Auntie Road Rage

  This week I have been involved in the Toronto Curling Association Energizer Men's Bonspiel. It is the largest curling Bonspiel in Ontario, with over 300 participating teams, and involves curling at several different clubs around the suburban GTA (Greater Toronto Area) over the course of several nights. So, I have been spending a lot of time driving, or being a passenger, in a variety of conditions. We had freezing rain, fog, rain, snow; the whole gamut of Southern Ontario winter weather. Which brings me to my selection of my biggest pet peeve in my previous entry: bad drivers. We saw just about everything; from people so over cautious they slowed down to dangerously slow speeds just because of a little rain, to people so foolhardy they passed us going twenty klicks over the speed limit in fog so thick we could barely make out the edges of the road. But the worst, worst, worst drivers on the road may, in fact, be among the best in their car handling skills. They are the aggressive drivers.
  Everybody has seen them. They are the ones who pull out of a side street in front of you without sufficient space, making you have to brake hard to avoid them. They are the ones who weave in and out of traffic trying to get a few car lengths ahead. They are the ones who pull out and drive up the right shoulder in a traffic jam, then force their way back in without being given the space. Sure, they handle their vehicles well, but they lack even the most basic level of consideration for the other people on the road.
  Put two of them together, and you have the recipe for road rage. Mr Even-though-traffic-is-going-nowhere-I-need-to-be-six-cars-ahead runs up the shoulder and tries to butt back in. Mr Oh-no-you-don't-pull-that-crap-on-me tries not to let him in by tailgating the car in front of him. They each inch forward, little bit by little bit, waiting for the other to blink. Eventually, one of them "wins," which usually then leads to a game of pass-and-cut-off for a few kilometres until they both pull over and the inevitable fist fight at the side of the road breaks out.
  The worst part of all that is the effect it has on other drivers. Ever been trying to pass another car, and as you pull up alongside, the other driver unconsciously speeds up? It happens with aggressive driving too. As we make our way to or from work, or the mall, or soccer practice, we tend to put our driving on autopilot. When that happens, we subconsciously absorb behaviours from the drivers around us. Like speeding up when a faster car tries to pass. We do not mean to do it, but it happens anyway. As the aggressive drivers swarm around us, we also tend to behave more aggressively. We go faster. We change lanes with less available space. We try to make the merging traffic get in behind us instead of in front. This, in turn, leads to those driver behaving aggressively as well. It is a vicious cycle that perpetuates itself readily if left unchecked.
  Have you ever heard the expression, "if you are not a part of the solution, you are a part of the problem?" What that means is that unless you are actively working to improve the situation, you are causing the situation to worsen. Even if you are doing nothing. Apathy is as bad as destructive behaviour. It is possible to reduce the amount of road rage on our streets and highways. It is possible to turn the vicious cycle around; to make it a "virtuous cycle."  But, it requires action from you. It requires you to pay attention to your own driving habits; to prevent yourself from going into that autopilot mode; to make sure you do not reciprocate in kind when faced with aggressive driving habits.
  Buddy wants to butt in front of you? Let him go. In fact, leave extra space between you and the car ahead to encourage him to move over earlier. Car behind you wants to go faster? Move over and let him go. So what if you are already doing 20k over the limit. Not sure who got to the stop sign first? Let him go. What's the extra eight seconds going to cost you anyway?
   If we do our best to be considerate of the other people on the road, even those who are not being considerate of us, especially those who are not being considerate of us, maybe we can influence them. Maybe their autopilot state will pick up on that and they will leave room for the next guy to get in front of them.
  "It'll never work." I can hear you say it. Consider it this way: maybe it will affect other drivers around you, and maybe it won't, but it will reduce your stress. It will result in you getting where you were going in a relaxed state of mind. I'm sure your wife/husband/children will appreciate that. And, anyway, if you are not a part of the solution, you are a partof the problem.

  That curling thing? I lost in the semi-finals Saturday morning.