Title: The Shoulder Isn’t a Lane: A Long Horn, a Short Fuse, and a Lesson on I-26

Coming home from my retina surgeon appointment in Ladson, SC, I merged onto Interstate 26 East, heading toward Mount Pleasant. Traffic was exactly what you’d expect after an accident ahead—bumper-to-bumper, slow crawling, everyone inching along and playing by the unspoken rules of patience and the zipper merge.

Everyone… except one driver.

The car in the photo decided the shoulder was a personal express lane. Not just briefly—this driver rode the shoulder for a long stretch, well past where any reasonable merge might happen. Then, without hesitation, they cut directly in front of me.

So what did I do?

Besides snapping a photo of the offender, I lay on the horn.
Not a polite tap.
Not a warning beep.

Ten seconds.
Thirty seconds.
A full minute.

As traffic crawled, I stayed on that horn until it literally stopped working. No exaggeration. Dead horn.

And yes—I took it one step further. I jumped on YouTube Live and streamed my dissatisfaction in real time. Probably not my finest moment, and definitely not advice for anyone else. Kids, don’t try that at home. I only wish I could find that livestream now.

The bigger issue isn’t the horn or the rant—it’s the entitlement. The shoulder isn’t a loophole. It’s not a shortcut. And it sure isn’t fair to the hundreds of drivers doing the right thing while dealing with accidents, appointments, and real-life stress.

Some days, you breathe and let it go.
Other days… the horn gives out before your patience does.

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