Cars, Cell Phones, Road Rage

Like the majority of you, I am a commuter. For the past six years I have been making a daily commute of about thirty-five miles round trip. Most of it on highway and interstate. Prior to this I was only five minutes from my job, so it has been an adjustment.



I can remember reading stories for years about the incidents of road rage, especially in California, where people would jump out of cars with guns because of their total frustration. I did not understand it then, but I do now.



I would like to list, in no particular order, the drivers on the road who could lead me to an act of road rage one of these days.







1. Tailgaters - I like tailgaters on parking lots at ball stadiums, especially those who can put out a good barbecue. However, I lose patience quickly with the idiot, with the high beams, who knows I cannot move because of the cars in front of me and those at my sides. When I took my driver's test, the rule was a car length for every ten miles of velocity. Has that rule change? Nowhere does it say to get as close as possible to the rear bumper in front of you.


2. Turn signals - Have you wondered how so many drivers have broken their turn signals? I find it find it amazing that there are so many drivers who are confident that I can read their minds and know when they plan to cut me off, and even better, that I know when in a two hundred yard span they will be crossing four lanes of traffic to reach their exit.


3. Combs and Brushes - How can people actually think they are going to stay in their lane of traffic when they are focus on making their hair look good in the rear-view mirror? (Now some will say that because I'm bald that I'm prejudice, but I assure you this not the case.)


4. Cell phones - What did people do before cell phones? I do not care if you want to talk in your car just make sure you are in control and have a hand available to signal lane changes. My car is a Saturn and it came with the On Star button. Push a button and talk, hands on the wheel at all times. One of biggest fears is that I will end up near someone doing a text message on their cell phone, they'll forget that they're driving and that will be the end for a lot of us.


5. Changing cassettes and Cd's - Okay, I do this too. But I try and do it when I am in a low traffic area I can always wait to hear something different.


6. Loud music - I cannot stand drivers who have their windows down, the music blaring and it is never anything I would listen to. Maybe I need to move where they play classical and country.


7. No lights in bad weather - In Maryland, the law is, wipers on lights on. Yet a majority do not follow the law. I rarely see anyone pulled over because the cops probably do not want to get wet. I wish these jerks would wake up to the fact that the headlights are not for them, it so the rest of us can see them.


8. Drag racing - A crowded interstate is not the place to see if you can beat your buddy's car, find a drag strip as away from me as possible.



9. Passing lane under the speed limit - My exit off the interstate is from the left hand lane. Almost always there will be someone in the lane, ten to fifteen mile below the speed, who does not take the exit.


10. The talker with hand gestures - These drivers are another group who inevitably end up below the speed limit because they are acting out their day for someone else in the car. Pull over on the shoulder, tell your story, then drive home with your hands on the wheel.


I am certain I have missed some. Let me know what irks you the most about your commute.



Driving should be common sense, but it rarely makes any sense.