Road Rage

Road Rage

There is a lot of talk about autonomous cars. In the not so far future, cars will be able to navigate the roads and other cars without assistance from a human being. Of course it will be a longer time before a car will be able to do this without a human behind the wheel. I know I wouldn't feel comfortable giving total control to my car.

The benefits of autonomous cars are many. Fewer accidents, fewer deaths, lower insurance rates, less road congestion and less bad drivers pissing us off. That leads to my favorite benefit - less Road Rage.

Road Rage is a negative response to many things going inside ourselves. We all believe other drivers are the cause of Road Rage. I say that's bullshit. Road Rage happens when we are pissed off, frustrated, depressed, having a bad day, late for an appointment and the unrealistic expectation that all drivers (young and old) should be able to drive as good as we drive.

The fact is Road Rage accomplishes nothing positive. It won't get you to your appointment faster. It won't make a bad day a good day. It won't make you feel better about yourself. It won't make the bad driver drive better. 

It will raise your blood pressure. It will become a negative attitude that you will carry throughout your entire day. It will make the other driver nervous enough that he or she might cause an accident. It might even get you shot to death.

The first cars ever built had a horn. I agree that honking your horn might be necessary to avoid an accident or get someone out of the way, however the makers of cars never anticipated that the horn was the major instrument of Road Rage. The facts are that using your horn for the former is the minor use of this instrument. The vast majority use this instrument to implement their Road Rage.

I'm all in favor of autonomous cars, but before they become a reality, I think we should get rid of the horn. Yell out your car's window all you want, but stop honking your horn. Maybe yelling out the window will get some frustration off your chest. 

I hate bad drivers, but, I hate Road Rage assholes more