Those Damned Driving White Collar Bastards
I’ve railed against bad drivers in the past, and even when I’m actively berating the behavior of my fellow cagers I find the whole activity of pointing out bad driving habits clichéd and redundant. But…two things happened to me on the road today that I’m at a loss to understand.
Incident #1: Driving into work this morning I’m coasting down the road going 45 when a car pulls out in front of me from a side street and guns it, his straining engine spitting grey smoke from its trembling tailpipe. Okay, whatever. No big deal. I tap the brakes a bit to avoid getting too close, and proceed to follow him for several miles, never getting within two seconds of him. He eventually pulls over into a right turning lane, then sticks his arm out of his open window and flips me off. I’m still trying to understand why he did this. Did I offend him in another life or something?
Incident #2: I’m backing out of my parking stall at work, and am two-thirds out when a car squeezes past me from behind, narrowly missing hitting my car by inches, then honks his horn at me. WTF? I’m inching my way out in my S2000, trying to see around the Ford F150 that’s blocking my view, and this brain stem decides to blow past me? How could he have not seen that I was slowly inching out from a blind spot? I wasn’t moving like a bunny, and couldn’t have possibly have surprised him with my creeping speed.
Now, I know that this is a blanket statement, but I still have to ask, “What the frak is wrong with drivers nowadays?“ Why the lack of basic courtesy? The give and take and the Share The Road mentality? Are people so mentally removed and insulated from others while driving in their cars that they fail to understand the simple fact that there are other human beings on the road with them? Where’s the common sense? Where’s the humanity?
Lets take these situations and place them into different circumstances; would you flip someone off at the “10 Items Or Less” checkout line at the grocery store if they had 11 items? Would you scream at a blind man for crossing your path, even though you saw him slowly inch his way down the sidewalk from 100 feet away?
I’m at a loss to describe this sort of behavior, and wonder if these people replay these fleeting moments in time in their heads and ask themselves, “Why did I do that?”
I know exactly how you feel. Those people with too much money to spend will just drive their high powered vehicles like they own the road or something. Being rich do not give them the friggin’ rights to step on other peoples’ heads! How I wish I could do something about it whenever similar incidents happen again in the future…
I know exactly how you feel. Those people with too little money to spend will just drive their low powered vehicles like they own the road or something. Being poor does not give them the friggin’ rights to step on other peoples’ heads! How I wish I could do something about it whenever similar incidents happen again in the future…
Unfortunately Herman the aggression is growing on the road everywhere, and in every country. It’s kind of like online, where people feel safe behind the anonymity of their computers and are feeling free to insult you for nothing. This troll behavior is getting worse and I feel the same as you do. I think that the main cause is the stress, and that people cannot react harshly to their bosses (due to being afraid to get sacked), so once they are in their car – they think that they own the roads, and behave as jerks towards everyone… And no, most of them do not question themselves – why did I react in such a way – and this is such a pity…
It’s like a common thing here in malaysia….people are getting stupider behind the wheels they somehow think they can magically drive around when they don’t notice what an idiot they are being…..
About the 10 items or less ….i saw a lady onces with 14 items (yes i count) and i was so pissed that i told off the lady …she glared at me and stood there….but when she reached the counter the cashier ask her to get out of the line ….and proceed to take my things …so i guess sometimes people are just born idiots …..
Sooo….it’s not just me that’s noticing the lack of civility on the road then? Good. thought I was going a bit daft there for a minute…
There must be some kind of collective consciousness that is morphing us all into buttheads. A lot of it I think has to do with the media we watch and a general decline in civility. Possibly processed foods as well. Can’t imagine what the future is going to be like at this rate. Mike Judge may just turn out to be the next George Orwell.
My first post seems to be lost on everyone. Oh well another topic worth of a blog post. Bottom line, can’t group people and over generalize. Bad stuff.
Heh…no, I got it. I think when I wrote that title I was listening to Primus
If I offended anybody then I offended myself because I fall flat square into that “white collar” category….
Blame it on music.