Road Rage … What a concept. Did it exist 20 years ago when the speed limits topped out nationwide at 55 mph? Has it increased with our demand and insistance on being all things to all people? How has our need to be online constantly and always have plates overflowing changed our leisurely commutes?
Yesterday, I saw road rage firsthand. At an intersection one block from my children’s school of all places.
We were driving along, minding our own business, when I approached a four-way stop. I made it to my complete stop and a small SUV took his turn pulling directly in front of me making a left. About 5-10 feet from the crosswalk, he realized people were crossing and came to a stop.
I saw nothing wrong with what he did. Many times, I’ll begin to make a turn only to notice later that someone is crossing. With the intense landscaping and the wide intersection, it’s an honest mistake and many times is hard to avoid.
The next thing I know, one of the ladies crossing (pushing a stroller with a baby, mind you!) is speaking very loudly to the man in the SUV. I couldn’t make out what she was saying, but she was definitely mad.
Whatever was said prompted the man in the SUV to roll his window down and “return the favor” to this gutsy mom.
By this point, I feel like I’ve been stopped — along with everyone else since the intersection was blocked — for a couple of minutes, but in reality, it was probably 30-45 seconds.
The confrontation between the man and the crazy mom continued and out of nowhere, up she comes with a LARGE coffee mug and throws the coffee into the window of the SUV and onto the driver!
What???
By this point, my kids are fully engaged in the argument and are asking “Why’s that lady screaming?” So, you can only imagine what they were asking when the coffee was thrown!
I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Of course, the lady immediately realized what she had done and took off running … with a baby in a stroller! And, of course, the man in the SUV took off after her.
I mean really, lady.
Can’t we all just calm down? Flying off the handle is no way to live a life. The driver was no where near hitting the mom … it was a huge temper moment.
And, now, I get to answer questions from my kids about why grown-ups behave like kids.
Nice.
That is INSANE. And yes, I have entered that very same intersection without realizing people were in the crosswalk and had to stop mid-intersection. It happens all the time. It’s a heavily trafficed (pedestrian and autos) corner! People are nutso.
I’ve thought about this for 2 days. I have been known to fly off the handle in my day, but to throw hot coffee on another human … I just can’t get over that.
I pass through a 4-way a block from my office every morning on the way to work. This morning, there was a car across from me, headed north, who was rolling to a stop as I approached, headed south. I came to a stop and put on my blinker for a left-hand turn as he began to come through the intersection; the car behind him began rolling, too, but I expected her to stop when she got to the white stop line painted across the street. Did she? Nope, kept right on rolling as if she was attached to the first car by a chain! I honked the horn and gave her a mean look — because I was halfway into my turn, directly into her driver’s door if I hadn’t slammed on the brakes, by this time — she gave me the crazy eye (looked crazy already, but the big ‘ol eyes she suddenly had made her look even crazier) and screamed at me as she magnanimously waved me to make the turn that was MINE TO MAKE IN THE FIRST PLACE. I glared right back at her and she flipped me off (with the hand holding her coffee mug)! The fact that she both didn’t know how a 4-way worked AND was rude when she nearly caused a wreck just blew me away. And she had a handicapped decal hanging from her mirror — I’m pretty sure it’s because she was CRAZY; didn’t look like any kind of physical handicap. Sorry, I know it was different from your experience, but I needed to vent. I’m pretty sure she would have tossed her coffee on me if I’d given her a chance…