First - let me say that this post is not intended to say women are not subject to road rage - and neither is it intended to broach that area of "woman driver" speculation...
Certainly the rigors and stresses of driving affect both sexes.
When I am driving, I have my own "repetoire" of epithets and curses (usually in a different language for the sake of any kids in the car) that I might mutter to myself at the careless ignorance, intentional or otherwise, of some cretin behind the wheel.
Yet I have my limits, and my own defensive driving responses for these situations - and thus far they have NEVER included showing "the finger" or rolling down the window to scream at someone, or brandishing a weapon at the offender. I'm not saying a woman is not capable of these responses. Certainly we are - but somehow it just doesn't happen with the frequency you see from the male side of the species.
From what I see in the news - the serious "road rage" incidents usually, if not always, involve men.
Okay - so a man's vehicle is an aspect of his masculinity by some accounts - well - fine - I'm not going to speculate on that. But, it is fact that in a multiple passenger situation, 9 times out of 10 the man will be driving. If we are not alone, generally a woman will be relegated to the passenger side - equal rights or whatever, it is the "way things are."
So what do we do on the passenger side when a road rage situation starts to escalate? For me there is no worse scenario than to be the helpless victim of events beyond my control. When I'm not driving, it's not under my control, but it's not that I mind being the passenger. And usually, as a passenger, I'm very comfortable with whoever may be driving - family outings, whatever - but there are many situations where a woman is a passenger with someone who's driving style she is not familiar with - dating, business lunches, whatever. And in these cases, SOP is for the woman to be the passenger. Again, this is just an observation - how many of you single guys out there regularly get picked up in the lady's car? Eh?
Just musing out loud - as a passenger it is a different perspective as some a** cuts off your car or tailgates you - perhaps just as infuriating as it is for the driver, but with the added element of not being able to control the situation at all. At least the driver can respond through the driving, either offensively or defensively. As a passenger, we have to deal with the outcome!
In recent years, a hot blooded family member or two that will return the "finger" or a shouted curse or two makes me a hell of a lot more nervous than it used to as this seems to be fodder to escalate the situation into something we see in the papers almost in a daily basis.
Not that many women participate here - but I'd love to hear some reaction to experiencing road rage from the passenger seat. Do you tell him to hush - try to calm him down - sit back and grit your teeth - refuse to let him drive - egg him on with suggestions - what?
Guys? When some idiot cuts you off and you flip him off - any thought to the female in the seat next to you? What would you do if she asked you to let it go and chill out? Her life is literally in your hands as the driver, and in a moment of rage I doubt that fact is rationally considered.
I'll bet when Mrs. Martinez, in the story below, got into the van with her kids and relatives, she didn't expect road rage would kill some of them. And who's to say what degree of fault is her husband's. The pickup truck tailgating and honking at their mini-van could have been a victim of traffic, or was her husband playing the "I'll slow down and show you - you stupid jerk" game?
http://www.miami.com/herald/content/news/local/dade/digdocs/001702.htm
We may never know. But people are dead. And they will continue to die while emotions rule responses on the road. And so far the greatest percentage of those involved directly (driving) are male. Yet the females are victims too.
Comments?
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Lori
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Road Rage from the Passenger Seat
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Allen M.
Road Rage from the Passenger Seat
From Al the Meek.
I can't say I'm sorry to hear about the unfortunate accident, because it's seen and read about so much, callousness has taken its foothold.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote
In those days, too, as pasenger with her driving there were one or two times I just wanted to rip the door of the hinges. These days its usually a returned stare.
I think MOST people are NOT prone to this road-rage thing, rather some of the "aggressive-class" of people. However, I wonder just how many single digits are extended on the roadways during any given hour.
I average about 130,000 miles every 5 years or so, a substantial portion of it embedded in rush hour traffic, so I see my share of RR and other surprises on an almost daily basis.
