I feel like road rage is dangerous and for the most part, a wasted use of energy and life.
This blog post is my attempt to make the roads safer for someone. If this post decreases the number of times one driver goes into “road rage mode”, then the world will be a better place.
When someone does something STUPID on the road and I see it, rather than getting angry right away (a.k.a. Tim’s Road Rage Mode), I let my curiosity escape and control my thoughts.
Instead of blame the idiotic driver for his moronic actions, I pause and I ask “Why?”
Why did this person do something so stupid while driving?
Why is this man talking on his cell phone while trying to turn left at a busy intersection?
Why did this woman not signal right before cutting in front of me?
Why did this idiot learn how to park a car?
Why is this old woman driving so so so so so darn slow?
Why is the man driving at 70 km/h in a school zone on a school day?
Why are these teenagers pretending their souped up Civics are racecars and racing in the city?
Then I brainstorm possible reasons.
Maybe this man got his driver’s license in India last week and this is the first time he’s even driven on a real road. (An Indian friend of mine once told me that all you had to do to get a driver’s license in India is drive an “8” around some traffic cones)
Maybe this man is driving his very pregnant wife to the hospital and the baby’s head is already popping out.
Maybe if this teenager loses this drag race in his souped up Honda, an underground terrorist group will detonate a bomb destroying his favourite amusement park.
Maybe this man is in a super bad mood because his dog pooped on his new couch. And then later on the way to work, a bird pooped on his head. And then, he walked on some horse poo. Only to discover his car got bombed by a constipated pigeon (probably the same one that pooped on him before). And he just can’t concentrate on driving because of the smell of all the poo. (This possible scenario is inspired by my baby, who has pooped 4 times in one morning. With each new poo, I think “more poo? How is this possible??”)
Or maybe this woman had a serious car accident last month. This is her first time driving since the accident and she’s driving so slowly because she’s feeling very nervous.
Or maybe this man just got fired from his job and is afraid to tell his wife, and not really able to concentrate on driving.
When I ask the question “Why”, I get less angry at the driver’s stupid behaviour. And I give them a free pass. Just once. Just for today. Maybe they do have a good reason for driving so poorly. I guess everyone deserves a free pass once in their lifetime.
But then I tell myself that if I ever see this person doing something stupid while driving, then there will be no free pass and I will be very angry and go into Road Rage Mode.
For today, I’ll let it go, because he or she may be having a terrible day.
And because I’ve had my share of terrible days and have done my share of stupid things, I can empathize.
That’s how I prevent myself from getting road rage 94% of the time.
How do you prevent yourself from going into road rage mode?
photo credit: Irish Typepad, Robert S. Donovan