Road Rage

One bright and sunny winter day, a couple of weeks ago, I was wrapping up a visit with a buddy of mine and his family in Charlotte.  He had to report back to work that afternoon to start a three day trip and I would begin a four day reserve shift early the next morning.  It was decided that we would make the drive back to Atlanta together and were well on our way, when the following incident occurred. It put the whole issue of how irrational road rage is into perspective for me.

We had just passed through Gastonia, North Carolina, heading south on Interstate 85, in the right hand lane, behind either a pickup or semi. There was overtaking traffic in the left hand lane, but the distance and closure rate were such that I would be able to accelerate quickly enough to match the other vehicle’s speed and not create an undue hazard for either of us. I put on my turn signal, changed lanes, and accelerated.

As soon as I had completed negotiating the maneuver and was now in front of the slower traffic, I looked at the other driver, who was now passing us on the left, only to see her making wild hand gestures. It didn’t take a Nobel Laureate to figure out that she was upset at what I had done (despite there being no risk to either party). Her displeasure became even more intuitively obvious when she changed lanes, placing herself directly in front of my vehicle and then slowed down to match my speed.

Had that been all she did, I would have just chocked it up to general irritability and thought nothing else of it, but that wasn’t the case. She continued to slow down incrementally, until we were getting passed by the very vehicles we had been passing only moments earlier. My buddy and I looked at each other with knowing smiles and just shook our heads. I waited about a minute or two, put on my turn signal, changed lanes, and began accelerating to get around her. Not wanting her quarry to get away, she suddenly jumped into our lane, just ahead of us, and accelerated to match our speed. Now, my buddy and I were convulsing with laughter. This had to have been the most vindictive woman either of us had come across in recent memory, and it was just plain funny.

This little scenario played out for approximately another half mile before she decided to end it by quickly zipping across two lanes of traffic to make her exit ramp, which was at least in my opinion, probably the most dangerous thing she had done the entire time we were going through our little ritual. As we discussed what had just unfolded, my buddy turned to me and said that this had to be the subject of my next “rant”. He was right, so here I sit, pecking away at my laptop, trying to put the events and the emotions, which were at the heart of it all, into perspective.

What is it about some people that makes them susceptible to even the slightest and most insignificant stimuli? What is it that makes them turn what would be a non-event for the rest of us, into the most personally egregious affront ever? What is it that provokes some into irrational acts that border on incredibly stupid or even flat out dangerous? The only answers that I can come up with are perspective and attitude.

Perspective is how we view the world. It is, in effect, our take on reality and dare I say it, reality itself for a bunch of folks. Call it either myopia or tunnel vision, but this is what some people use as their crutch to get through their day. It ain’t pretty, it ain’t intelligent or rational, but it suits them just fine.

Attitude is how we handle those day to day comings and goings of events in our lives. No matter how big or small, planned or unplanned, controlled or uncontrollable, our attitude, in the words of Charles Swindoll, “is the one string that we have to play upon”. Despite how crappy one’s day might be going, attitude will determine whether it is salvageable, or on the verge of becoming a trainwreck.

It may be just a hunch, but I’d say that a change in one of these traits would more than likely have a profound effect on the other. In fact, any change for the better in one will amplify itself by orders of magnitude and produce fairly pleasant side effects in anyone who wishes to undertake such an endeavor. Furthermore, why anyone looking to improve their situation, wouldn’t seize upon such a simple formula for self fulfillment, is completely beyond me. So, if you know of anyone who could benefit from a polite but healthy dose of reality (especially if it concerns their driving), please feel free to share this with them. 

I enjoy being on the road with other motorists who are of like mind, it definitely makes the task of driving that much easier and safer.