Am I just a whiny old feck or am I reasonable?

LeakingLava

I really REALLY hate stuoooopeed drivers. The absolutely ridiculous drivers that can actually cause accidents. In my car, when I notice them, I actually get mad. Not to the extent that I use my horn, but sometimes I do when they can really cause an accident either to themselves or to someone else. But I do get angry and shout out 'WHYYY?????' even when I'm alone in the car. Should I get medical help?

RayM

I don't know about medical help, but maybe you should calm down and remember that everyone makes the odd stupid mistake when driving. Getting angry just increases your chances of making a mistake. Remember that the car horn should only ever be for emergencies, and never to express dissatisfaction with other people's driving. If you blast the horn at someone, you're not really "punishing" them - you're just making unnecessary noise. Which is really obnoxious.

Also, if you're generally a fast driver, slow down a bit and you'll find it easier to anticipate other people's mistakes. I find that if I have successfully anticipated somebody's error, and undramatically slowed down in advance, I'll be too pleased with my own powers of prediction to get properly annoyed with them.

pgj2015

I find people who engage in road rage are unhappy with their life and use it as a way to express their frustration on an easy target.

TheZenMonkey

RayM wrote: »

Getting angry just increases your chances of making a mistake.

Very good point! In general I'm in favor of dissipating anger with a good yell of frustration, but only if it does *dissipate* the anger. If you're yelling but you're still angry, then that's definitely a dangerous situation for you.

LeakingLava

TheZenMonkey wrote: »

Very good point! In general I'm in favor of dissipating anger with a good yell of frustration, but only if it does *dissipate* the anger. If you're yelling but you're still angry, then that's definitely a dangerous situation for you.

Most times, when I ask why, I just kind of lose hope for the person and say 'meh, what can I do..'

I guess then the temper does just drop.

Optimalprimerib

I'd love if every car had a public radio system in which what ever you say, other cars in the vicinity would pick it up. So when you next shout at the f$&--_+- idiot for leaving his indicator on for 2 seconds longer than normal, he/she would hear what you say.

In the space of a couple of hours, the ragaholics would become polite little church mice no longer protected in their big metal boxes.

freshpopcorn

At first I thought the OP was referring to people driving in this position!

LeakingLava

freshpopcorn wrote: »

At first I thought the OP was referring to people driving in this position!

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Oh, don't even get me started on those. They're so far up in front that their own door pillars are blocking their view of their side mirrors ffs.

guppy

LeakingLava wrote: »

Not to the extent that I use my horn

I used to have an older, big car, now I have a newer, small car. By god but do I miss blaring the horn at idiot drivers ☹️. Not helpful I'm sure, but nothing so satisfying as HOOOOOOOOOONK. Now, I have "beeeep", and it's just not the same

I drive defensively, I watch out for all upcoming, potential dangers, I give way rather than fight, I allow people to merge on the M50 on those horrible merges, I don't stop on yellow boxes, I indicate, I stop on the correct place to trigger the filter light, I don't go through red lights (yes, definitely through amber, never red), I wait rather than take a chance for those extra, "vital" seconds. I'm pretty bloody vanilla in my driving, all in all.

But if I could blast a long, loud horn (is there any way of saying this that isn't dirty sounding?) at other idiots, in my small car, I would do so. If I do it in said small car, it sounds ridiculous. I miss my 11 year old car for that, and the boot space ☹️

DEFTLEFTHAND

The worst incident I ever had was somebody pulled across me on from a minor road.

It was a T Juntion with the main route going through.

I was travelling within my speed limit, when a red Rav 4 pulled out from the cross. It was the only time I ever heard my cars brakes in such distress, like a movie sound.

I swerved also and we avoided contact. I got out and I don't think that I was ever as angry in my life. A woman of about 40 behind the wheel, it was just a careless mistake on her part. Thank god it didn't end up worse

LeakingLava

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

The worst incident I ever had was somebody pulled across me on from a minor road.

It was a T Juntion with the main route going through.

I was travelling within my speed limit, when a red Rav 4 pulled out from the cross. It was the only time I ever heard my cars brakes in such distress, like a movie sound.

I swerved also and we avoided contact. I got out and I don't think that I was ever as angry in my life. A woman of about 40 behind the wheel, it was just a careless mistake on her part. Thank god it didn't end up worse

You see, I understand mistakes. She could've been having some hard time at home, some sort of psychological whatever that made her judgment of the situation a bit clouded or God knows whatever reason as to why she wasn't able to concentrate as much at that time. I ALMOST always give the benefit of the doubt that there is reasonable-..erm..reasoning, behind some stupid acts. But it still makes me wonder, why the hell would you go on the road being on such a distress that you can't concentrate enough to drive safely?