Road Responsibility: Why Does It Seem Illegal?
I don’t know about you, but does it seem, in the light of Megan’s wonderful contributions recently, that the ability of people to take responsibility for their actions has decreased to the point that it’s almost illegal to be seen as doing so? Road rage is here and it’s here to stay. Yet there really are no reasons why it should be, BUT it’s also too easy to understand why road rage exists, given some of the truly awesomely garbage antics that are meant to be examples of driving, that we see on our roads daily. When a driver’s error (or two or five…) are pointed out, instead of a “yeah, sorry mate, you’re right, I shouldn’t have cut across three lanes to end up in front of you before slamming on the brakes so you almost hit me whilst I was texting”, you’re met with a torrent of abuse that would make a drill sergeant blush. Hang on, I’ve been driving correctly, doing nothing wrong, except for maybe listening to the radio station I swore I’d never listen to again but it’s MY fault that your driving standards are so bad that even Helen Keller could do a better job? In her sleep?
So what IS it that has people cursing you instead of acknowledging their error? What is it that’s gone wrong in society that to be seen doing the right thing is now the wrong thing? Driving a car really isn’t that hard, especially with the (to my mind) overwhelming push to automate almost every aspect of driving. Hop in, press the Start button, move a short, stubby lever to D and that’s about it. So why is it so hard to indicate, to slow down and stop for a red light, to go the right way in a shopping centre car park, to stop and check for traffic at an intersection rather than hammering through? And why is it so hard to acknowledge that doing those is wrong when someone says so?
A common response from our illmannered brethren is “You a cop mate? If you’re not a cop, why don’t you f##k off?” So, in order to be seen to be doing the right thing, a good driver pointing out a bad driver’s errors also has to be a cop? Does that also mean that you have to be a cop to pull a dog off another dog or a child? Does that mean you have to be a cop to shake your head at someone shoplifting? No, you don’t and to think so is absurd. 
In the world of motoring, we come across some things which baffle us; why we seem to get a string of red lights, for example, or why road designers insist on making roundabouts too big for buses to use properly. These are, generally, pretty easy to deal with, in the greater scheme of things. But why someone thinks it IS perfectly ok to stand on the brake pedal in front of you after cutting in front, only for you to see there was, in fact, nothing of front of them, and when you toot your horn in perfectly understandable human frustration you get thrown a barrage of verbal bricks, is one of life’s current imponderables. And, in the interest of fairness, it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female, you’re a driver of a car, a 1500 kilogram potential weapon. If you’ve done something wrong and it’s pointed out, it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female, you’re a crap driver.
It’s not illegal to take responsibility for your crap actions on the road, do what Megan so correctly suggests here at point 6: http://blog.privatefleet.com.au/home/calm-the-farm-avoiding-road-rage/ so if doing the right thing is too hard, if using indicators is too hard, if driving without your iFone headphones plugged into your ears (stupid, given you have a radio with inputs in your car!), if admitting you’re wrong is too hard then, please, do the rest of us a favour and hand your license in. It’s illegal to drive badly but it’s not illegal to be told you have been.
Have a great day.
Level 2, 9 Help Street
drive better says:
So rightly said. The worst is when someone does a bad thing on the road like causing an accident and then escapes. People should be more responsible when driving. Those who are not, should have their license cancelled for life.
September 19th, 2014 at 4:36 pm