I imagine there are no Humans in the vehicles;
the cars are driving themselves.
My rage always stems from feeling that the other human driver should realize I want to get into that lane to make a turn, or they should realize that I’m driving a little slower because I’m looking for a parking place.
When I choose to see the traffic as an abstract obstacle course it changes everything.
Then - If another car apparently cannot register the blinking signal light from my car and instead maintains a course that prevents me getting in the lane I want to…
Or –
if a car drives up 2 inches behind my rear bumper honking,
it’s because it is just a machine and those are the sounds and moves it makes.
If there’s no expectation of human consideration then doing my part to drive carefully and calmly through the obstacle course isn’t so hard.
You know – I have a similar trick I use when I drive, i imagine every car is an undercover cop, good
guys, even the aggressor behind me and they're testing me watching me like a hawk. sometimes, i remember when the DMV person was sitting in the passenger seat, and they reappear there, jotting down all my decision making behind the wheel. or i imagine i'm driving miss daisy, or a 101 year old person, or a cameraman, and this one is going to be the best take.
Road Rage...Is this like guns don't kill people, people do.
I dig your "road rage" idea, wish I could be that smart, maybe I'll try that instead of imagining shooting out one of the tires of a fucking raised up SUV that pulls up along side me with tires the size of my PT Cuiser and watch it skid onto the shoulder and out of the way of everyone else. you're way is better I know and I'll be working on changing my ways in that regard.
When my girlfriend continually cancels dates I have arranged with her by sending me text messages I always reply with just two letters "OK". Never send an angry text message. You may regret it later.
Here's some other practical tips to avoid not only your own road rage but also to prevent road rage in others:
1. Stay the hell outa the left lane if you're not the fastest car on the road;
2. If you need to make a right turn, don't be driving in the left lane until the last minute;
3. "Consideration" should have no part in driving and, indeed, if one is following the rules, there is no need for it. The rules should determine every action one takes behind the wheel. Just because one needs to be in the right lane and turns one's signal on, doesn't mean one has the right to get into that lane by cutting someone off;
4.Don't expect another driver to read your mind.
I often wonder why it's always the driver with the road rage who's castigated. Nothing is ever said about the road rage inciter. Cc
I moved closer to work and got a bike! I have limited my driving to nearly none at all, and arrive at my destination happier and healthier! If i had to make one more rush hour drive on the 101 through downtown, I would have become a sniper.
Road rage uses up the time I have to have fun. I, therefore, drive as though the whole deal is an amusement ride with free choice to play as I like. If someone pretends to be an asshole, I know that he/she hasn't the proper credentials, and immediately say bye-bye... leaving them in a cloud of petroleum dust. There are many opportunities to giggle at those with too little skill to really be called "drivers", and I refuse to be driven to distraction or any other state that's not jolly good fun! If necessary to, say, alleviate boredom, I do give them names such as blue butt-face or wandering wanker, just whatever comes to mind in the 'spur' of the moment.
Hey Kids! Fabulous to hear everyone's modes of operandi!
Also - any other non-road-rage related tips gladly welcomed!
miz jones
Hey, Miz J! Good to see you hanging around the joint. I'd stop and give a tip but I have to go catch up with this ass in a Range Rover who cut me off on the 5!
I imagine I only have one week left to live. How would you drive if you had only one week left to live?
30mph on a Vespa in Florence
or real sloooow on a surfboard in Tahiti
When I'm enormously frustrated with any happening, and I want to yell... I do. But I turn the yell into the first word of a song: "Fuuuuuuuck fuck fuck went the trolley, clang clang clang clang went the bell" and like that... then I feel better. Whistle a happy tune, says that big lady in South Pacific.
I mostly drive country roads in my daily commute and so I mostly have to watch out for furry creatures. I actually sometimes miss LA traffic and I miss LA drivers who may sometimes be bad, but MD drivers can be much worse.
I have to say, I listened to "Burr" by Gore Vidal, a book on tape (from the public library). It was great. I drove fairly normally. Any kind of crap the other drivers pulled, I didn't really care because I was so engrossed in the story. Plus, I didn't know Thomas Jefferson was such a prick and the first prez to do away with habeus corpus. The bastard. Books-on-tape...it's a ridiculously simple way to say fuck off to other stupid drivers.