Road Rage
Posted on July 11, 2007
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Stupidity and randomness |
I was watching a news show the other day when a story came up that I found hard to believe. The interview was with a woman who had been the victim of road rage. I must admit, when I hear the term “road rage” I automatically think of places like New York City or Los Angeles or some other fast-driving, aggressive city. First, the story…
This woman was entering the free way with her baby son in a car seat in the back. She merged into the next lane (thereby getting out of the exiting lane) and the driver coming up behind her threw a fit. He pulled up beside her and shouted abuse while gesturing emphatically. Obviously, this was not enough to get across that he felt she’d cut him off, so he then proceeded to pull ahead of her, cut her off in her lane, then SLAM on his brakes forcing her to do the same. She lost control of her car, which bashed into the side wall and then rolled twice leaving her and her son dangling upside down in the car. She managed to get free but could not remove her baby until help arrived a few minutes later.
The driver of the other car, who MUST have seen the whole thing in his rear-view mirror, sped off and to my knowledge, has not yet been caught.
The woman suffered a broken collar bone, ripped off three of her nails and lost her pinky finger. The baby, thankfully, was unharmed.
Now, this is the part that freaked me out a bit. This all happened about 2 exits from where I get on and off the free way everyday to go to work. Yep, good old Perth. Sleepy little Perth. Easy going, beach loving, surfer-style, laid back PERTH. Impossible! And yet, it happened.
I’ve never even had anyone flip me off before, much less abuse me or attempt to “get even” however, this brings me to my next worry. How many people are capable are this? And more importantly, could I be capable of such heinous behaviour?
I must admit, I really hate being behind a slow-poke. I cannot stand it when people don’t indicate and I loathe when people come screaming around blind corners of the car park in MY lane! I do an awful lot of muttering to myself and even talk to the other driver under my breath.
“Ok, where you going, buddy? Oh, you ARE turning right! Thanks for indicating, Mate! Sheeeeeesh!”
“Oi! Speedy, where’s the fire?”
“Move over Grampa, 60 in and 80 zone for crying out loud. The left lane is for slow-pokes.”
I also find myself saying, “You stay in your lane, and I’ll stay in mine,” an awful lot. This seems to amuse the kids to no end.
Does this mean there are a lot of bad driver’s about, or am I just too impatient? I certainly can’t imagine being bold enough to give someone the finger, much less yell at them, but I suppose I’m not a very confrontational person. This convinces me that I just don’t have it in me to be on the giving end of a road rage incident but that’s not going to stop someone else from abusing me!
Guess I’d better make sure I’m a good middling driver. Not too slow, not too fast, don’t cut people off no matter how desperate you are to change lanes, stay in your own lane, don’t cut corners, always indicate and for goodness sake, don’t make eye contact!
I’m muttering already…
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Good post.As has often been observed something seems to happen to us once we get seperated from our fellow humans by some steel and glass.
If when walking we bump into each other in the street or have to change direction suddenly no one seems to have a problem with saying “sorry” “excuse me” “ooops” whatever but once we start that engine up then everyone else takes on an alien status!
Thanks. The news story really made me think about our actions once we get into the car and I agree with you. People seem to disassociate the moment they step into their vehicles.
Shame really… it cost that woman her finger, her sense of safety and more than likely, her confidence in her own driving ability.