Road rage!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Magicsilence
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Magicsilence

Guest
I was driving home from daily Mass today, and a car was literally 1-2 feet behind my bumper trying to pressurize me to go faster, and was really getting on my nerves.

I was doing 25-27 in a 30mph area (its wet and dark), and saw a bus on the other side of the road about 30 metres in front.

It was really dark but because I have good eyesight, I just made out the outline of two people who had gotten off the bus, and were crossing the road onto my side of the road. By now I was about 20 metres away. I gently pressed the brake so that if one of them should trip or fall and my brakes should fail I would not run them over. So my speed dropped to 18-21 mph.

The car behind me couldn’t see the people and decided to kick out onto the other side of the road and push hard on the gas to overtake me, meanwhile the bus was just leaving its stop, coming out into the middle of the lane and reducing the space for this guy to overtake.

So, he was overtaking for no reason, there were people in front that he couldn’t see crossing the road and he was trying to squeeze through a tiny gap because the bus had pulled out and given him no room (i.e between me and the bus).

For just a split second, I got mad and felt like jerking my car over and forcing him straight into the bus.

I, of course, didn’t do it.

Do you think I sinned? Mortally? 😦

It just happened so fast, I’m not sure 😦
 
No, I don’t think you sinned mortally, if you sinned at all. Anger is an appropriate response to someone placing your safety and the safety of others in danger. And a reflexive urge to knock the bozo out of his lane is not the same as dwelling on the thought or actually doing it. There have been people in my life I’ve had an overwhelming urge to slap for their rudeness, blasphemy, crude behavior, what have you. I didn’t follow through, and I didn’t dwell on it. They remained unslapped, and my conscience remained clean.
 
Hehehe, I always apply the brake on and off, on and off, when they do that.

😉

I think people get into a huge, metal bucket with wheels and it gives them a feeling of power. :rolleyes:

My story: my friend drives at the exact speed limit. We exited the highway and a man that had been tailing us ran up the grass to pass us on the exit ramp. He made it in front of us and we stopped for the red light. It turned green. He drove forward. And was t-boned by a drunk driver going 60mph on the overpass. His car was totallllled! Fortunately, whatever his injuries were, he was still able to get out of the car.

I think God had the last laugh.
 
I’m with Puzzleannie on this. Expressions of road rage must be avoided at all times, because there are some real crazies out there who will shoot you or T-bone you or attack you in your car at a stop over the slightest thing.

I understand that’s not your question, and I agree with those who say it’s only a temptation when you think of something you could do but don’t do it.
 
hasikelee said:
Hehehe, I always apply the brake on and off, on and off, when they do that.

.
Click to expand...
Some people on this thread didn’t think this was a good idea, I disagree.

My strategy is a bit different. I gradually go slower and slower.
Tailgating is unsafe. Are we to feel threatened by the tailgater and put up with the unsafe condition? Slowing down, reduces the risk, and maybe gives the tailgater a hint.
 
Mijoy2 said:
Some people on this thread didn’t think this was a good idea, I disagree.

My strategy is a bit different. I gradually go slower and slower.
Tailgating is unsafe. Are we to feel threatened by the tailgater and put up with the unsafe condition? Slowing down, reduces the risk, and maybe gives the tailgater a hint.
Click to expand...
This seems quite a bit safer to me than the sudden-brake-in-your-face option. While I’m not eager to further enrage a raging roader, I don’t think it’s wise to allow them to bully the rest of us, either.
 
Sometimes it helps to remember that you dont know why the person behind you is in a hurry; there might be an emergency or he is late for something important etc. Im not saying that tailgating is at all okay, but that its not hard to imagine why it can happen.

I dont know how many times I have critised others on the road (to myself or to others) when I myself have done something similar or the same at certain times like speeding, failing to indicate properly etc.
 
hasikelee said:
Hehehe, I always apply the brake on and off, on and off, when they do that.

😉

I think people get into a huge, metal bucket with wheels and it gives them a feeling of power. :rolleyes:

My story: my friend drives at the exact speed limit. We exited the highway and a man that had been tailing us ran up the grass to pass us on the exit ramp. He made it in front of us and we stopped for the red light. It turned green. He drove forward. And was t-boned by a drunk driver going 60mph on the overpass. His car was totallllled! Fortunately, whatever his injuries were, he was still able to get out of the car.

