I’m probably as bad about it as the normal person… “oh, you want to cut me off, well I’ll show you”, but then I run into situations like earlier this afternoon.
Easing my shopping cart up to the local Walmart checkout line, and there’s some guy about my age, with his daughter, aiming for the same line.
It turns into the standard “no, you first”… “no, you were heading here first”… “no, you go ahead, you have fewer items in your cart”… “no, you have your kid here with you”, etc.
That same “give-n-take” situation would never have happened if one of us were trying get around each other on the freeway (just generally speaking - I don’t know this particular guy from Adam).
So help me out - what causes the whole “road rage” syndrome? Is it because you can “get the better of” someone else, without ever having to see them again? Is it the 3000 pounds of steel that we all feel “protected by”?
I’m curious to read any responses, since it might help me to actually be honest with myself as well. And more inquisitively - do you think this is just one of those societal ‘20-year phases’, or is “road rage” going to be around until the dinosaurs re-inhabit the earth?
I think it’s mostly anxiety and fear that causes road rage. The lizard brain doesn’t know from cars- it only knows that the body is in a dangerous situation and could be killed instantly. IMO, this sets one up to be triggered into rage at the drop of a hat- the fight or flight instinct kicks in. So no, I don’t think it can or will be cured, only learned to be controlled.
I suspect some sort of drug or implant based solution will be possible. Say, something that reacts chemically or electronically to stress over a certain level by mildly tranquilizing you, to keep you from going over the edge. Probably something first invented for military use, they have obvious reasons to worry about people cracking in high stress situations.
From what I’ve seen online, its been around ever since people have been around. I used to get SOOOOO upset about people risking my life by driving like idiots. Being the calm, rational person, I went through the CCW class and started carrying a gun. Now that I have the ability to bring lethal force into the equasion, it became my responsibility to stay out of situations where I would need to.
Someone cutting me off and then brake checking me? That means that I should have given him more room. Tailgating me while I’m trying to pass a slow truck? That means I should speed up and move over faster.
I honestly feel that its my responsibility to back down in any confrontation. It stops it from being life or death. If that means me losing face on the freeway, who cares?
I think there’s a training aspect to it. An old friend of mine shocked me once by complaining about tailgating. Turned out she didn’t know you’re supposed to pass on the left and stay out of the left lane unless you’re passing. This was a revelation to her, and I wonder how many other people there are like her on the roads.
I don’t know, but many, many people either do not know that the left lane is for passing or simply do not care. I regularly travel the highways and I am amazed at the number of cars, travelling in the far left lane well below the posted speed limit, that do not get over for an oncoming car wishing to pass (usually myself). Not ever. I end up having to pass on the right and then merge over to the left again.
When gas prices get so high that people stop driving so much, read rage will end. When I was growing up in the '40s, public transit was good, even people with cars mostly went to work by trolley or bus or subway. My family didn’t have a car till 1953, my senior year in HS and I don’t recall missing it much.
In our lifetime? I’m planning on living about 53 more years. That seems like enough time to retire this ridiculously dangerous transportation system and replace it with one that has all the benefits of individual cars AND public transportation.
With all the automation in our lives why do we want cars that require our attention to operate? Clearly we do not. We are constantly adding new competitors for that attention, these days mostly on our phones.
Why not have a car that you program with your destination, sit back, relax and enjoy the ride? It plugs into the traffic system coordinates with everybody else and takes you there at optimum speed and optimum route, no one “cuts you off” and you wouldn’t notice if they did because you are napping while watching a movie and listening to your iPod.
I believe a well-functioning and productive society inevitably generates a constant level of anger and violence. Try and suppress it in one area and it will probably back up someplace else.
We might start by decriminalizing and destigmatizing domestic violence. Back when husbands could pound on wives and parents could whale on children without fear of serious consequences, we had a lot less road rage, random street crime, and rampage killing. We could again.
I do my best to make sure that I have peed, have something to eat and drink, something to read if I get stuck in stopped traffic and leave very early for appointments. I would rather travel in a relaxed manner than be pushed for time. I hate tailgating or being tailgated, and would rather let someone pass me than measure traffic penises with morons. I drive a jetta, not a freaking race car.
Even though this is inevitable, and already here if Google is to be believed, too many people enjoy driving and dislike relinquishing control for this to really take a good enough hold to curb road rage. Indeed, the people who like to control their driving experience are probably the ones most prone to road rage.
You know, I was being slightly facetious in my post about de-stigmatizing domestic violence. But I actually am coming to believe that trying to reduce the level of anger in info-age, depersonalized, polarized, late-stage capitalist society is essentially futile.
The only cure for road rage will be some other kind of rage. Hopefully one less costly in life and limb.
Only when we have 100% self-driving cars. Even then they could malfunction and cause traffic problems.
And not everyone will transition to self-driving cars at once, that could take a lot of years. I look for certain lanes or roads to be designated for self-driving vehicles.