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Allen Moulton from Uechi-ryu Etcetera
I can't say I'm sorry to hear about the unfortunate accident, because it's seen and read about so much, callousness has taken its foothold.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote
My wife provides a solid system of checks and balances, and in the years I was prone to shooting the bone embellished with flowery language on occasion, the most -- most of the time -- that I slipped my composure in her presence was only the language part which she immediately let me know how unhappy she was.Guys? When some idiot cuts you off and you flip him off - any thought to the female in the seat next to you? What would you do if she asked you to let it go and chill out? Her life is literally in your hands as the driver, and in a moment of rage I doubt that fact is rationally considered.
In those days, too, as pasenger with her driving there were one or two times I just wanted to rip the door of the hinges. These days its usually a returned stare.
I think MOST people are NOT prone to this road-rage thing, rather some of the "aggressive-class" of people. However, I wonder just how many single digits are extended on the roadways during any given hour.
I average about 130,000 miles every 5 years or so, a substantial portion of it embedded in rush hour traffic, so I see my share of RR and other surprises on an almost daily basis.
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Allen Moulton from Uechi-ryu Etcetera
Road Rage from the Passenger Seat
I have to say that I was completely taken over by road-rage once when someone insisted on highbeaming me from behind, even when I moved over to let him past. I know I risked my family in what ensued. Before and especially after I have been able to stay pretty passive behind the wheel just letting things roll off.
I am so passive in driving that I don't even like to use the horn. My wife on the hand is not averse to beeping someone when she feels the need to. Does she do it too much? Maybe not, but relative to me she does. I always find myself cringing when she beeps someone, thinking that it's gonna end up being an "incident." Once driving alone, she beeped someone and that person was angry enough to follow her for miles before she lost him.
Frankly, I hate driving and am glad that I can take the train to work. I think folks see the car as an extension of their personal space/home rather than their "sexuality" and get perhaps too "defensive" about it. On the train, the personal space is smaller. You're face to face. Etiquette is that much more needed less you want a face to face encounter. I think folks generally behave better in this context. Of course, on the train, you have to deal every so often with the punks and the intermittent predator... Downside to everything.
david
I am so passive in driving that I don't even like to use the horn. My wife on the hand is not averse to beeping someone when she feels the need to. Does she do it too much? Maybe not, but relative to me she does. I always find myself cringing when she beeps someone, thinking that it's gonna end up being an "incident." Once driving alone, she beeped someone and that person was angry enough to follow her for miles before she lost him.
Frankly, I hate driving and am glad that I can take the train to work. I think folks see the car as an extension of their personal space/home rather than their "sexuality" and get perhaps too "defensive" about it. On the train, the personal space is smaller. You're face to face. Etiquette is that much more needed less you want a face to face encounter. I think folks generally behave better in this context. Of course, on the train, you have to deal every so often with the punks and the intermittent predator... Downside to everything.
david
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gmattson
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Road Rage from the Passenger Seat
Susan does all the driving when we are together. I usually read or enjoy the senery.
Sue is a very aggressive driver! If she has the right-of-way. . . She takes it! (Best to just close your eyes if you are a passenger!)
Like Al, I log quite a few miles on the road every year, both with and without Sue. It has been my experience that woman are just a guilty of road rage as men. The automobile is the great equalizer. . . Big or small, man or woman, you become an extension of your car. Road rage has nothing to do with gender. . . It is simple stupidity and rudeness; Qualities shared equally by men and woman.
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GEM
Sue is a very aggressive driver! If she has the right-of-way. . . She takes it! (Best to just close your eyes if you are a passenger!)
Like Al, I log quite a few miles on the road every year, both with and without Sue. It has been my experience that woman are just a guilty of road rage as men. The automobile is the great equalizer. . . Big or small, man or woman, you become an extension of your car. Road rage has nothing to do with gender. . . It is simple stupidity and rudeness; Qualities shared equally by men and woman.
