Road Rage and General Bad Manners

http://www.maxauto.co.za/CntView.aspx?CatID=240&CntID=739

Is it just me or did goodwill towards fellow drivers in South Africa take a nosedive into the nearest toilet and flushed itself to hell and gone?

I've been slowly but surely picking up that drivers are more and more following the "I come first, the rest can kiss my ass" mentality these days. I understand congestion on the roads and stress levels of modern living could be a factor, but really now... is it really worth aggravating the driver in the car near you and possibly causing a situation that could end in violent confrontation or worse?

I'll relate my latest experience today that seriously urked me... on my way to where I generally work, the road went from two lanes and merged before going over a train bridge towards town. What the standard practice is, is to file into both lanes equally and then merge one car from the left, one car from the right... almost like the teeth of a zipper.

I ended up in a lane that was significantly longer than the other, so I decided to move over so that I might advance a couple of cars, no one else decided to do it, so I did.

Now this must have set of something in the driver of a Mk.2 VW Jetta, that must have been close to "Who the hell do you think you are?". So when time came to merge, this dude decides to not let me in but try and push me out. Now as some of you know, I do not respond well to threatening behavior, so I persisted. I literally had to force him to make space for me. Now I could have been the better man and then just flowed in behind him, but then I'd most likely had to experience the same effect again from another driver. Blame it on the paranoia induced by modern driving conditions in SA.

After that, the Jetta sat on my arse like a flea trying to hump a bite mark on a dog's haunches. That again flared the anger in me (I know, I shouldn't have reacted that way). So I stopped dead in the road, almost preparing to exit my vehicle and perform some barbaric ritual on the Jetta driver's ass... but then I saw his wife next to him and her reaching for their infant in the rear seat, her husband spitting inaudible curses and flipping me the bird.

"This is not worth it... You are not about to descend to his level" I told myself... re-engaged the gear and took off.

All the way he kept trying to ride my ass, and continued to hoot and flash any car that succeeded in getting between me and himself. I lost him somewhere on the way thankfully.

Seriously dude... think about your family before you try and be Dirty Harry.

Max Auto...

It's coming along nicely... still want to do some other stuff, just waiting to get some time and also, get a backup of the current database to use for my at home development.

I seriously need to start doing my regulars again... but the creativity is a bit blocked at the moment.

Change of season... gimme a new nose!

I hate the change of seasons... it seriously buggers my nose and I usually get sick with either a cold or worse... Flu...

I hope they find a cure for this soon :(

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