Rage

In society, most if not all of us put on some sort of facade for the sake of others. Whatever the case may be, none of us act exactly the way we want towards others outside of our households. If Joe, the annoying guy that no one wants to talk to, corners you in the break room to talk about how great his weekend was, you won't just tell him to shut-up and go away because no one likes him, you will simply make up an excuse about why you need to get back to your desk or something and go about your day. When Brenda, the nosy neighborhood gossip, calls you to ask if you heard about Brad and Kathleen, you may tell her you don't want to know, but you won't tell her that you wish she would move somewhere where someone else is as annoying as her so she can feel what it's like to be on the receiving end of the torrent of gossip that's no concern of hers. There is only one exception to this rule that I have encountered, and that is on the road.

It seems that no matter how nice of a person someone is, they turn into the spawn of Satan behind the wheel of a vehicle. There is something about driving that turns people to their baser instincts if not savage animals. Case and point: the reverend's wife, who adores your children and made cookies for you last week, will drive up to your bumper on the highway if you are only going two miles over the speed limit and when she finally passes you, will mouth something not fit for a prison inmate to you on her way by. On the other hand, you've been on a road for a couple miles with your cruise control on, your speed is very comfortable for you, ahead you see someone pull onto the road with enough time to speed up to your speed but, to your utter rage, they don't speed up fast enough and when they do finally reach "cruising speed," it is five miles under the speed limit. When you finally pass, you are the one with the look of murder on your face when you pass. Why do we turn into monsters when we drive. For some reason, you can be the only one on the road for miles both ways and when someone needs to turn onto the road, they need to pull out before you get there rather than waiting the extra seven seconds for you to pass. In construction, when a lane is closed ahead, there are usually signs posted for at least a couple miles before it actually merges, there is a long line of cars in the lane that continues and no one in merging lane, for obvious reasons it seems, and for reasons still not yet understood, some people feel as though this lane has been reserved for them so they can skip ahead of the line as if they are VIPs of some sort. During stop-and-go traffic, there are vehicles that are constantly changing lanes trying to get ahead of the jam, but everyone knows that in traffic, as soon as you change to a lane that is moving, then it stops moving and the lane you were just in starts. This is an irrevocable law made by the traffic gods apparently. By the time the traffic clears up, you are about three cars behind the car that was changing lanes, and you didn't have to do anything. It seems as though, no matter what the situation on the road, there are those people that always have to be ahead. From the people who cut you off just to turn into the next parking lot, to the people who race ahead of you from a stop light just to be right next to you again at the next light.

I have a theory that may cut down a lot on the Road Rage problem we have. As there is an age minimum to acquire a license, there should also be an age maximum. It is not for me to decide what exactly the age should be but probably the mid 60s or so. Now granted, there are people out there who are just bad drivers, but the majority of bad drivers out there are of an advanced age. If there weren't as many senior drivers out there to not signal when they are turning, to go ten miles under the speed limit, to not pay attention to anything that is going on around them when they are driving, we would not get as frustrated with some of the other mistakes that we all make from time to time because bad driving would not be nearly as frequent. Stop senior drivers = stop bad drivers. Simple math that we all can appreciate.

Well, as I conclude another of my posts, I am reminded that some people that will view this may take offense. Please keep in mind that these are my opinions and they are opinions only. If you don't agree with what has been written, please visit www.seniorsapprove.com and let them know of the injustice that has taken place here.