Road Rage! Instant Gratification.

In front of me is a car that refuses to go the speed limit. I have been going behind it for the last 10 minute. It was ok up until two or three minutes ago. Apparently, during the last seven minutes I was wondering if the car would see me close behind and speed up, or will it remain its constant (slow) speed of 37 in a 45 zone. The answer is, the car ahead does not care to go any faster, nor does it care that I am tailgating.

I’m looking behind to see if there are any other cars as pissed as I am. There is none.

I look on the opposite lane to see if any car is coming. The coast is clear.

Alright, I made up my mind to overtake the car ahead of me! I have places to be (lies). Shifted the gear back to 3^rd, revved up the engine, put out my signal to overtake and BOOM!

I passed the car… as it take a right turn.

So that overtake did not feel as good as it should. That car ahead of me just totally robbed me of my feeling good moment. Unbelievable! I couldn’t believe it. All those frustration that I had piled up till that point was still there, but the person that was causing the problem was gone. Simply gone! They are no longer bothering me, but something else still is not right. It was ME!

I was the problem the whole time. It wasn’t the guy ahead of me that is provoking my dangerous driving habits. It was me that want to become daring in order to feel strongly about something, and the guy in front of me just happen to be an excuse for me to do it.

I have realized that after I committed to overtake that he had been increasing his speed to 50 mph because I had to run over +60 mph to pass him. But surprisingly, he chose to be the better man (woman) and left the path that I was taking. How many of us can be as noble as to take a right turn in order to avoid unnecessary conflict with our fellow man? All it took was the right decision to make a right turn and do a U-turn to get back on that same road after the maniac (me) is gone.

I felt so bad because in my rearview mirror, the car appear about 30 seconds after the pass, and instead of chasing me down and tailgating the way I did to him/her, they kept a noticeable distance. But the horror ensues when I came to a RED LIGHT! I was totally embarrassed! The car slowly stopped right behind my car. All the effort put into overtaking someone to get to somewhere, and in the end, I have gotten nowhere fast.

If only I remained calm, be more patient, considerate, for another human being, my well deserve embarrassment wouldn’t be so much. If the usual people driving on the road are as thoughtful as that car ahead of me, we would not have so much road rage.

The only thing left to do was, turn down the window, stick my head out, turn back, and yell, “I’m sorry! I was an ass!” The man nodded. The story ends.

But my life is still going. I have learned a lot about myself. I want to be more patient and considerate for others. I want to be wiser when dealing with unfavorable situation. I must not be selfish in my dealing with others. And most importantly, I must be Honest, first with myself, then others.

What have you learn about yourself when you’re driving?

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