A Cup of Coffee Thrown at Me on Day 3 of ‘By The Book’

Ugliest morning yet. I had errands to run so that meant more road time. I actually had a motorist throw a cup of coffee at me today. If you're new to this, scroll down to find the backstory. Suffice it to say, this is the third and final day of a little social experiment I've been doing to see what happens in New Jersey if a driver (me) obeys all traffic laws 100%, meaning you do 35 in a 35, 25 in a 25, you stop and don't move an inch at crosswalks where a pedestrian is present (no matter if the pedestrian is almost up on the sidewalk and nowhere near your intended travel path because hey, that's what the law says), turn signals, stop lines, EVERYTHING by the book. The result has convinced me that driving by the book in New Jersey is one of the most dangerous things you can do.

Today for example, a motorist already fuming that I was doing 25 mph in a 25 mph zone (had been tailgating quite a bit) completely lost it when I had to make a left turn but there was a pedestrian in the crosswalk. So, according to the law, I'm supposed to stop completely, and wait until that person is back on the sidewalk. So that's what I did.  Result?  First of all, as I stopped, the motorist behind me who was already tailgating nearly hit me.  Then screeched around on my right, screamed an obscenity out his window and hurled a cup of coffee at my car. It missed somehow, probably had too little coffee left in it for a good throw as the cup caught too much air. I still have the rest of the day to go, and tomorrow I'll give you the final numerical results of incidents of honking, tailgating, etc., but my conclusion has already been made. The law and the real world have very little to do with each other on the roads of the Garden State. I'd rather stay alive in the real world than have my eulogy be what a "safe" driver I was.