It’s all the rage

Most have you have probably heard by now that Sacramento ranks #8 nationally for road rage.

As someone who spends a great deal of time on the road during the average workday, this comes as no surprise to me. People tailgate, switch lanes quickly, then gun it — only to end up at the same red light as the person they were trying to pass. I know with certainty that if I leave a safe distance between me and the car ahead of me, someone will cut me off to take that space.

An incident last week really made my blood boil: I was turning right from Eastern Avenue onto Fair Oaks Boulevard, and I was in the short right lane waiting for a safe time to merge with the Fair Oaks traffic. Those driving straight on Fair Oaks were in the middle of a green light, so there was plenty of oncoming traffic. I was keeping a close watch on my side mirror so I could quickly merge when it was safe to go, when the jerk behind me leaned on his horn. I looked in my rear-view mirror, and he was making very animated gestures and it appeared he was yelling “MERGE!”

Rolling down my driver’s side window, I waved my hand in a way that he should have interpreted as, “I am sorry, sir, but perhaps you do not notice the non-stop oncoming traffic going at least 45-50 miles per hour. It is not safe for me to merge at this time, but I appreciate your concern.”

Apparently his Passat could go from zero to merge-worthy speed in fewer than three seconds, and I was hindering his progress. Yes, those few extra seconds will really make the difference if you are already running late. In fact, if you are running late, this is probably a chronic problem, and your coworkers already know, and they are sick of your making excuses like “This idiot would NOT MERGE onto Fair Oaks!” because yes, that would totally explain why you interrupt meetings already-in-progress with “Sorry, sorry I’m late, but you wouldn’t BELIEVE the traffic today.” Everyone knows *that guy* — and it’s as though nobody else had to combat traffic? Plan ahead, dude.

ANYWAY. Once it was safe to go, I gave my rig some gas, and I was off. I got in the left lane, and went just slowly enough so the honker behind me would pass me on the right. The guy wouldn’t even look over at me after he’d been so aggressive with the horn, gesturing, and what I could only surmise as yelling in his car. Who’s the tough guy now?

My suggestion for helping to prevent road rage?

– Chill out

– Get up before you probably “need to” so you’re not already in a rush before you get in your car

– Realize that just because you’re in a hurry, everyone else doesn’t need to pay the price (Which brings me to an invention idea of mine: the “I’m in a hurry” light you could put on your car, but you’re only allowed to use it once every 365 days, and they are non-transferable. It would be for use when you *truly* got out of a meeting late and need to catch a flight, get to the ER, or some other critical issue, and other drivers would clear the way for you — not so much like a fire truck or ambulance, but they’d give some extra allowances for you. I don’t have all the details worked out just yet, so please don’t question the logistics, because I don’t have the answers.)