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GEM
Road Rage from the Passenger Seat
I have to agree with Sensei on this one.
You are what you are. If you are an agressive person by nature, you will be agressive while you drive. And visa versa.
My wife is a great driver. There are many reasons why. She never (and I mean NEVER) takes her eyes off the road. She never drives too fast or too slow. She never drives agressively and is never in a hurry.
She drives courteously and never would even consider flipping the finger at any other driver. She is not prone to violence anyway, so she would not be a candidtate for road rage.
I am an agressive driver, so my philosophy on the road is...If you are not going to travel as fast as the other cars in the fast lane, then get the heck out of there. If you have the right of way..take it. If you are not in a hurry move over if someone else is. If you are in hurry and I am not, wait until I can get out of your way before you push me out of the way.
Do not break the no passing on the right rule. Signal always, some distance before you reach the intersection or some period of time before a lane change. Do not break the lane violation rule, if someone is blocking your lane, wait until I go past before you intrude on my lane.
There is a lot more to list but that would get off topic here. So to get back on topic...
Whenever someone violates my driving philosophy, I need to convey that displeasure. It usually constitutes a throwing up of my hands and some lip movements to the other driver. I dont really say what I want to while others are in the car with me, but the other driver does not know what I am saying through closed windows anyway.
If my wife is with me, she tells me to forget the whole thing. She is nervous enough that she is in the passenger seat and not behind the wheel. I usually do not get into a "rage" with other drivers unless I am alone in the car.
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Len Testa
You are what you are. If you are an agressive person by nature, you will be agressive while you drive. And visa versa.
My wife is a great driver. There are many reasons why. She never (and I mean NEVER) takes her eyes off the road. She never drives too fast or too slow. She never drives agressively and is never in a hurry.
She drives courteously and never would even consider flipping the finger at any other driver. She is not prone to violence anyway, so she would not be a candidtate for road rage.
I am an agressive driver, so my philosophy on the road is...If you are not going to travel as fast as the other cars in the fast lane, then get the heck out of there. If you have the right of way..take it. If you are not in a hurry move over if someone else is. If you are in hurry and I am not, wait until I can get out of your way before you push me out of the way.
Do not break the no passing on the right rule. Signal always, some distance before you reach the intersection or some period of time before a lane change. Do not break the lane violation rule, if someone is blocking your lane, wait until I go past before you intrude on my lane.
There is a lot more to list but that would get off topic here. So to get back on topic...
Whenever someone violates my driving philosophy, I need to convey that displeasure. It usually constitutes a throwing up of my hands and some lip movements to the other driver. I dont really say what I want to while others are in the car with me, but the other driver does not know what I am saying through closed windows anyway.
If my wife is with me, she tells me to forget the whole thing. She is nervous enough that she is in the passenger seat and not behind the wheel. I usually do not get into a "rage" with other drivers unless I am alone in the car.
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Len Testa
Road Rage from the Passenger Seat
Interesting points being brought up here - thanks for the participation.
So far posts are describing couples - and the driving style of a significant other is obviously an element within this subject - and from what is written so far - the women in relationships tend to drive as much as the men.
Allen writes: <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote
david writes: <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote
As for using the horn - another interesting side note on the road rage issue. In my few travels I've noticed this almost to be a cultural thing. Driving in South America, within a big city - the horn is used probably more often than the brake pedal. It isn't so much an expression of displeasure as it is a polite warning sign that someone is changing their driving pattern. After a year over seas, when I returned to the US I found myself hitting the horn frequently and eliciting a lot of angry responses as it seems to be interpreted here as a vehicular "bark" of sorts. I backed off the horn really quick - but I still use it with more frequency than other people I drive with. I still use it with the intent of an audible signal (some places in this country seem to totally disregard the blinkers) to another driver - but it doesn't seem to be received in the same fashion.
