Road Rage
Ben accused me of Road Rage. "I read about it in my Driver's Manual and I think you have it." I wanted to scream. We were running 30 minutes late for his soccer game because he forgot his soccer shoes and we were stuck in a huge traffic jam. Of course I was angry and yes, I did beep my car horn at a car who stopped at a green light for no apparent reason after waiting through 3 cycles of red lights just to get to the intersection and yes, I did say bad words while verbalizing my irritation, but I don't think it qualifies as "Road Rage".
"Road rage is aggressive or angry behavior by a driver of an automobile or other motor vehicle. Such behavior might include rude gestures, verbal insults, deliberately driving in an unsafe or threatening manner, or making threats. Road rage can lead to altercations, assaults, and collisions which result in injuries and even deaths. It can be thought of as an extreme case of aggressive driving." Wikapedia
I don't enjoy driving and I find excessive traffic annoying. School buses, stupid drivers, slow drivers, pedestrians who don't look before crossing and not using the cross walks, drivers talking on their cell phones or worse texting, people making a left turn and not leaving enough room for others to go around them, non-stop red lights every 100 yards, slow drivers in the fast lane, cars thumping loudly with music, people throwing cigarette butts out their car windows, and city buses all irritate me. I'm not alone in this. Everyone seems to be flying through red lights, honking their horns impatiently, and driving angry. What's going on?
In my case, irritable driving seems to be routed in being late, being hungry, or having Ben in the car with me and when all three occur at the same time, it's not pretty. So I occasionally verbalize my anger. Much like Facebook, Twitter and other semi anonymous mediums, being in the car with my windows closed allows the filter of decent behavior to become leaky and I express myself in ways not normally allowed. Ben will be driving soon and I don't want him to necessarily drive like me. Atonement and facing my infantile tendency to have driving tantrums are possibly in order. God it hurts to admit that, this growing up shit at age 50 is tough.
"Road rage is aggressive or angry behavior by a driver of an automobile or other motor vehicle. Such behavior might include rude gestures, verbal insults, deliberately driving in an unsafe or threatening manner, or making threats. Road rage can lead to altercations, assaults, and collisions which result in injuries and even deaths. It can be thought of as an extreme case of aggressive driving." Wikapedia
I don't enjoy driving and I find excessive traffic annoying. School buses, stupid drivers, slow drivers, pedestrians who don't look before crossing and not using the cross walks, drivers talking on their cell phones or worse texting, people making a left turn and not leaving enough room for others to go around them, non-stop red lights every 100 yards, slow drivers in the fast lane, cars thumping loudly with music, people throwing cigarette butts out their car windows, and city buses all irritate me. I'm not alone in this. Everyone seems to be flying through red lights, honking their horns impatiently, and driving angry. What's going on?
In my case, irritable driving seems to be routed in being late, being hungry, or having Ben in the car with me and when all three occur at the same time, it's not pretty. So I occasionally verbalize my anger. Much like Facebook, Twitter and other semi anonymous mediums, being in the car with my windows closed allows the filter of decent behavior to become leaky and I express myself in ways not normally allowed. Ben will be driving soon and I don't want him to necessarily drive like me. Atonement and facing my infantile tendency to have driving tantrums are possibly in order. God it hurts to admit that, this growing up shit at age 50 is tough.
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