign.

Anyway, I was shortly to be caught up in my own life-and-death struggle (which I, for some reason, repeat two to three times a week), stomping on the accelerator, looking over my shoulder, trying to spot the hole I could slide into without getting flattened by a semi-rig, so I couldn't really pay much attention to the red car. Besides, I'd let him/her get onto the ramp well ahead of me, and there was a huge space in front of me for anyone to get into. So imaging my terror when, as I slide into the freeway lane and look forward, I see red's tail-lights. Having lost his/her nerve, red was braking to a panicked stop, nose into the lane, at the end of the on-ramp (note that since this all occurs on a bridge to boot, there's no shoulder to cry on).

Luckily, I had the foresight (self preservation instinct?) to swerve around and tear off down the highway. For all I know, red is still there, trapped in the on ramp until rush hour slows the traffic to a crawl so he/she can slink away, by no means the first to be defeated and disgraced by the arboretum way on-ramp.