Watch out for aggressive drivers and your own emotions
With the economy in the dumps and many people under stress,
those who have a natural tendency to be aggressive drivers just
have more excuses to do stupid and reckless things. I made a
careless mistake the other day and an aggressive driver obviously
thought that my error gave him or her the right to try to kill
me
– and whoever else was in the area – using a few thousand pounds
of plastic, rubber, steel and a tank full of gasoline as a murder
weapon.
Watch out for aggressive drivers and your own emotions
With the economy in the dumps and many people under stress, those who have a natural tendency to be aggressive drivers just have more excuses to do stupid and reckless things. I made a careless mistake the other day and an aggressive driver obviously thought that my error gave him or her the right to try to kill me – and whoever else was in the area – using a few thousand pounds of plastic, rubber, steel and a tank full of gasoline as a murder weapon.
I was driving east on Sunnyslope when I reached the red stoplight at the T-intersection with Fairview Road – and I went stupid; my brain went into the stop sign mode. I did a full stop, checked in both directions and turned left on to Fairview going north with plenty of room to spare in front of a monster truck coming up Fairview to my right.
Obviously, the truck’s driver noted that he or she had the green light and that I had accidently turned left on red although I was well ahead. Rather than just a beep, or give an angry wave or the “driver’s salute,” they decided that error was sufficient to sentence us both to death so they stomped the gas, jumped to about 90 miles an hour, and caught up in 200 feet. They then ran past me on the single lane road with the monster truck halfway over the double-yellow line in the oncoming lane, horn blasting.
They had showed me all right; luckily, there was nothing coming the other way. I hate to think of the results if fate had put a school bus in the other lane. For one split-second I felt the same unreasoning anger the truck driver displayed and considered returning the favor by running the truck down; good sense immediately won out and I just shrugged it off. However, be aware that aggressive driver and others with the same attitude are still out there.
We are all under a lot of stress, the roads will soon be jammed with summer traffic, and some people will make careless mistakes as I did; nevertheless, now is the time to make sure you control your emotions when you’re behind the wheel. A vehicle with an angry driver is nothing but a deadly weapon; don’t let it be you.
