Something I don't understand...

[VDusen04]

Re: Something I don't understand...

I'm a pretty chilled out driver and similar to the original poster, I've struggled to understand how road rage can be so widespread, even if it provides virtually no benefit to anyone involved 95% of the time. I mean, at its core, I understand why road rage occurs - it's a sometimes illogical kneejerk reaction to actions taken by someone we immediately view as being willfully negligent and/or inconsiderate. It's a sudden and volatile outlet, but I'd be surprised if it truly helps people as much as they think it does.

If we're real, I think many of us would admit just about every type of driver probably upsets us at some point. So far in this thread, I've already seen complaints for people who drive too fast, too slow, too recklessly and too carefully. Clearly, I'm guessing the response would be, "Exactly, just drive normal and there wouldn't be any problems." To that I say, good luck. Whatever "normal" driving means, there's always going to be billions of people who don't follow its definition.

That leads me to my next thought. Do we really believe our yelling is changing anything? Is the cost benefit there? Are we willing to yell at 200 drivers in hopes that for maybe one person, it really changes their perspective on things? I understand for some of us, the answer is "yes". For me, not so much. From my experiences, road rage just sucks all around. It's upsetting if I have road rage and it's awkward and upsetting if someone I'm in the car with has road rage. My older brother is just permanently pissed off while driving and it's uncomfortable, it's embarrassing, and it sucks.

In short, I get the idea of road rage and why it happens, but more times than not, I do not find it neat, nor sensible.

[RoundingThird]

Re: Something I don't understand...

Just for the record, I understand when people get mad in a life or death situation, it's just that those don't happen as often as people think.

[C the Lyte]

Re: Something I don't understand...

I'm a pretty chilled out driver and similar to the original poster, I've struggled to understand how road rage can be so widespread, even if it provides virtually no benefit to anyone involved 95% of the time. I mean, at its core, I understand why road rage occurs - it's a sometimes illogical kneejerk reaction to actions taken by someone we immediately view as being willfully negligent and/or inconsiderate. It's a sudden and volatile outlet, but I'd be surprised if it truly helps people as much as they think it does.

If we're real, I think many of us would admit just about every type of driver probably upsets us at some point. So far in this thread, I've already seen complaints for people who drive too fast, too slow, too recklessly and too carefully. Clearly, I'm guessing the response would be, "Exactly, just drive normal and there wouldn't be any problems." To that I say, good luck. Whatever "normal" driving means, there's always going to be billions of people who don't follow its definition.

That leads me to my next thought. Do we really believe our yelling is changing anything? Is the cost benefit there? Are we willing to yell at 200 drivers in hopes that for maybe one person, it really changes their perspective on things? I understand for some of us, the answer is "yes". For me, not so much. From my experiences, road rage just sucks all around. It's upsetting if I have road rage and it's awkward and upsetting if someone I'm in the car with has road rage. My older brother is just permanently pissed off while driving and it's uncomfortable, it's embarrassing, and it sucks.

In short, I get the idea of road rage and why it happens, but more times than not, I do not find it neat, nor sensible.

B/c ppl that keep it pent up end up in the news eventually. And it's not for baking cookies for the elderly couple down the road.

I understand how juvenile it looks, but for me, that's my release. Now, I'm not running them off the road or acting like a fool in the process mind you. Just a quick blow up and I'm back.

The biggest for me are ppl that don't stop @ a stop sign and completely misjudged your speed as they pull out in front of you. Happens to me every morning on my way to work. I'm actually used to it now unless I have to drop my mph down 20 +. The hgihway speed limit is 55.

That and lack of turn signals. Eden, NC does not use turn signals as all.

[VDusen04]

Re: Something I don't understand...

B/c ppl that keep it pent up end up in the news eventually. And it's not for baking cookies for the elderly couple down the road.

I understand how juvenile it looks, but for me, that's my release. Now, I'm not running them off the road or acting like a fool in the process mind you. Just a quick blow up and I'm back.

The biggest for me are ppl that don't stop @ a stop sign and completely misjudged your speed as they pull out in front of you. Happens to me every morning on my way to work. I'm actually used to it now unless I have to drop my mph down 20 +. The hgihway speed limit is 55.

That and lack of turn signals. Eden, NC does not use turn signals as all.

Yeah, I suppose it comes down to people just being different from one another. For me, getting upset like that wouldn't be a relief, it'd be a burden and an undue stressor. For instance, if someone pulls out in front of me, I can adjust as deemed necessary, maybe slide in offhand to a passenger, "Hmm, that wasn't very wise" and forget it even happened five seconds later.

