Good Drivin’ Gone Bad

I’ve only been the recipient of road rage once in my life. That was fifteen years ago one morning on my way to work. It was about 5:30 a.m. and there was almost no one on the road except one certifiable nut case and myself.

I was headed southbound on a four-lane road doing just slightly over the speed limit when I noticed a vehicle coming up very quickly behind me. If this had occurred on the expressway I would have pulled over into the right lane to let him pass. But, this was a full access road and the right lane was wide open for him to get around me. At the last moment he swerved into the right lane almost clipping my rear fender then swerved back into the left lane in front of me and stood on his brakes.

In turn, I had to slam on my brakes and swerve into the right lane to avoid running into him. I brought my car to a complete stop and just sat there until he was long gone. If I had reacted in any other way the situation probably would have digressed into something much worse. To say the least, I was quite shaken by this bizarre incident.

A psychologist friend of mine once told me; “Never argue with a crazy person, they will always win, …..even if it kills you”. I’ve never considered asphalt real estate something worth fighting over. In fact, if someone in traffic really wants to occupy the space that I’m using, I will try my best to help him (or her) out.

Rudeness in traffic is something that we see everyday and we’ve become used to it. We even expect it. Almost everyday I see something occur in traffic that’s causes me to think; “Now I’ve seen everything”. Then the next day something tops that. Most of the time it’s just a case of poor judgment or lack of common sense.

Over the last fifteen years I’ve replayed that road rage scenario in my mind many times. I would like to know what I did that may have triggered such dangerous behavior in this person. It very likely had nothing to do with me at all. It may have been someone that was very angry at the world and just needed to vent his frustration on the first person he saw.

Since that incident, I try to be mindful of the fact that there are truly unstable people using the same roads as me. Some of them carry guns and would be happy to prove their point, whatever that might be.

I’d like to extend a special thanks to Officer Taylor of the RPD for demonstrating what it’s like to be pulled over and arrested. Oh, and thanks for skipping the demonstration of baton therapy.