Road Rage Thread

Years ago I had an idea for a syndicated radio feature. I was going to call it Road Rage Radio and the idea would have been to feature commentary and reporting on this topic delivered to people where they need it most--in their cars! It's fascinating, really. Being stuck in traffic just pushes so many buttons in people. And what's worse, many of the responses appear to be biologically hard-wired (yet at the very same time spectacularly ill-equipped for life on the modern road). I hardly drive anymore, but when I do I can quickly feel the craziness coming on me. Walk the streets of any city during rush hour and you will witness a symphony of shouting, fist-waving, and extremely agressive driving (all done by otherwise normal people).

Ride a motorcycle - you have no time to get mad, it's really great. (Well, okay, sometimes when my horn is broken, watch for finger, but it's really rare) When I ride all the time, my mind is so much happier.

Sounds like you are just a bad driver to me.

people are crazy. part of the problem is that, since you can't really communicate with people in another car, you end up assuming what they are thinking. and you never assume good things. so a perfectly normal person is driving behind somebody who is going at speed limit, and decides that that person is an asshole, and rage builds.

I like it when I commute just a few minutes a day.

Actually I had an even better idea a few years ago. Mine is to create a special squadron of police, the Asshole Squad, that is on hand to immediately pull Asshole drivers over, yank them from their cars and administer beatings on the spot. I used to entertain myself in traffic jams assigning certain punishments to offenders I saw. I also decided whether they would be allowed appeals or would go directly to beating. Part of this was the humiliation that would be involved in the very public, on-the-spot floggings. yeah, I know, I'm a bit twisted

Floggings would cause traffic, which would necessitate many more floggings. The 520 bridge would quickly become a full-scale flogorama every day.

I'm sold! All in favor, raise your hand.

http://www.trunkmonkey.com/content/view/28/51/

Awesome. This is a good use for a monkey.

Now, where's that trunk-chick in their header logo image?

must have been one of those damn inconsiderate cyclist from the other thread holding up traffic. They should stay in their own thread.

People simply don't care about driving, or have any respect for the seriousness of the business. Plus, with a variety of safety devices that we have, and the marketing for them, death seems a rare possibility. I don't enjoy conflict (I have enough stress), and if I am merely inconvenienced or annoyed, it's fine; but the people who have seriously endangered my life (3 x in 9 yrs or so) deeply disturb me. I drove an old car for awhile that had a sticky brake shoe, and if you modulated the brake just right you could lock the wheel easy, even at 5 mph, and scream the tire. Very useful when people pull out in front of you to lock the brake and put a horrified look on your face. Makes them think a little. ~ Huntsman

Mine has gotten to the point where I am starting to get concerned that I might snap and get myself somehow shot. My 1 hour thirty minute commute to/from work turns me into a monster.

At this point I do a couple of things to deal with the idiots and assholes on the road.

1. On the freeway I drive in the far right (slow) lane. I let people pass me. My stress level has decreased significantly since I moved over from the fast lane. There's too much competition there.

2. When sitting at a light that turns green while another car runs their red in front of me (got that picture in your head), I now simply pull out and lay on my horn. I obviously don't pull out so far or so fast as to cause a wreck, but I let it be known to everyone around that that guy was running a red light.


What really pisses me off (and there was a tv report about it last night on a Baltimore station) are the number of shitty driver cops. They speed, they run red lights, they tailgate. They are just horrible. And they tend to ignore traffic infractions that are right in front of them.

b