by Ethan Holmes

Created on: March 16, 2009

Road Rage; the Path to Trouble

I was on my way to Costco the other day when something astonishing happened. Sitting at the light to turn left in to the parking lot of the store I suddenly heard the guy behind me honking repeatedly. Apparently I had not hit the gas pedal within the exact millisecond the green arrow lit and he was unhappy. I moved slowly out into the intersection but the fact that I was moving was not enough. This raging driver proceeded to whirl his car in to the oncoming lane of traffic alongside me and barge his way in to the exit lane of the cars leaving the store lot.

When you witness such a thing it is almost unbelievable. What kind of hurry, what sort of emergency would make a person do such a thing? Why would he endanger himself and everyone around him just because I did not peel out drag racer style when the light turned green?

I have to admit ten years ago my inclination would be to follow him in to the parking lot, pull up behind him, wait for him to exit the vehicle and subsequently use his impatient little head as my own private handball. I'm big enough and tough enough to do it, but most importantly I am wise enough now not to do it.

I used to live in a place in the deep South that was undergoing a population explosion. In a very short time a tremendous amount of people moved to this once small town and the streets and highways for miles around quickly became inundated with too much traffic. The locals who had lived there all or most of their lives became enraged at all the new residents living there and the visiting tourists. The end result was in a few years you could not go anywhere without running into someone who was perfectly willing to roll down their window and exhibit their middle finger, scream and curse at you or even threaten you with various weapons.

Is the whole world late for something? Why is everyone in a hurry? After all these years is it still too difficult to figure out how long it takes to get ready to go somewhere and then drive there? Why is it that the speed limit laws are one of the most ignored laws in this country? Most of all, why is it the unmitigated right of every driver to use any means at their disposal to get where they are going even if it means killing someone in the process?

These are all rhetorical questions. I'm not really looking for the answers since I am now old enough and wise enough to realize that most humans are basically selfish, self-centered creatures intensely focused only on what is most

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