Road Rage and Dodge Ball
Road Rage is something that we have been hearing a lot lately, especially with the newer anti-aggressive driving laws that have been passed in some states. Still I must be honest in saying that I do not completely understand how road range works in the people that have problems with it. In some ways I’m under the impression that believe that road rage might be a bit of a psychological disorder, yet if that is the case then does it make sense to pass laws against it. As if that is truly the case isn’t it as pointless as passing a law to make it illegal to be depressed and to subject people that are depressed to fines while rebuking them to cheer up and threatening further punishment if they don’t? Well neither do I, as if anything I think it might be boiled down to a matter of pride and having the wrong outlook on driving. Just think about the last couple car commercials that you’ve seen and chances are they were filled with images of how a certain type of car goes fast and give one an almost godlike image and experience while driving it. Yet we all know that driving is rarely a flawless experience for us as things like red lights and traffic jams get in the way between reality and the image that marketing gives us of what driving should be. Yet in reality as hard as it might be for some people to accept when driving you are not the only person out on the road nor does the highway revolve around your car regardless of what make and model you happen to be driving. Yet it seems as if our own driving style is the standard by which all others should be judged all too often or as George Carlin put it: “Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anybody driving faster is a maniac?” The other area that really gets to some people a bit too much is when somebody slows down suddenly or pulls out too close in front of them, and thereby cutting them off and forcing them sacrifice their plan in order to slow down in order to avoid a collision. Yet I’m sure all of us have also done the same to others when pulling out when neglecting to look or misjudging speeds and distances or when making a sudden turn and out of forgetfulness putting on our turn signal at the last minute to avoid giving much of a warning that you are about to slow down. Regardless in virtually all cases where somebody makes a mistake, the other driver reacts in time to avoid a crash. After which it is over and no longer an issue, so why does this cause such rage in people that somebody had the nerve to do to them what they almost certainly did to others themselves on other occasions? Yet even from the most self-centered point of view road rage does not make sense, as it lets the momentary mistake of someone else, get them pissed off for the rest of the drive, most likely long after the offender has even remembered how they pulled out a bit too slowly when making a turn. So how about an alternative way of viewing things that comes from watching children play – dodge ball. Sure its not a perfect mentality as in dodge ball unlike driving one tries to hit others in purpose but doesn’t that make it all the more insightful? As if in a game of dodge ball, someone comes close to hitting you but missing, its a given that one does not sand there and start screaming at the idiot for almost hitting them. As it not only makes sense, not to mention that the moment of blind shouting rage at the other person who missed them will only make them very vulnerable to others targeting them with an increase of scoring a hit. So why are so many “mature adults” unable to do the same when someone accidentally almost hits them, when our children are able to brush off missed intend hits as nothing or something to laugh about? As this is the real root of the road rage problem and until this is resolved there will be no real progress made.
