Driving like an A-hole

Driving a car brings out the worst in most people. How many people would go up to someone's face, give them the digit, and loudly cuss them out? A confrontation like that would usually be reserved for the most insidious circumstances. Yet on the road, this happens so often, easily and seemingly unprovoked, that it has almost become the conventional way of communicating while operating heavy machinery. As a comparison, let's try and correlate two similar circumstances; one on the road and one on the sidewalk.

The Bully Tactic

Let's say your walking down a crowded sidewalk (any busy city street will serve as a good example). The person in front of you is moving much slower than you(maybe they're old, in bad shape, not in a hurry, looking for something -or maybe they're just a weenie)...but you're stuck behind them until you get a chance to pass. A mature, normally-adjusted person would probably keep a reasonable distance, mutter their frustration under their breath, and wait for a suitable opportunity to get around. An impatient, arrogant, angry bully-type would hover too close, huff and puff out loud, try and push the person to go faster even though they could just wait and go around them. If really annoyed, this person may even say something when they do get around. This person is a jack-ass. Unequivocally.

Luckily, most reasonable people don't act in this fashion...except in cars. Normal, friendly, well-adjusted people reduce themselves to acting like mad children once they get behind the wheel of a car. It's not out of the ordinary for someone to speed up and ride someone's ass when they can just pass them. This is especially shabby when someone is driving in the right lane....THAT'S WHAT IT'S FOR. And it's just as customary to pass someone (with a raging fury), give them the finger, scowl menacingly and mouth numerous obscenities as they soar past. I have done this myself. And almost always (except when someone is yappin' on their phone) I feel like a heel afterwards.

I would never treat someone that way face-to-face. But in a car, we are not held accountable for our behavior towards other people. We don't really have to look them in the eye and say f*ck you...it's so much easier to vilify someone when they are an abstract operator of a machine.

I'm no driving guru. Anyone who has known me for any significant amount of time knows this. But is it too much to ask for people to chill out while driving a two-ton vehicle? It may be an impossible task but I think it's worth considering.