And here's one of those things you have to do every time you drive, especially if you're in a hurry.
It happens at you approach a red light, and you find several lanes of cars ahead of you. As you roll up to the pack, you have to decide which lane to get into. You have to guess which looks like a good bet to take off quickly, so you can move out fast when the light turns green. With half a block to go you have to decide who's the really fast asshole in this group up ahead.
Forget the Volvo, she's listening to public radio, and drives the way she lives - with fear and caution. You'll want to avoid that Toyota with the fish symbol; Christians drive as though Jesus himself was a traffic cop. And, by all means, ignore the Lexus with the heavily made-up, bejeweled pig woman. She has the reflexes of an aging panda.
Ahhhhh! Here's the correct machine to get behind: a Camaro with four different shades of primer paint and a bumper sticker that says "I date my sister." This guy's a real risk-taker; full of crank, and on his way to an AC/DC concert. You'll be home before you know it. ~ George Carlin ~
Heart thumping, fingers flying, arms flayling, curse words spewing, cars revving, horns blaring. Sound familiar? Would you consider yourself to be one that experiences road rage or would others say you are the one that more than likely causes it for others?
I'm quite certain we have all felt road rage at one time or another, some with more rage than others and for different reasons.
Generally I don't get road rage but I have been known to "give the bird" to people without giving it much thought. Really...I do - surprise! The one time that still sticks in my mind that quite frankly made me look more like an idiot than anything was when I was younger and still living in Grand Forks. I was working at an office down town and I had parked on a side street this day.
It was winter time, I managed to get into my car to start it and then exit quickly to brush snow off the windows. During the time I was brushing snow I was not thinking much about the traffic going by and it getting thicker by the minute. My mind was on the snow and how it was pretty, it wasn't too cold and I was in no hurry at all. (Correct, no kids yet) I got back into my car, adjusted the radio all the while watching out the mirror for a break in traffic to pull out.
Where I was parked was close to the river, so there was really no where to go other than to the end of the road and make either a right or a left turn and of course it was a 3 way stop. Not the best choice of parking but it was close to the office door so I thought I was getting rock star parking that morning. I quickly learned others were smarter than me.
I waited for a period of time to which I thought was long enough, all the time my blinker signalling that I would like to not spend the night here in this parking spot so please be kind and let me out, but apparently this was misleading to the drivers going by; they must have assumed I was guiding them with flashers to the end of the road. I slowly turned the front end of my car out further into the traffic hoping this would shed a little light on the subject, yep...nothing. Then traffic seem to slow, so I pulled out a little more. still no give. At this point at least an hour went by, OK not really but my patients were wearing thin. I decided to go for it, and the lady coming up the road didn't think this was in her best interest and proceeded to blare her horn at me.
I then of course did my famous "bird flip" at her and pulled out anyway. Only to discover that I hadn't taken my mittens off, so of course it now looked like I was giving a friendly wave to her, which explains her bird flipping back at me and the verbal curses being mouthed that I was supposed to understand. Clearly I did and clearly my red face was not from the snow.
Road rage can be caused by numerous thing. According to the 2012 statistics, traffic congestion is one of the most frequently mentioned contributing factors to aggressive driving, and aggressive driving is one of the most common causes of road rage. Aggressive drivers are more likely to become upset/angry while driving.
So with our little amount of traffic congestion here in Fargo, what would be the likely cause for us to get road rage? Statistically we rate at a very low amount of "reported" road rage but I myself have seen people getting cut off, blocked from passing, fingers in the air, verbal profanity being mouthed behind the glass and rearing up behind cars on the interstate because they want to go faster than the car in front of them is doing, and that is just from driving with Blaine!
Whats your your road rage today?
Low: I made it work, and only one person cut me off!
Average: I got cut off, tailgated, blocked, the usual.
High: I might have used my horn once, cursed, basically got angry once or more. Saw a
monkey picking his note.
Extreme Danger: Full mood drag racing, using your finger, people hanging their heads out the
window to curse. ROAD RAGE!
Share what you have experienced, or what causes your road rage, I'd love to hear your stories!
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