Reflecting on Road Rage

This morning, on my drive to work, I had a most remarkable experience. I stewed over it for more than two hours, then posted this to Facebook:

WARNING! If you get behind this car and the woman driving doesn't proceed because she's chatting on her cell phone, whatever you do, do NOT blow your horn to alert her to the situation. Otherwise, she will jump out of her car and yell at you and threaten you. That's what she did to me. Jeez! What a grump!





I thought that would allow me to put the incident to rest. But. It hasn't worked. I keep seeing her grey Victoria's Secret shirt and her bunched up hair, with that big mouth of hers not six inches from my face, yelling, "You don't want to fuck with me!" and, for a moment, I thought she was going to hit me. I just stared at her, thinking that if I didn't respond verbally, she would back off. And, she did.

I thought about giving her the finger and saying, "fuck you," but, in the nanosecond that it took me to choose NOT to do those things, I considered it would prevent things from escalating. Some folks are just looking for someone to go up against. For this particular individual, it wasn't going to be today and it wasn't going to be me.

The more I thought about what I coulda, woulda, shoulda done, the more I came to realize how vulnerable we are in our cars. Had I not had my window down enjoying the morning air, would she have smashed it? Had I attempted to back up and go around her, would that, could that have resulted in an ugly accident? And, the ferocity with which she attacked me, albeit verbally, and that element of surprise ... are those not the techniques the terrorists used in Paris and other locations around the world? What person thinks they're going to be shopping for bread or having dinner or sitting at a stop sign when some lunatic decides it's time to shoot them, bomb them, attack them, whether with weapons or with words? How are we to respond? Do we just sit there as I did or do we take action? And, how do we know which is the right thing to do?

After stewing over this for the better part of the day, I will make a conscious effort to be kind. I don't feel like being kind, to be perfectly honest. I feel like pounding some bitch's face in. But, I'm going to choose peace and joy and kindness. I'm also going to think about carrying my gun in my car.

If this was karma coming at me this morning, then I must be kind. Think kind thoughts. Do kind deeds. And, hope that wench in the black VW Jetta with Florida license plate 725LMK doesn't cross my path again. Next time I might not be so nice.

bullies on the highway ...

I have a really big beef with folks who drive. It's one of those things that no matter what a person does, it's not going to change anything. But, I still have a beef. So, I have decided to air my grievances here on my blog. After all, it is MY blog.

I live in sunny south Florida and use I-95 every day to get to my job. I follow all the rules of the road. I don't talk or text while I'm driving. I don't get in the fast lane and drive slow. I don't cut in front of people. Consequently, I haven't been involved in a traffic accident for 10 years.

Monday through Friday, I drive west on Sunrise Boulevard to the entrance ramp for southbound I-95. The problem is with the access to the entrance ramp. I don't know what engineer came up with the design, but I'd like to smack him up aside his head!

Sunrise is a 3-lane major roadway. On the approach to the left turn lane for the southbound ramp to I-95, the left turn lane is a single lane. There is a traffic signal to allow the traffic crossing Sunrise to the northbound ramp. On the other side of this intersection, the lane continues as a single lane until 5 car lengths before the traffic signal that permits that left turn onto the southbound ramp.

THIS is where the problem is. At the 5 car lengths point, that single left turn lane expands into two left turn lanes, allowing 2 cars through the signal on green, thus moving the traffic quickly onto the Interstate highway. What wasn't taken into account by that engineer was all the jerks who were going to race by those of us in line single file to cut in front of the cars approaching that 2-lane section of road. They speed by the line and cut right in so they make the next signal, instead of having to wait as many as three rotations of the signal to get through the intersection like the rest of us respectfully do. And, they appear to have no conscience about it. I blow my horn at them. I yell at them. I have even engaged in unladylike gestures when a driver is particularly rude, but all to no avail.

This vehicle cut in front of me and when I honked,
the driver used a rude gesture to express his annoyance
that I would blow my horn! Talk about jerks!

When I was a school girl and someone cut in the lunchroom line, there was a lot of verbal protest and the person was forced to go to the end of the line. We can't do that here. The police don't care; they've got real crimes to solve, real criminals to chase. So, I am stuck with these bullies on the highway and there's not a darned thing I can do about it.






Then, one morning I started taking their photos. I love my Galaxy S5 and its 13 megapixel camera. So, that is how I vent my frustration now. It's how I prevent "road rage." Instead of yelling or honking, I take their picture. If they have no regard for me, why should I have any regard for them?

I know it doesn't change anything. These drivers are still bullies. But, it makes me feel better to take their pictures. (The ones you see here are from August.) And, it is a relief to post them here and put them out to the Universe.

If you recognize a car, feel free to tell that driver to stop being a bully.  I hope you embarrass that person. They deserve to be embarrassed, among other things.

The world is tough enough without having to fight to get to work. No one is going to get where they're going any quicker by being in bully. In fact, you might even make yourself late. I think they call it karma ...