Sensei Mattson writes: <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>It has been my experience that woman are just a guilty of road rage as men. The automobile is the great equalizer. . . Big or small, man or woman, you become an extension of your car. Road rage has nothing to do with gender. . . It is simple stupidity and rudeness; Qualities shared equally by men and woman.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I agree whole heartedly - and it's not my intent to imply that women are not equally subject to road rage. My question here is more from the point of the effects from the passenger side:
Does the passenger add to the stress of the driving situation by their presence? What about escalating the situation by their own reactions? And is it good or even effective to have a passenger remind you to "let it go" so the situation doesn't escalate? As Len writes: <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>If my wife is with me, she tells me to forget the whole thing. She is nervous enough that she is in the passenger seat and not behind the wheel. I usually do not get into a "rage" with other drivers unless I am alone in the car.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
This is what I'm getting at. How much difference does the passenger make? From what I read here - it looks like they do.
Now on the other hand - given that both genders are equally subject to rage - why do we see the most serious incidents all involving men? Maybe I've just missed the stories - but so far it seems that road rage in the news - all seem to have male drivers. Just wondering why this might be.
So far posts are describing couples - and the driving style of a significant other is obviously an element within this subject - and from what is written so far - the women in relationships tend to drive as much as the men.
Allen writes: <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote
So here is a case of the female side providing a check to expressions of rage. I would suspect that this would be pretty common - although I'm sure some women out there will get even angrier than their spouse at some road jerk who cuts them off - and maybe even encouraging or egging on their man by their "passenger rage." In which case the man would perhaps be encouraged subconciously to drive even more aggressively to appease the perceived insult to their wife on the passenger side. Does this ever happen?My wife provides a solid system of checks and balances, and in the years I was prone to shooting the bone embellished with flowery language on occasion, the most -- most of the time -- that I slipped my composure in her presence was only the language part which she immediately let me know how unhappy she was.
david writes: <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote
Exactly what I was wondering. When emotions take over we all do things that in retrospect cause us to re-think and evaluate. Having the family in the car during a road incident - reacting in the moment - and reflecting afterward is exactly what I was trying to get at in this thread. Can that reflection alter our responses in the future? In david's case it looks like it did.I have to say that I was completely taken over by road-rage once when someone insisted on highbeaming me from behind, even when I moved over to let him past. I know I risked my family in what ensued. Before and especially after I have been able to stay pretty passive behind the wheel just letting things roll off.
As for using the horn - another interesting side note on the road rage issue. In my few travels I've noticed this almost to be a cultural thing. Driving in South America, within a big city - the horn is used probably more often than the brake pedal. It isn't so much an expression of displeasure as it is a polite warning sign that someone is changing their driving pattern. After a year over seas, when I returned to the US I found myself hitting the horn frequently and eliciting a lot of angry responses as it seems to be interpreted here as a vehicular "bark" of sorts. I backed off the horn really quick - but I still use it with more frequency than other people I drive with. I still use it with the intent of an audible signal (some places in this country seem to totally disregard the blinkers) to another driver - but it doesn't seem to be received in the same fashion.
Sensei Mattson writes: <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>It has been my experience that woman are just a guilty of road rage as men. The automobile is the great equalizer. . . Big or small, man or woman, you become an extension of your car. Road rage has nothing to do with gender. . . It is simple stupidity and rudeness; Qualities shared equally by men and woman.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I agree whole heartedly - and it's not my intent to imply that women are not equally subject to road rage. My question here is more from the point of the effects from the passenger side:
Does the passenger add to the stress of the driving situation by their presence? What about escalating the situation by their own reactions? And is it good or even effective to have a passenger remind you to "let it go" so the situation doesn't escalate? As Len writes: <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>If my wife is with me, she tells me to forget the whole thing. She is nervous enough that she is in the passenger seat and not behind the wheel. I usually do not get into a "rage" with other drivers unless I am alone in the car.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
This is what I'm getting at. How much difference does the passenger make? From what I read here - it looks like they do.
