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Friend on Friend Road Rage
In the past couple of months I've been both the perpetrator and the victim of what you might call minor friend-on-friend road rage incidents. In the first instance I was running late driving my daughter somewhere and found myself shouting and gesticulating at some idiot who was blocking our way and seemingly refusing to budge. When the car finally did budge I realised the "idiot" was in fact a close family friend. I later mentioned this to friend A, who laughed it off and said he'd not noticed it was me.
More recently I experienced virtually the same situation in reverse, with me as the idiot. I had a reason for dithering, but couldn't communicate it to friend B, who I could hear shouting at me from his car. Since then I've not met him face to face and am still trying to decide (a) if he realized it was me and (b) if I should jokingly refer to the incident when I next see him.
Are there rules of etiquette for this sort of thing ?
Please share your friend-on-friend road rage stories here.
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I've filed road rage under, "Life's too short."
My work drive has, for the last 3 or 4 years, involved negotiating major road works on the M1 and M25 and these would try the patience of saint. I found it made me even more intolerant than normal and, wherever I was, I was increasingly shouting, swearing and gesticulating rudely at other drivers. I was also doing also the usual things like accelerating to close the gap in front of me and thus protect "my" bit of road and other stupid stunts. My own driving was, of course, blameless...
I've now decided that my blood pressure, general peace of mind and equanimity are more stable if I ignore any provocation, just mutter "Tosser" and go about my own drive.
Yep..
.. not sure whether it's a sign of getting older or not - but I too have given up on the road rage.
I think it was actually a by-product of not actually driving as fast combined with driving regularly in a foreign capital city where traffic is a total free for all & getting nowhere fast is a national pastime.
Having road rage there would be a permanent state of being and total waste of time. Only when you get back to Uk roads do you realise that actually that our roads are quite pleasant to drive on.
I am in sympathy...
with both of the above comments. I'd hate to be seen as condoning full on "road rage" , which maybe wasn't the most accurate way of describing the venting of irritation I'm referring to. The two posts below are closer to what I had in mind.
Houston
When I lived in Houston my road rage was terrible, as mvps says it was pretty much a free for all there too.
Back in the UK, my road rage has gone, but the North East of Scotland is entirely different from Houston....and a bit of life's too short too
Out running one day
in heavy rain, I crested the first (and worst) hill - Gurney Road, for anyone familiar with Norwich - to see approaching me a car with lights flashing and horn hooting.
Being somewhat tired of smart-arse motorists taking the piss - I'd been running daily for years, and some sedentary people clearly found the practice riotously amusing - I responded with an unambiguous bit of body language. As my right hand passed shoulder level, two digits more prominent than the rest, I realised "Oh, it's Treska*..."
To my relief, she found the episode extremely funny.
*(Partner of one of my oldest friends, and mother of my god-son.)
Harassment while running
My sister in law reported on facebook that she was wolf-whistled from a passing car while on a run. She was flattered by this and it seemed to put a spring in her step for the day.
What I didn't share with her was that I get wolf-whistled and tooted at regularly when I go running. The ones I get are clearly flecked with sarcasm, though. Gits.
Only slightly off topic
Last weekend I was driving through Chase Terrace High street near Brownhills. Is is fairly narrow and cars park on either side of the road.
As a consequence you frequently have to give way to oncoming traffic when there is insufficient space for 2 vehicles to pass side by side. The Ford Ka in front of me was seemingly stationary to give way to an on-coming bus. As the bus approached it flashed its lights in a 'no you go first' manner. The Ka didnt move so I parped by horn. It still didnt move so I sounded the horn again.Then I realised there was no-one in the car as it was parked and the bus driver had been flashing me to go. I felt like a right bloody idiot.
You've just described one of my nightmares
That I will rage at a friend, or even worse, a friend of my dad or some other venerable family acquaintance.
It's that thought that often keeps me from gesticulating at other drivers; rather than any more noble motives.
deleted original - thought better of it
I do try.
When I did my lessons, I was warned, that for some, if some party were to say say their wife was ugly , or their kids were horrible, or even if their football team were a bit rubbish, they would let it go. But if someone were to question their driving, the red mist would descend. I wouldn't say that I have been perfection personified, but this has stayed with me.
Yea, yea and thrice yea
The other thing people never accept is being told they have no sense of humour, even the ones who find humorous workplace signs and novelty mugs funny!