I think God had the last laugh.
Click to expand...
I used to do that breaking, but realized I was goading another person into greater anger…not a good thing to do. We should not see how angry we can make another. If we do, we are culpable in the sin. (I know, I’m not a priest, but that is MHO)

I also don’t think God was laughing, but sad that the hurried driver didn’t listen to Him. He put you in front of that hurried driver to slow him down, he ignored the “hint” and still drove too fast and was injured.

I’ve been a hurried driver before. When I had a vomiting child in the car, on the way home from the park with a child who just broke his elbow, rushing to get an injured child from school. There are many reasons why we rush, I try to remember the possibilities before I let my anger/annoyance get ahead of me. I’m actually quite thankful for my OB who rushed to the hospital to attend the delivery of my quickly arriving little baby girl! 🙂

Mary
 
Years ago, I found an instant “cure” for the rage I would feel building inside me whenever I looked in my rear-view mirror and saw a persistent tailgater:

As soon as it is safe to do so, I throw on my turn signal, pull over, and let them pass me. They zoom by & I continue on my merry way. (And 9 times out of 10, I end up right behind him at the next red light!:p)

Seriously, though–it instantly solves the problem.
 
StephanieC said:
Years ago, I found an instant “cure” for the rage I would feel building inside me whenever I looked in my rear-view mirror and saw a persistent tailgater:

As soon as it is safe to do so, I throw on my turn signal, pull over, and let them pass me. They zoom by & I continue on my merry way. (And 9 times out of 10, I end up right behind him at the next red light!:p)

Seriously, though–it instantly solves the problem.
Click to expand...
This is a smart thing to do if you easily get flustered by tailgaters. It also has the effect of sort of embarassing the other driver because when they look in their rear vison mirror and see you pulling out again, they will realise why you pulled over. Im not saying thats always a good thing, but thats their problem I guess.
 
MH84 said:
This is a smart thing to do if you easily get flustered by tailgaters. It also has the effect of sort of embarassing the other driver because when they look in their rear vison mirror and see you pulling out again, they will realise why you pulled over. Im not saying thats always a good thing, but thats their problem I guess.
Click to expand...
I always thought most people who tailgate do it in order to get you to pull over. :hmmm:
 
Sometimes people who are unsafe seem to be oblivious that other people might not wish to participate in their unsafe driving practices.

My husband and I still talk about an incident that happened early in our marriage. We were driving and came to a set of train tracks. The lights were blinking and the bar was coming down. We could clearly see the train moving down the track.

Behind us, a driver began to loudly blow his horn. My husband and I looked at each other, confused. Surely, someone didn’t want us to speed across the tracks.

Well, the driver sped passed us, shooting a dirty look our way and drove around the bar thingy.

Thank God(and I mean that literally) the train was coming at a slower pace.

Racing a train is stupid enough but expecting other drivers to do so is beyond stupid.:mad:

Just for information sake, I knew a man whose brother and mother were killed driving over train tracks. 😦 Nope, I am not racing across the tracks to beat the train.
 
surf(name removed by moderator)ure said:
I always thought most people who tailgate do it in order to get you to pull over. :hmmm:
Click to expand...
I have noticed many tailgaters are inexperienced drivers (read that very young drivers who appear to be of the age they haven’t had thier licenses very long), who are not attempting to be deliberately hostile but are just unaware that what they are doing is both rude and unsafe.

When I have pulled over, or come to a stop because of a stop sign or light, I look at the individual and realize they are totally unaware they are doing anything wrong.

The lucky ones learn simply come to realize thier behavior is rude and unsafe. The unlucky ones learn by either crashing or almost crashing into the person in front of them.
 
Mijoy2 said:
I have noticed many tailgaters are inexperienced drivers (read that very young drivers who appear to be of the age they haven’t had thier licenses very long), who are not attempting to be deliberately hostile but are just unaware that what they are doing is both rude and unsafe.

When I have pulled over, or come to a stop because of a stop sign or light, I look at the individual and realize they are totally unaware they are doing anything wrong.

The lucky ones learn simply come to realize thier behavior is rude and unsafe. The unlucky ones learn by either crashing or almost crashing into the person in front of them.
Click to expand...
Since I can’t determine the motives of all unsafe drivers (by far!), I will likewise give the young ones the benefit of the doubt on this point. However, as a youth I was personally witness to several of my male friends who drove their cars as though it were a sport and had little patience for the average driver’s speed and caution. When these guys pulled up to someone’s bumper, it was for a reason, and the reason was neither nice nor innocent. But again, this is only my limited experience.
 
As I priest told me in confession pray for the other drivers that annoy us.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top