On the flip side, becoming enraged in the same scenario suddenly blows everything up. Instead of forgetting it even existed, it becomes one of the most intense moments of my day and the feelings tend to linger. And again, that's not to mention what it does to my passenger and the "offending" other driver. In most cases for me, it'd just a virus of bad feelings, stress, and anger. And even it was somehow a release for me, it'd still likely be at the expense of another person who I'd like to think is super stupid, wrong, and should feel bad, but may have actually been doing nothing wrong to begin with (or just made the most honest of mistakes).

I've always thought it was interesting how we tend to carve out every single other driver as being the scum of the Earth with only the most evil of intentions. If not that, we just assume they're not smart enough to be evil. Rarely do we seem to assume that they're just like us, normal folk who make mistakes of varying degrees. If we get cut off, we assume that was the part of some master plan where the guy next to us thinks he's some hotshot who's better than us, no? Surely, it'd make no sense to really think that, but are the feelings not similar at times? I find that fascinating.

[DaveDQ]

Re: Something I don't understand...

My sons joke about how I call every driver, "Buddy." I don't get over the top mad but I will make a remark like, "It's a four way stop...you were here first and you are on my right...you go, buddy."

When I was a teen I used really bad language. One day my friends and I were hanging out in the street and I started getting loud and obnoxious with my language. A woman stuck her head out her door and said..."Hey sewer mouth, shut up." For some reason that struck me and made me realize how bad my language really was so I stopped.

[C the Lyte]

Re: Something I don't understand...

That honest mistake could be a fatal mistake though. These aren't just cars, they can be weapons.

That said, I am not trying to justify it and say it's the correct thing to do. It is a very ugly side of me and a lot of other people, and I am working at toning it down. What am I trying to accomplish? Venting. It's a random person that you may never see again also, so there's probably some displaced aggression/anger there too.

I am not proud of it at all, but I understand it.


Edit: But for the record, NEVER using turn signals whether merging or turning, and most of the time on a cell phone, is not a mistake. It's laziness, potentially dangerous, and borderline egotistical and disrespectful of others on the road.

[VDusen04]

Re: Something I don't understand...

That honest mistake could be a fatal mistake though. These aren't just cars, they can be weapons.

That said, I am not trying to justify it and say it's the correct thing to do. It is a very ugly side of me and a lot of other people, and I am working at toning it down. What am I trying to accomplish? Venting. It's a random person that you may never see again also, so there's probably some displaced aggression/anger there too.

I am not proud of it at all, but I understand it.


Edit: But for the record, NEVER using turn signals whether merging or turning, and most of the time on a cell phone, is not a mistake. It's laziness, potentially dangerous, and borderline egotistical and disrespectful of others on the road.

I feel ya. I had a tough time of using the correct words during some spots in my previous post. I didn't mean to present other driver's mistakes as being the, "Meh, maybe I just accidentally screwed up, so what?" types of mistakes. I acknowledge those exist, but I was more referring to the fact that no matter how hard we try, we're likely going to make driving mistakes on a very regular basis.

For instance, 99 times out of 100, I'll correctly pull out with a safe distance between me and the car that's coming. But every long while, I admit there's been a time where I've mis-gauged how fast a car was moving and my pull-out forces them to slow down a little bit. I didn't willfully put myself in that situation and I don't enjoy doing so, but unfortunately, it happens sometimes no matter how hard we try. The person who had to slow down... he caught me in that very, very rare situation. Maybe 1 in a 100 is too common. I may not make that mistake again for years. But what may he likely assume? That I don't care about him, I'm reckless, a terrible person, and shouldn't be on the road. It's just interesting how we tend to go to the worst place possible in those situations.

That aside, I also didn't mean to lump all driving mishaps into one pile. I, too, am not fond of folks who do not use their turn signals. And as you said, I think in most situations that's just a bad habit more than an honest mistake. I'm with you there. I think many people just do not realize why turn signals are so integral in so many situations (beyond merely turning with traffic directly behind).

[TheMatrix31]

Re: Something I don't understand...

Just for the record, I understand when people get mad in a life or death situation, it's just that those don't happen as often as people think.

How do you know? Happens all the freakin' time in LA.

[wwharton]

Re: Something I don't understand...

I feel ya. I had a tough time of using the correct words during some spots in my previous post. I didn't mean to present other driver's mistakes as being the, "Meh, maybe I just accidentally screwed up, so what?" types of mistakes. I acknowledge those exist, but I was more referring to the fact that no matter how hard we try, we're likely going to make driving mistakes on a very regular basis.

