driving the highways

Coming from an island where the population is limited in size, the throngs of people in places like New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego becomes overwhelming at times.  Touring around, especially in traffic when friends are driving and you are sitting in the back seat, is a great way to view developing road rage or the lack of it.

Road rage got its claim to fame in the 1980's when TV broadcaster's in LA coined the term after a series of freeway shootings; it later morphed to include all sorts of aggressive behaviors that endangered other drivers and their cars.   Road rage actually got so much attention that a mental disorder was created to include the symptoms of intermittent explosive displays on the highways.  Cities with the least courteous drivers (Miami, Los Angeles, New York, Boston and Phoenix)were rated Road Rage Capitals.

Well until i got to San Diego the road rage was limited.  In SF, LA and Santa Monica we drove around in bumper to bumper traffic and never encountered a raised finger, or any thing more than a plea to pay attention projected  from our driver to others in his way.  But when i was behind the wheel and not in the back seat a crazed woman screached out from behind me narrowly missing bashing the front of my car and careening and skidding while cussing me out from inside her vehicle.  i felt the rage even though i couldn't hear a damn thing she was screaming at me.  She may have felt she had just cause, as i had changed lanes when i realized i was going the wrong way. The fact that she almost wrecked her car and mine seemed to be lost in her disordered rush to let me know she was annoyed.

i hadn't almost crashed into her all i had done was slow her down but it was enough to elicit rage.

In two days i have almost had three accidents caused by drivers in a rush.  Yesterday a truck almost slammed into the back of me but managed to stop inches from my bumper.  He unfortunately got rear ended by another driver in a rush.  This morning i went to change lanes and a car that must have been going 90 came barreling down and  had to swerve to avoid hitting him.  Then on the way home from my walk another car swerved into me, luckily i had the shoulder to move into. 

Why anyone would risk damage to themselves their car and someone else's car and maybe even that other person too, just to let you know they were pissed has to be a mental disorder; what else explain's that type of reaction to a minor slight while driving?

Driving in California is like an exercise in trying not to get involved in a demolition derby.  People in a rush don't seem to realize that they aren't getting there any faster than those going a tad slower.  i watched a red car trying to pass everyone end up at the same stoplight the same time I did a few miles down the road.  He may have thought he was making progress but he wasn't and he almost wrecked his car.

St. Croix is a great place to drive.  The speed limit is 35 miles an hour on most roads and if you do get in an accident it is rarely ever fatal.  Locals stop in the middle of the street for no reason and when you pull up behind a stopped car you would never dream of complaining, you just wait patiently for them to get going again.  Everyone stops to let someone in front of you and not allowing someone into the stream of traffic is the greatest form of rudeness around.  Honking is used to thank someone, not complain about their driving.

Some time ago i read an article about traffic that said if more people stopped rushing and accommodated drivers by letting them into the flow the experience would be more pleasurable and actually faster.  Unfortunately i can't find the article to quote it, so you will just have to take my word for it.

So anyway yesterday when i was peering into my rear view mirror hoping that the truck behind me had enough room to stop i thought someone should start a driving school that taught people how to cooperate instead of fight each other to get some place 30 seconds faster.  Slow down a few miles and stop agonizing about the drivers not driving like you want them too, life is too short.

And that's just my two cents worth on the topic of road rage and aggressive drivers, see ya next week.