Getting angry when someone cuts you off in traffic (anxiety, parent, problems)
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Ha. Live in Miami, that is a way of life. Same with Vegas. I just drive like a little ole lady, and let it go. Those people are not worth the energy.
If you do find this an issue, road rage is serious, and identifies an unresolved issue in your own life, I suggest reviewing your life, and things you cannot control that bother you, and get counseling.
I'm seeing more and more of these violations, including running red lights, using the carpool lane to pass, changing lanes in the middle of the intersection and misusing various lanes for convenience or positioning.
The main problem where I live is there are no consequences. There are so many drivers in Southern California, and so few cops, that the odds of getting caught are minimal.
The younger generations won't follow the laws just because they are laws. In the absence of corrective action and/or collision, they drive the way they want to.
After driving with a friend in Boston...that's right Boston....I watched her, a
native Italian from the North End...driving without signaling, drifting from
lane to lane and I dropped any anger
I previously had for drivers....I realized they may be all nice people
just spaced out.
Sure, maybe they should be put to death...but they don't do these things on purpose.
Now, 31 yrs later, nothing bothers me in traffic.
I've had the same hour commute in a very large city for 9 years. If I got angry with everything some idiot driver did, I would most certainly would have had a heart attack years ago. You just have to shrug and shake your head and get over it. The idiot drivers are everywhere!
I get upset at drivers who cut me off, especially when they see that there's construction up ahead and they just know their lane ends soon. And the OP is correct; you can tell when someone is accidentally in the wrong lane or just wants to get ahead of traffic.
That said, for the most part I'm pretty easygoing. Unless I am babysitting and have children in the car. Then I get very angry and nervous.
The Bible says it best: "A calm heart is the life of the fleshly organism." Proverbs 14:30
Learning to stay calm in potentially hostile situations may save both your life and others. Not to mention the fact that anger can have a corrosive effect on your own health.
I had an experience where an officer stopped my car in Phoenix, AZ claiming a non-working taillight (not true) and had me standing outside the car for a half hour while he did a "license check." He and a fellow officer were laughing to themselves in their cruiser while I stood there. I had to remain calm, say nothing improper, and force myself to think calm thoughts and smile inwardly. After wasting my time, they gave me back my license and let me go. Was I being provoked or humiliated? Perhaps. But I knew that MY RESPONSE would determine the outcome of this situation. You really have to think of the long term effects of responding badly even when you feel that you are the victim of an injustice. This not a time for macho or ego.
I'll leave you with another Bible verse: "... it is better to be a live dog than a dead lion." -Ecclesiastes 9:4
There are a lot of bad drivers out there. If you let them bother you, you will end up with ulcers or a stress induced heart attack. You can not drive 5 miles without seeing some sort of stupidity.
I have to confess that my son and I make a game out of ridiculing the bad drivers. Terrible insults, which of course they never hear. But we laugh and nobody gets into a road rage over it.
The dangerous bad driving is just a fact of life and I suggest that all my friends here at C-D drive extremely defensively, so some idiot who is driving while looking down into their lap and texting doesn't take you with them when they kill themselves.
Yeah, I suppose it is a fact of life. I'm like you OP. I get angry when people almost hit me, or drive crazy around me, riding my tail like I'm driving too slow. Since I KNOW that I have a problem getting angry when I drive, I've learned to take a different route. I live in Dallas, and the traffic sucks. So to avoid bad drivers, I take the back roads to work everday. Sure I have to pass through a few school zones, and it may take a little longer than if I were to take the highway. But I'd much rather wake up a few minutes early and have a peaceful drive to work, than to deal with nonsense on the road. ESPECIALLY when it's raining.
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