i find in need to hold my hands on the wheel, denying myself the pleasure of extending a middle finger to people to comment on their driving habits. the big ones are tailgating, weaving, and running red lights. this all comes down to people seeing driving as a right, not a priviledge, since the only way to get around in most places in the U.S. is by car.
this is how society makes us all idiots. but we add our own self-derived idiocy to the mix. by idolizing people who drink and drive their cars into telephone poles (how many spoiled child stars do this? how many teens in general succumb to their own idiocy?).
on a recent trip to germany, i noted how their societal view of transit is much more evolved than that of americans -- they have pedestrian and bicycle lanes along almost every single road (even bike paths that parallel the autobahn in places!), and provide transit by train to most of their cities. this is why i didn't need a car until i returned to the states and got a job in my young 20s. two days after i started my first professional job, i bought a car.
miraculously, it's still running over 11 years later, but as the tiny escort begins to peter out we'll be faced with a decision -- do we buy a new car or do i just commute by bike and bus. I prefer the latter; my wife the former. i just hope we don't face the decision this year; saving up for a new home on some acreage, at which point a car becomes jsut about the only mode of transit into town. ho well!
so it looks like if i stay in the states, i'll be faced with road rage wherever i go. my hope is that my heart can take my holding back the rage i feel for the lack of respect for life held by most american drivers, at least while they're on the road...
if you drive like a maniac, please stop it, for all our sakes! hang up the phone, stop eating bigmacs on the road, quit being in such a hurry, and by golly -- respect your own life if nothing else! getting yourself hurt the way you drive simply isn't worth it!
