Well, let's just say that got derailed in a major way.
On the way to work I was the target of subjective rage. I call it subjective rage because it is rage that exists in the mind of, and belongs entirely to, the subject (the rager in the black sedan in the lane next to me) based on some perceived wrong that I (obliviously) have committed against them due to an act or intention that also exists only in their mind.
Here's how it went down...
I was driving down the freeway during morning rush. I am in the slow lane, hands on the steering wheel at 10 and 2, driving the speed limit, I didn't even have the radio on. I am a model of the conscientious driver, minding my own business, trying to get safely to work.
There is a car to the left of me in the passing lane. Both of us come to a convergence where another road meets the one me and left lane guy are on, with about 500 feet of merge lane. A black sedan comes racing up the merge lane and instead of slowing a bit so that they can merge in smoothly behind the two oncoming cars (me and left lane driver), they speed up, keeping pace with us. I can't move over because left laner is staying right by my side. I slow a little, thinking black sedan will speed up and get in the lane.
Suddenly, black sedan swerves violently towards me. I avoid them, nearly hitting lefy, who also swerves, coming perilously close to the barrier wall. This could have been disastrous. I think "what the hell!?" assuming black sedan had dropped their cell phone, or spilled their coffee...
I look over, and there is a little blonde woman (who I am sure is a nice, reasonable person when you meet her at the day spa, or Starbucks, or wherever else people who drive black sedans go) gesturing wildly, her gaping mouth shaping unheard expletives that, judging by her flushed face and strained expression are being screamed at the top of her lungs. I am shocked. I come to the sudden realization that this otherwise rational, law abiding citizen, this productive member of society, has just tried to ram me with their car to force me out of "their" lane. This woman was willing to risk killing two people to gain two seconds in the race to work.
Of course I responded in the usual and accepted mode, I yelled back, flipped the bird (secretly hoping this would not turn out to be one of the 600 people I am responsible for training where I work), and had thoughts of following this fucking bitch wherever she was going and punching her in the face. Now I am also filled with rage, as is lefty, who is now doing his own private little rage dance in his own automobile.
Suffice it to say, this was almost a very bad day.
After I got to work and calmed down I went through the usual "Oh my god what if I would have had my kids in the car, or what if I had been an elderly person whose reflexes were not as quick?" I considered how lucky I was, because it had been very close, and I got over (to some degree) the bad feeling that you get when someone intentionally does something that could potentially do you serious harm, for no apparent reason... I started thinking about why we get so angry when we drive.
I am just as guilty as the next guy of yelling at traffic and getting, let's face it, unreasonably frustrated and angry at all the other people doing the same thing as me, just trying to get where they are going.
But why? Why do we take it so personally, and get angry about it. And it IS totally subjective anger - My mind is filled with rage at that guy who just cut me off, as if he did it to purposefully spite me... that's how it plays out in my head. That asshole, he just cut me off, I'll show him! And if you are honest, you will admit that you do the same thing too. Even if you don't yell, you have gotten angry at the other driver, you feel wronged and offended, it's personal. You want to defend your territory, sometimes you even want revenge, and that's when things get dangerous.
I am sure this woman goes about her daily life much the same as me, in every other respect she is most likely a very nice person. She probably has responsibilities, and people who rely on her. She has people who love her and care about her. She has things she likes to do, that she looks forward to. She has dreams and aspirations. All that nearly came to an end today on Hwy 6 West because she had to beat me, she couldn't drop her speed just a touch and merge into the lane. She had to go ahead of me, get in front. She was impatient, she had to teach me a lesson about being in the space she wanted to be in. She had to threaten to hit me with her car because she was angry, and because she was angry she was willing to risk her life, and mine and lefty's as well. It makes no sense.
According to AAA aggressive driving like this accounts for half of all traffic fatalities (you can take their aggressive driving quiz here)
Research done on road rage shows that we feel strongly territorial toward our car and our driving space. When we drive down the road and see the lane or spot we need to be in, suddenly in our mind it becomes ours and we are willing to fight to get it. 90% of people surveyed by AAA state they have experienced road rage, either as the rager or the ragee.
Here is what Professor Leon James a researcher at University of Hawaii has to say on the subject:
"It's the same around the world. We all have anger and if we do not manage our emotions in the car then we can be subject to extreme road rage. People can switch from a rational human being to a lower mode - a state I sometimes refer to as reptilian thinking. If we perceive that we have been attacked by another driver then we flick into that mode and that's the beginning of a duel."
So basically, we get territorial, someone threatens our territory, we revert to lizard brain and want to bash their skulls in.
It's funny how something as technologically advanced as a black sedan can cause us to revert to our most primitive state.
It's hard to know what to do about it, because apparently we are fighting psychology here... And it is particularly terrifying because my 18 year old daughter is in the process of getting her license.
I hope and pray that when my daughter is out there driving on her own that black sedan doesn't come along and run her off the road, or over the median, or into an oncoming car because she is in a spot that black sedan thinks she owns.
It is estimated 40,000 people die every year in car accidents in the US, 20,000 of those are due to aggressive driving and road rage. That seems like a big number to be. That seems like a problem. Why isn't anyone talking about this?
Happy driving.
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