I have a few rules -- well, some say more than a few -- the kind of rules that I assume others will recognize as useful and easily implemented. I'm not talking about commandments here, but about courtesies.

I drove this morning to Kansas City. From our home to downtown KC (the Missouri side -- I'm not sure I could locate the Kansas side) is about 125 miles, all but the first eight miles of it interstate. It's an easy drive straight down I-70, one that I can do in my sleep. Heck, I have the locations of most of the orange construction barrels memorized, and recognize some of their scars. This two-hour trip generally passes pretty quickly. But this morning the going was a little bit slower because of the heavy fog from Manhattan to west of Topeka, and because of the rain that eventually distilled from the fog sometime before I reached Topeka.

In the foggier portions of the trip, the traffic slowed to 40 MPH or lower. When I reached Topeka and the rain had started, most of the traffic was going the speed limit, 70 MPH or that comfortable range between 70 and 80 that allows the car to slow to the speed limit without braking when a trooper appears. My comfort range under these conditions was 74, so I passed a few cars, and was passed by others, but was generally in the flow of the traffic.

Being passed doesn't bother me. Being passed by someone who then pulls back into my lane and slows down bothers me, but to my surprise, that didn't happen this morning. The drivers who really irritated me this morning were those who passed and then pulled back into my lane at what would have been a safe distance under dry conditions, but a distance which was less courteous?safe?acceptable? under wet road conditions because of the roostertails, the spray from the tires of the passing vehicles that muddies the windshield.

I'm not a complete ass about this. I can accept this spray when the passing vehicle is under pressure to get over from a vehicle behind it. But when the passing vehicle is under no pressure to return to the righthand lane, the driver should do so only after ascertaining that the range of the roostertail will probably (see? only probably!) clear the passed vehicle. Thus it is written. And now I'm not the only one who knows this rule.

Hey, Seinfeld episodes were built on less.

I'm better now, thanks.