For instance, 99 times out of 100, I'll correctly pull out with a safe distance between me and the car that's coming. But every long while, I admit there's been a time where I've mis-gauged how fast a car was moving and my pull-out forces them to slow down a little bit. I didn't willfully put myself in that situation and I don't enjoy doing so, but unfortunately, it happens sometimes no matter how hard we try. The person who had to slow down... he caught me in that very, very rare situation. Maybe 1 in a 100 is too common. I may not make that mistake again for years. But what may he likely assume? That I don't care about him, I'm reckless, a terrible person, and shouldn't be on the road. It's just interesting how we tend to go to the worst place possible in those situations.

That aside, I also didn't mean to lump all driving mishaps into one pile. I, too, am not fond of folks who do not use their turn signals. And as you said, I think in most situations that's just a bad habit more than an honest mistake. I'm with you there. I think many people just do not realize why turn signals are so integral in so many situations (beyond merely turning with traffic directly behind).

I know you say you don't want to dump all the situations into one basket but you're examples are situations that would only make true psychos go off on you. I drive about 3 hours a day back and forth to work... and that's an average day. If I'm 7 cars deep in the left lane because someone is driving 50 while texting or chatting on the cell phone, I am going to be pissed. Even more so if that person sped up to get in the left lane, then proceeded to slow down to get back to texting.

That's one example that happens multiple times on a daily basis. We can include people that just start making their way into your lane bc they assume you'll hit the brakes and let them over. Or how about riding the shoulder of an on ramp bc traffic isn't moving and you want to get closer and then try to force your way in? I've also seen my share of accidents live and been run off the road by someone who decided it was time to switch lanes no matter what I thought.

Road rage in general is bad... especially following people, cursing at them, etc. But some people are also selfish and aggressive or too passive on the road. And even if it may seem like they don't cause life and death situations, it doesn't take much for one to occur considering everyone involved is driving a death machine. Just like anything else, my feelings on it are that the extreme either way is bad... and dangerous. And for the record, if someone honks at me when I've made a driving mistake, I give them a wave and nod to acknowledge that they were right, I potentially cost them time, money or put their lives in danger.

[Sandman42]

Re: Something I don't understand...

I hate the idiots that are honking their horns like crazy at Red Lights. It's like wtf you want people to do? Disobey the law and go through a Red when everyone is at a complete stop.

The worst is when people honk at you the instant the light turns green. Whenever they do that to me I make sure to go through the intersection as slowly as possible.

[RoundingThird]

Re: Something I don't understand...

How do you know? Happens all the freakin' time in LA.

Big cities, yes. Suburbs, no.

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: Something I don't understand...

On the contrary getting road rage while driving can potentially be very dangerous and life threatening if gone too far.

Im pretty mellow on the road. I only get 'road rage' when someone is in the car with me and I'll pretend to be angry in a joking way. But if Im alone I couldnt really care any less; so long as im safe and aware of psychos driving around me. People do say Im a boring driver so meh.

This is pretty much me right here.

Personally, I always crack up when I see people in their Car's having Rage Fits, especially when sitting in rush hour traffic, as if all that honking and yelling and middle finger waving is going to make it move any faster. Maybe I'm just a patient person and that's why it doesn't bother me as much as it does others.

[Redacted01]

Re: Something I don't understand...

Big cities, yes. Suburbs, no.

Soccer moms live in suburbs. So yes, it happens all the time.

[Chaos81]

Re: Something I don't understand...

There's a big *** sign that says merge left and the lane ends, but they decide to ride the on ramp going 45 onto a 70 mph interstate.

I thought someone was going to end up causing a big wreck in a similar situation this past weekend.

There's an area on one of the major highways by my house where they're doing all kinds of construction. They ended up shrinking the merge lane in one area because of it. Saturday night I was following a semi when an SUV who was in the merge lane tried to speed up and get around the semi before the lane ended, rather than just getting in front of me. Luckily they saw the road ended in time and managed to hit the brakes and get in front of me before the lane ended.

SUV at 65mph + those concrete construction barriers + semi wouldn't have been a pretty sight, and I'm guessing I would have either ended up in it, or getting rear ended from slamming on my brakes.

[gopher_guy]

Re: Something I don't understand...

Just today I was behind a lady at a light waiting to left turn. This light stays on for about .0004 seconds, and then let's the people on the other side go straight.

She is car #2 in line, I'm #3, and a truck behind me is #4. Her face is BURIED in her phone, she doesn't see the car in front of her leave, my horn doesn't work, so the guy behind me honks. She looks in her rear view mirror, waves at me, then leaves as the light turns yellow so me and the guy behind me can't go and have to wait another light cycle to go.

I look in my mirror and make eye contact with the guy behind me. We both throw our hands up like "you gotta be kidding me". Lol

The kicker: Her license plate was "U2CLSE". Which I'm assuming means she dislikes tailgaters and aggressive drivers. That's what made me even more angry. A distracted driver is just as (if not more) dangerous than an aggressive driver.