Monday, August 29, 2011

Road Rage

     Hello interweb. I was in my car today, when I saw someone make the mistake of getting into the wrong lane and trying to come back over. Someone was in his blind spot, and luckily he saw them and heard them honk their horn so an accident was avoided. But the person who was inconvenienced did not see it as a lucky avoidance of someone's mistake. He continued to blare his horn, threw his hands up like Britney Spears after her latest break up and rolled down his window to begin screaming at this person like a coke addict on "Cops". After he "kindly" let the person over, he continued to blare his horn for about a half a mile until the point at which he switched lanes to run his super powerful four cylinder 2002 bottom of the line Lexus around this person just to cut him off.

     Why is it that getting behind the wheel of a car automatically makes most people turn into the love child of Mel Gibson and a batshit-crazy racist redneck with a goat beard? Oh wait that's still Mel. So the love child of Mel Gibson and a Nazi. I really think that I have had civil conversation with someone who let me go before them in line at a store because I had less things than he did, and then been flipped off in the parking lot by the same person. The transformation just doesn't make sense. Maybe I missed the government issued mandate that all persons must light their genitalia on fire for the duration of all driving operations. There are far more ridiculous laws in our legal system.

     I can't rationalize this phenomenon at all, but I really hate that it happens so often and to so many of us, so I'm asking for your help. Why do people seem to become raging lunatics as soon as they step behind the wheel of a car? 
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5 comments:

  1. DWeiAugust 30, 2011 at 12:02 AM

    And that's why I hate driving.

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  2. Kitty StampedeAugust 30, 2011 at 4:53 AM

    hahahahah...holy shit, did i ever need this laugh first thing this morning..right before I venture out to the car for my early morning commute. GUH! I cannot answer your question, but my temper definitely comes out a touch when behind the wheel. It definitely comes down to lack of patience for other people's shitty driving habits but you are right, we all become super gutsy assholes when behind the car barrier to the outside world. I am currently working on not letting anything get to me...because I have literally felt my blood pressure rise high when behind the wheel..it's crazy. I think we need to leave earlier too so we are not always rushing to get to where we need to go on time.
    This is definitely a very interesting phenomenon. take care...

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  3. UnknownAugust 30, 2011 at 6:28 PM

    Love child of Mel Gibson and a Nazi... I think I've met this guy before. You're right though, that "barrier" allows us to treat people in ways we wouldn't if we were face-to-face with them. Perhaps it is that "distance" combined with the "power" we feel when behind the wheel of a car that allows us to become beasts.

    Cheers,
    Anne

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  4. UnknownAugust 31, 2011 at 12:05 AM

    The imagery in your post is brilliant.

    I think that people change behind the wheel because they suddenly have all this power in their control. A huge hunk of metal that they think protects them. Their sanity then gets pushed the the very far reaches of the brain, where it cowers next to commonsense and kindness to others.

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  5. A Beer for the ShowerAugust 31, 2011 at 6:38 AM

    When people drive, they have a sense of entitlement. They don't see it as someone making a mistake, they take it personally. "THAT GUY cut ME off. Oh, well, I'm gonna show him!"

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