Road Rage - Is It A Disease?

Since when did America's highways become a lethal game of bumper cars? Since stress has overtaken the nation's drivers and we've all somehow come to accept bad behavior as the norm. As the country attempts to enforce gun control laws, millions of drivers are getting behind the wheel of a weapon that is just as deadly.

I've read articles where reputable scientists are calling road rage a "mental disorder". I also heard one guy say that road rage indicates that drivers don't have as much respect for each other as they used to. Heck, the lack of respect is not just present among motorists, it's everywhere! Sure, as Rodney Dangerfield would say, there's no respect, but, even worse, we've become a selfish society that appears unable to control our own anger.

Drivers are reacting to real and imagined slights by torpedoing other drivers with their own personal battering ram. Go to slow in the high speed lane and some speed racer type whose job it is to apparently police the highways for proper speed etiquette tailgates you and flashes his high beams incessantly. Look buddy, the high speed lane on the highway is a passing lane, not the German Autobahn. I shouldn't be riding in it for any distance any more than you should be. And the kicker is that, that jerk who feels the need to force you to move to the right is "passing" other cars because he's doing eighty! Hey, that's illegal too!

Fact is, road rage is generally perpetrated by individuals who, in their own desire to be the center of their own universe, refuse to consider those around them. To these folks, road rage is a way for them to punish others for not adhering to their own set of rules; rules that they themselves may or may not follow. Sure, there are legitimate cases of Falling Down Michael Douglas stressed-out businessmen out there, but even Michael's Bill Foster had ulterior motives.

Road rage continues to be a wide spread issue on all highways and local roadways throughout America. Everybody wants to go somewhere in the quickest of times and patience is wearing thin. Drivers need to realize it is not worth it to risk their own life or another person's life just to get somewhere five minutes earlier.

Jack A. Goode, II has a keen interest in the issues involving road rage. The "About the Author" section contains another thought provoking blog to learn more about me.