In A Hurry

In most cases I think you can break drivers into two main categories….those in a hurry and those who are not. I know that’s rather simple but I really believe when you look closely at those behind the wheel it comes down to that and can in some cases be the root cause of road rage.

I admit that most times I fall into the category of being in a hurry as it always seems like I am racing against the clock to get somewhere. Most of the time it’s my fault as I did not leave enough time to get from point A to point B. Often though outside factors like traffic put you behind and then result in sometimes desperate measures to make up that time and get to where you need to be. That is when you seem to run into the driver who seems to be out for a joy ride and is in no rush to go anywhere. You get behind him or her and your blood pressure starts building as they are cruising or limping along at 5 or 10 miles below the speed limit. Let’s face it they are not doing anything wrong but you (or me) start screaming at them to pull over or get off the road as you keep looking at the clock and realize there is simply no way you are getting to your destination on time.

Of course this can lead to a full-blown road rage incident and sometimes does because you are now blaming the slower driver for what’s really your problem. It’s not as bad as when you get cut off or have to jam on your breaks because the driver in front of you does not use a turn signal but there is no question the slower driver at the very least causes stress in others. Listen this really comes down to the fact that most of us are time-challenged and if it takes 20 minutes to get somewhere we plan on 20…or maybe even 18. So when you get behind that slow driver in a non-passing area you quickly make them out to be the bad guy or even bad driver. In truth even if they are doing the speed limit we want them off the road for people like us who have places to go and things to do. I would imagine that is much more prevalent in an area like ours where there are so many elderly drivers on the road….many of whom should no longer be behind the wheel. However as long as they are we need to co-exist and maybe at the end of the day the simple solution is respect and courtesy. Of course I could make a case that’s the solution to most of our problems but I’ll leave that for another day.

With a somewhat hurried Hometown View, I’m Kevin Williams.