Road Rage is Bull**** was Would you rather have the Copulator or the Masturbator?

On Sun, 01 Aug 2004 08:28:13 -0400, Nate Nagel wrote:

DonQuijote1954 wrote:

snip

I. You can better combat "road rage" by understanding what it is...

A. Road rage or aggressive driving is defined as behavior behind the
wheel in which furious drivers lose their temper and engage in
risk-taking behavior or attempt to injure or kill another driver or
pedestrian over minor traffic disputes.

(Dr. Leon James, Professor of Psychology at the University of Hawaii,
further defines road rage by breaking it down into three types)

1. Verbal Road Rage is composed of behaviors such as yelling,
swearing, gesturing, honking, and insulting.


This is such crap. How the hell are you supposed to alert another
driver to the incorrectness of his actions without engaging in something
that Dr. James would consider "Road Rage?" Or are we supposed to accept
every action of another motorist without complaint, no matter how
outrageous?

nate

Actually, yes, as hard as that may seem, especially if you're biking, and
especially to verba road rage as defined above. The response actually seems
(so psychologists say) to encourage more rage, according to a couple of my
cycling books. It's best to do and say nothing and act as if it hadn't
happened, if possible. Throwing the digit or yelling gets them the
attention they seem to require, plus it enables them to carry it further,
stopping and then trying to run you down or force you off the road.

Easier said than done.

This doesn't mean you shouldn't shout if you need to get the cager's
attention. I just shout 'YO' loudly, and that gets their attention,
usually.

-B

Scott en Aztlan

wrote in part:


The politically correct milquetoasts would also have you make room in
your lane for the late merging assholes. In other words, you're
expected to be an enabler for the bad behavior of others - if you
don't, you're a "road rager."


So not acting like an idiot makes one a "politically correct milquetoast", huh?
That's a interesting viewpoint. Of course, it's also interesting that you use
the pop psychobabble phrase, "an enabler for the bad behavior of others", in
the very next sentence. That almost sounds as if you are "conflicted" about
something.

Regards,
Bob Hunt

wrote in part:


***I*** assume it means those morons who come poking down the ramp at
40 (peering over their shoulders and riding the brakes), reach the end
of the ramp, and then... just... pull into the right-of-way,
because... well... the painted lines on the road funnel them to the
left, don't they? Aren't they supposed to obey those lane markers?
Not cross a solid line?

The PC milquetoasts whom Scott describes are the ones who will move
from the cruising lane to the hammer lane to let them in, no matter
how fast hammer-lane traffic might be trying to overtake at the time,
and no matter how incompetent the would-be merger is. Yeh, sure it's
thoughtful and kind to move left to let entering traffic on but ONLY
IF YOU DO NOT IMPEDE OTHER TRAFFIC! Entering traffic must either
accelerate to merge, or stop.

I used to love ticketing people that believed their presence in the left lane
granted them special privileges over other traffic.
If you insist on using the rules of the road as a defense for whining, then at
least make sure you *know* them.
1- A solid white line painted on the pavement is a traffic control device and
yes, as a matter of fact it *is* illegal to cut across that line to merge into
traffic.
2- The duty to adjust speed and lateral position on the roadway applies to both
the vehicle attempting to merge *AND* the vehicle in the through lane.
3- Driving in what you call the "hammer lane" does not give you the right to
exceed the speed limit so in the scenario you describe unless all the other
traffic is traveling significantly *below* the speed limit (yeah, right... sure
they are!) no traffic is significantly impeded. Except of course for the
bonehead that believes his/her presence in the left lane give them some kind of
right to speed.

Regards,
Bob Hunt