Now on the other hand - given that both genders are equally subject to rage - why do we see the most serious incidents all involving men? Maybe I've just missed the stories - but so far it seems that road rage in the news - all seem to have male drivers. Just wondering why this might be.
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Allen M.
Road Rage from the Passenger Seat
In my copious free time I thought I'd search the net on road rage. There are tons of stuff out with lots of links if anyone is interested in researching the subject. I did find the following link interesting:
http://aloha.net/~dyc/rrnews.html
Also, at the bottom of this one there is a good bibliography that can lend itself for further studies.
http://www.aaafts.org/Text/research/RoadRageFinal.htm
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Allen Moulton from Uechi-ryu Etcetera
http://aloha.net/~dyc/rrnews.html
Also, at the bottom of this one there is a good bibliography that can lend itself for further studies.
http://www.aaafts.org/Text/research/RoadRageFinal.htm
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Allen Moulton from Uechi-ryu Etcetera
Road Rage from the Passenger Seat
Allen-san - you do have too much free time if you read all that!
An excellent collection of articles pertaining to road rage (thanks for posting the link) - and while I didn't read them all - I did a search for "woman" on the page and came up with a number of articles where women were involved in road rage incidents! So I just haven't seen it enough in our local news. Thanks for pointing that out. I still maintain however that the percentage is WAY lower for women to become involved in a serious altercation - and even within all those articles - (I didn't figure a percentage - but it looks to be far less than 25% in a wild guess) the incidence of female road rage is lower than the males. I'm not out to prove anything here - just wondering about the implications there. We've already stated that women are just as subject to rage and even violence - yet the statistics quoted repeatedly about violent crime - including road rage in this case - show women to be in the minority. So I guess we make up for that by nagging unmercifully eh?
An excellent collection of articles pertaining to road rage (thanks for posting the link) - and while I didn't read them all - I did a search for "woman" on the page and came up with a number of articles where women were involved in road rage incidents! So I just haven't seen it enough in our local news. Thanks for pointing that out. I still maintain however that the percentage is WAY lower for women to become involved in a serious altercation - and even within all those articles - (I didn't figure a percentage - but it looks to be far less than 25% in a wild guess) the incidence of female road rage is lower than the males. I'm not out to prove anything here - just wondering about the implications there. We've already stated that women are just as subject to rage and even violence - yet the statistics quoted repeatedly about violent crime - including road rage in this case - show women to be in the minority. So I guess we make up for that by nagging unmercifully eh?
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Allen M.
Road Rage from the Passenger Seat
I'm a fast reader, Lori, I zip through this web stuff like you wouldn't believe.
You are establishing a ratio of men/women caught in the act of road rage. Just a far-fetched idea is that the percentages you come up with could have something to do with a ratio of aggressive behavior between the two groups in general? Provided that an equal number of women as men get caught and registered as road ragers. Remember, Lori, it's just a thought which you brought to mind and not an opinion (I really don't care if it was 1000:1 or 1:000).
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Allen Moulton from Uechi-ryu Etcetera
You are establishing a ratio of men/women caught in the act of road rage. Just a far-fetched idea is that the percentages you come up with could have something to do with a ratio of aggressive behavior between the two groups in general? Provided that an equal number of women as men get caught and registered as road ragers. Remember, Lori, it's just a thought which you brought to mind and not an opinion (I really don't care if it was 1000:1 or 1:000).
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Allen Moulton from Uechi-ryu Etcetera
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gmattson
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Road Rage from the Passenger Seat
I will arbitrarily define "road rage" as uncontrolled aggressive behavior while in a car or following an incident occurring in a car. I believe men and women are equally guilty of bad behavior while in a car, while a much higher percentage of men will take this boorish and dangerous behavior outside the car! Naturally, most of the physical exchange will take place outside of one's car. Therefore, more men will be caught then woman. Just an opinion.
