Road rage--how do you drive?

[drhladnjak]

I never had road rage or drove aggressively until I moved to Seattle a little over a year ago. The roads are poorly maintained, the freeways and highways are completely inadequate for the amount of traffic they carry and driver's training seems to be virtually non-existant. Worst of all is that our public transit system is entirely buses, which means the best you can hope for is the bus driver dealing with traffic instead of you. Horn honking and flipping off are fairly taboo (at least compared to when I lived in California or North Carolina), but that doesn't stop me from doing it to other (sometimes stunned) drivers.

Now I just try to avoid driving whenever possible before I harm myself or others either through my vehicle or high blood pressure. The one thing that angers me more than anything else is people blocking moving traffic by driving below the motherfucking speed limit for no good reason! If you want to do that--fine. Just the get the hell out of the way (i.e., keep right)!

 

[ambiguity]

I speed... at most 20 kms above the speed limit... (only on the ring road surrounding the city, and the highways)... pretty much never speed innercity... maybe 5-10 over once in a while.

As for anything else... I get mad when ppl cut me off... I may call them a dumbass or something of that ilk... but I never flip the bird, nor do I do anything else... just a nice namecalling release of stress... and I continue on my way.

 

[hotatlboi]

I drive all day long for my job and I drive defensively! Living in Atlanta, where traffic can be horrendous, I've learned being aggressive and getting angered accomplishes nothing, except to put myself and others in uneccesary danger!

I second that. Traffic in the atl is pretty ridiculous. I still drive fast though.

 

[fireside]

That's where dark Cedric comes out.

I'm always as courteous and accepting a person as I can possibly be--that is, until I get behind the wheel of a car. It's like I snap a little when people do some of the most idiotic things people can ever think to do. I've been known to yell. I think it's time I seek a more holistic lifestyle.

 

[cm98059]

I never had road rage or drove aggressively until I moved to Seattle a little over a year ago. The roads are poorly maintained, the freeways and highways are completely inadequate for the amount of traffic they carry and driver's training seems to be virtually non-existant. Worst of all is that our public transit system is entirely buses, which means the best you can hope for is the bus driver dealing with traffic instead of you. Horn honking and flipping off are fairly taboo (at least compared to when I lived in California or North Carolina), but that doesn't stop me from doing it to other (sometimes stunned) drivers.

Now I just try to avoid driving whenever possible before I harm myself or others either through my vehicle or high blood pressure. The one thing that angers me more than anything else is people blocking moving traffic by driving below the motherfucking speed limit for no good reason! If you want to do that--fine. Just the get the hell out of the way (i.e., keep right)!

I have watched our traffic here in Seattle get worse over the years. I have to laugh at some of the guys who are constantly changing lanes and racing ahead to get ahead of other cars, because they usually have to pass me three or four times before they get where they are going. I usually just get into the lane I want and stay there. But when I get out on the open road, and I have room, I drive the road conditions. Sometimes that is slower than the posted limit, and sometimes I can take it up to 90 or 100. Usually not that fast, but traveling on I-90 in Eastern Washington at 2 am yeah, that fast.

 

[trawler69]

I would never be so vain as to call myself a good driver, I just do the best I can and so far have had no accidents. I try not to speed, drive defensively and don't suffer road rage at all. I try and be courteous to other road users and let them into heavy traffic. The only exception is drivers of 4*4 Suv's or Chelsea tractors as we call them, I won't even give them the time of day, polluting posers!

 

[just_mills]

I drive like there's no other cunt on the road

 

[Swellegant]

I used to have trouble with road rage... until I finally figured out that my rage was caused by frustration at people who weren't letting me drive like a bat out of hell. And I know perfectly well that I can't change the behavior of thousands of strangers, but I can change my own behavior. So I stopped driving like a bat out of hell, and I don't get mad anymore.

Well, that's not strictly true... an awful lot of people drive in such a way that the desire to run them off the road is almost irresistible, no matter what speed I'm going. But I don't get mad all the time, like I used to (some mornings I would show up at work in a towering rage because of "bad" drivers, and I only had a three-mile commute).

And though I still cannot comprehend why anybody would drive slower than strictly necessary, nor can I understand why people who are afraid to drive even bother to drive, I just treat them as obstacles in the road, like a rock or a tree, rather than obstacles in my life. Driving a car is a method of getting from point A to point B, not a forum to assert my dominance over mankind.

Mostly what I do now is hit the speed limit, turn on the cruise control, and stick to the second or third lane (the right is for merging on, the left is for passing only), going into another lane to pass but then going right back to My Lane. People still get in my way, but a quick bellow or spit will take care of that... all in levity of course.

"Get out of my way! Don't you people know who I am?"or "Drive it or park it, motherfucker!" or my personal favorite, as mentioned above, "Mooooooove, bitch, get out da way!" Then I shake my head, pass on the left if possible or on the right if necessary, and get on with my day.