It's a real disorder, but as I've been fond of telling students who come up with all kinds of excuses for misbehavior or not doing their work on schedule, that explains the behavior, it does not excuse it. We don't control how we react emotionally, but we do control what we do and say.
I got this today going to the store. I needed to turn right from the offramp going onto a main road, and the red right turn arrow turned red long before I got to the intersection, so I stopped and waited for a solid green or right turn green. The woman behind me honked, edged up, honked again, starting making gestures, then rolled down her window and started yelling and making other gestures to all around. She seemed to get more angry each time there was a gap in traffic ahead, though I saw none I'd feel comfortable pulling into anyway. It was amazing to witness, though a bit scary at the time, to get so angry over such a small thing as being delayed by traffic for roughly a minute, maybe 90 seconds at the most.
The way I look at it, it's like the weather. There are poor and inconsiderate drivers out there, and you're going to run into them whether you like it or not, and it really is foolish to take it personally. It does about as much good to get mad at the weather.
I do get tailgated a lot, but I'm not driving in any way inconsiderately. I keep to the right when possible and move to the right as soon as it is safe to do so, but I still get tailgaters every time I pass.
Gilda
Last edited by Gilda; 06-16-2006 at 09:57 PM..
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