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GEM
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GEM
Road Rage from the Passenger Seat
There was an article on the globe today about violence being almost exclusively a male gender thing.
Women do drive and act very boorishly as well as men, at times, but they do not chase you down and yell out "pull over you mother F***, I am going to beat your brains out" like men do.
But a lousy, aggressive, tailgating, erratic woman driver will get the male passenger into trouble, when he feels like he has to prove to be a man and take on the road rager chasing down his woman driver.
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Van Canna
Women do drive and act very boorishly as well as men, at times, but they do not chase you down and yell out "pull over you mother F***, I am going to beat your brains out" like men do.
But a lousy, aggressive, tailgating, erratic woman driver will get the male passenger into trouble, when he feels like he has to prove to be a man and take on the road rager chasing down his woman driver.
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Van Canna
Road Rage from the Passenger Seat
Bravo Senseis! Case in point! 
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Gilbert MacIntyre
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Road Rage from the Passenger Seat
I've been guilty of RR in the past, and I look back at those incidents with embarrassment.
Over the past 5 years or so I've been able to change my out look on life. I really can't see what good comes out of all that anger. I mean the slight suffered by you at the hands of the other driver may have been unknowingly executed. Even if it was intentional, what benifit do you get from screaming, horn blowing, finger flipping or any other response.
To suffer the slight and then force yourself to feel anger and hatred seems to be silly. The only one you are bothering is yourself.
Best to change your thought process and concentrate on something other than the other driver. If the other driver is the one going nuts and blowing the horn at me, I usually toot my horn back. Two, or three short little taps and give a big wave like it must be someone I know.
Being angry isn't going to change anything, except how the rest of your day unfolds.
On the impact of a passenger on RR, I believe it could be a positive influence helping someone refrain from making a scene. In other cars it could be the reason for setting the driver off. "Nobody is going to make me look like an idiot in front of my kids, wife, girl,(boyfriend, although my experience would put guys around 90% of total RR)."
By the way Lori, Mary's fight was cancelled. We go again in April.
Gilbert.
Over the past 5 years or so I've been able to change my out look on life. I really can't see what good comes out of all that anger. I mean the slight suffered by you at the hands of the other driver may have been unknowingly executed. Even if it was intentional, what benifit do you get from screaming, horn blowing, finger flipping or any other response.
To suffer the slight and then force yourself to feel anger and hatred seems to be silly. The only one you are bothering is yourself.
Best to change your thought process and concentrate on something other than the other driver. If the other driver is the one going nuts and blowing the horn at me, I usually toot my horn back. Two, or three short little taps and give a big wave like it must be someone I know.
Being angry isn't going to change anything, except how the rest of your day unfolds.
On the impact of a passenger on RR, I believe it could be a positive influence helping someone refrain from making a scene. In other cars it could be the reason for setting the driver off. "Nobody is going to make me look like an idiot in front of my kids, wife, girl,(boyfriend, although my experience would put guys around 90% of total RR)."
By the way Lori, Mary's fight was cancelled. We go again in April.
Gilbert.
Road Rage from the Passenger Seat
This is an intersting topic as it affects everyone who ventures out onto the roads, regardless of where you live. As a teenager I saw myself a road rager more than once, but since then I have succomb to a bit of logic and muttering. I can even mutter ****'s and ****'s under my breath at the sweetest blue hair lady in front of me as she peers through the top of the steering wheel out. But I never let it affect my driving. The bottom line is, with road rage, "the end will never justify the means", it can be no more than a negative. To get from point A to point B its your choice, but road rage may take away that choice.
