You’ve been following that Blue Peugeot 106 with the loud exhaust for 3 miles now. They’re driving erratically, dropping behind the car infront then speeding right up behind them, waving and all sorts. You see that the other car brakes and they start messing about. That’s right, you’ve seen some road rage.
How many times this year (and bearing in mind it’s January) have you seen or been involved in some Road Rage. You are the King of your Car, the Lord of Automobiles; probably the best driver there has ever been since Tazio Nuvolari and at best, you despair at the terrible driving people do infront of you each day, and at worst you let those bad drivers that they’ve done by using one finger, two fingers or sometimes even a fist to show what’s wrong. It makes you feel better, but sometimes they fight back – and that’s where the trouble begins you can get into a difficult and dangerous situation.
Get out of the way!!!
In a survey recently undertaken by Carrentals.co.uk, they found out that out of over 1,000 people questioned, more than 1 in 5 didn’t feel safe on the UK’s roads. That sounds a bit Daily Mail, doesn’t it? But it seems that the stats were right and after a quick tweet on Twitter to see what stories people had, we were a little shocked – it’s a warzone out there! And we took the stats that the survey quoted a little more seriously:
- Over 40% of UK drivers have been a victim of car crime
- 1 in 5 no longer feel safe on the UK’s roads
- 50% believe that drivers are becoming more aggressive.
What are the real life examples of this? Can anyone come up with anything to back up this claim?
Even professional drivers get annoyed and violent sometimes!
Well, Dawn told us, via twitter of an all-to-familiar story about her driving in the fast lane of the motorway.
“A driver was right behind her, and not happy with her driving so ‘slow’ (about 90mph) in the fast lane, he undertook her and then slammed on the brakes. He then threw a full bottle of drink out at the car that landed on her windscreen. It didn’t break, but was a bit worrying!”
Or another story by Carpsio from Twitterland who said that “Whilst walking along on the footpath saw a car that had been cut up by someone else drive off the road onto the sidewalk to undertake them again.” The path’s for people, isn’t it?
How about this story from Mel who was the innocent party in a road rage attack. She was blocked in on a roundabout and her brother, who was riding with her, stuck his fingers up at the person who was blocking her and they chased her for miles until she managed to give them the slip.
The road isn’t the only place you can go when driving….
And here are some more:
Rockies_VM said, “I was in Chicago and riding my motor cycle – I was exhausted and not doing too well on a slow moving Sunday. Driver yells at me and then flips me the bird so I return the gestures. He stops, I stop. He goes back to car for a baseball bat, I go back to motorcycle for my helmet and we keep walking towards each other till he yells that I am crazy and drives off.”
Although we don’t condone this, it shows you just how passionate people get when driving around.
Another one, from the same guy, “I was in Phoenix and car cuts me off while I am riding a bicycle, I yell at the driver. He circles around and starts to follow me, yelling. I make for the nearest busy place -a Target entrance. He tries to run me over, I get off the bike he gets out of car and says he is going to beat the hell out of me. I say “yeah there are cameras rolling, there are witnesses and you will be convicted of assaulting a senior citizen on a bicycle, you will go to jail lose your job and friends and die penniless, so come on hit me.”
Bicycles and cars don’t mix..
Is today the most stressful time for driving with people on a knife edge or is it just that people have always been this way and it’s just that we can give it more coverage now?
What do you think – have you been a victim of Road Rage, have you had any problems and what have you done to avoid it?