Unfortunately I got a first hand glimpse of what road rage can create. In Sacramento, California I was on my way home driving down the ever packed Watt Avenue. A driver passed me and quickly jumped in front in an attempt to continue through traffic. This driver began honking the horn and flipping off the driver in front because they wanted him to speed up. It appeared to me as the person in the passenger seat was trying to calm the driver down. The people in back were chiming right in with their hooting, hollering, sticking their heads out the car antics. The driver in front seemed to not care one bit and continued to drive at the same speed. Soon enough the driver was able to pass on the right, but as they passed, they yelled, screamed, and hung out of the car, gesturing as if they wanted him to pullover. The driver continued on - seemingly unbothered. As soon as the passing car tired themselves of the yelling and such forth, they sped on away to continue bouncing through traffic. The driver who seemed unbothered immediately jumped in behind them and made chase. Soon they were out of my sight. It wasnt long after this when traffic came to a complete snarl. Approximately 1 1/2 hours later I crept passed the what was left of the car who had bounced passed me. By then the ambulances had left and the driver and passengers of the car had been removed. I pulled over and gave the police information on what I had seen prior to this. Although with everything I had seen I never even got a single license plate number! I identified both drivers as being males. As it turned out, the passenger in front was killed and the other 3 injured. The accident was called a hit and run homocide, and the police were searching for the other vehicle. To this day I still do not know what resulted, as I never received a call from the police and have since moved from California.
I cant help but to wonder about the passenger who was killed. She seemed to be young. Could she have done something to convince the driver to stop or pullover and let her out? Maybe she tried. This is my concern as a parent. I fully expect my kids to experience the passenger end of road rage at least once. I have since talked with my kids about this situation, "being the passenger of a vehicle who's driver has become overtaken with road rage", and we have compiled a few ideas. But they are so situational you have to be ready for anything and be able to take control of your life. Getting out of that car may be the persons best action. Regardless of anything, and at any time of the day, my kids know they can call me and I will be there, even if they are compromising themselves, i.e. underage drinking, or being somewhere they were told not to be. I cant discipline or praise a corpse.
Unfortunately I got a first hand glimpse of what road rage can create. In Sacramento, California I was on my way home driving down the ever packed Watt Avenue. A driver passed me and quickly jumped in front in an attempt to continue through traffic. This driver began honking the horn and flipping off the driver in front because they wanted him to speed up. It appeared to me as the person in the passenger seat was trying to calm the driver down. The people in back were chiming right in with their hooting, hollering, sticking their heads out the car antics. The driver in front seemed to not care one bit and continued to drive at the same speed. Soon enough the driver was able to pass on the right, but as they passed, they yelled, screamed, and hung out of the car, gesturing as if they wanted him to pullover. The driver continued on - seemingly unbothered. As soon as the passing car tired themselves of the yelling and such forth, they sped on away to continue bouncing through traffic. The driver who seemed unbothered immediately jumped in behind them and made chase. Soon they were out of my sight. It wasnt long after this when traffic came to a complete snarl. Approximately 1 1/2 hours later I crept passed the what was left of the car who had bounced passed me. By then the ambulances had left and the driver and passengers of the car had been removed. I pulled over and gave the police information on what I had seen prior to this. Although with everything I had seen I never even got a single license plate number! I identified both drivers as being males. As it turned out, the passenger in front was killed and the other 3 injured. The accident was called a hit and run homocide, and the police were searching for the other vehicle. To this day I still do not know what resulted, as I never received a call from the police and have since moved from California.
I cant help but to wonder about the passenger who was killed. She seemed to be young. Could she have done something to convince the driver to stop or pullover and let her out? Maybe she tried. This is my concern as a parent. I fully expect my kids to experience the passenger end of road rage at least once. I have since talked with my kids about this situation, "being the passenger of a vehicle who's driver has become overtaken with road rage", and we have compiled a few ideas. But they are so situational you have to be ready for anything and be able to take control of your life. Getting out of that car may be the persons best action. Regardless of anything, and at any time of the day, my kids know they can call me and I will be there, even if they are compromising themselves, i.e. underage drinking, or being somewhere they were told not to be. I cant discipline or praise a corpse.
