Road Rage: A tale of terror

I would like to take a moment to try and understand Road Rage.

I like to think I am a reasonable person.. So when some stranger in their vehicle acts like a lunatic I am completely flabbergasted. How can any normal person become so quickly and horribly angry at a stranger on a road like that?

For review I will tell you about a few of the most recent episodes of road rage I have been witness to (and unfortunately involved in)...


July 2011 - Burnaby, B.C.

Mark and I are in the car on the way to Costco with our 3 year old in the backseat. We are stopped at a red light waiting for it to change. In my peripheral vision I see an SUV to the side of us (on the drivers side, past Mark). A guy opens up his drivers door and gets out, headed for the door of a Pick Up Truck (two vehicles in front of his). As he is walking towards this pick up truck, the door opens and that driver is stalking towards this other guy screaming and yelling!

'SUV guy's' fists are clenched and as the two meet and he takes a huge swing at 'Pick Up's'face and starts beating the crap out of him! 'Pick Up' is fighting back and horns are honking as the light turns to green and in our thankfully rage free lane, we drive off, speechless with shock.
"My God" Mark says. "Jesus" I reply in the same tone. I felt like an alien spaceship just landed in front of our car, or maybe that the circus had come to town? What is WRONG with people?!


August 2011 - Vancouver, B.C.

After a lovely Summer day of rollerblading and swimming at Stanley park pool, our whole family, (Mark, myself and our three children ages 13, 8 and 2) were headed home to the North Shore in our Subaru. We were stuck in rush hour traffic downtown Vancouver. Yuck.

As luck would have it, it happens to be a very hot day. The kind of heat that you can see distorting the air off the hood of your car. The buildings are tall, blocking any chance of a breeze and the air is thick and hot, reeking of exhaust. A red sedan, that has seen better days, is behind us and to the left in the next lane. The Driver suddenly lays on his horn for a several minutes and then proceeds to start screaming. 'Red Sedan' is yelling and gesturing at some other guy in the lane beside him (behind us). God knows what for.. maybe this other car didn't let him in when he was trying to change lanes earlier or something? Odd that this idiot reacts like this out of the blue when we are all sitting still for over five minutes in traffic with no where to go.
Its not your typical road rage. Nobody is moving. Its not the standard rude gesture and horn honk followed by driving off (IE: The Cowardly Rager ). Its open windows for 'Red Sedan' and a convertible with the top down for the other guy, in gridlocked traffic no less.

'Red Sedan' guy is really pissed and his language is awful. We roll up the windows so the kids don't have to listen to it and I am starting to feel nervous. I also locked the doors. If this guy had a gun, I think he would have blown 'Convertible' away. 'Sedans' face is borderline purple at this point and he is opening his car door to commit physical assault (or maybe even murder?) when the traffic suddenly started moving and he is forced back into his car.
Thank God! I thought I was going to have to explain this insane irrational behavior to my kids and the police when they came to clean up the bodies!

September 6th 2011- Wallmart Parking Lot

Every year, (for five years now), I order Jamie, (my 13 year old)'s school supplies online. School supply shopping is a nightmare!

• You are bumping into people
• People are bumping into you
• there is no maneuvering room in those tiny aisles for all those flustered Moms
• Half of the things you need you cant find
• 'Sold out' signs bring you to tears
• Half the items you 'do' find are not quite the exactly what the list calls for. IE: the wrong brand or size

It is an awful experience every time I have had to back to school shop, so I avoid it at all costs. This year my order from Teaching Things had still not arrived two months after I ordered it. By August I thought it was way past time to contact them. I received a very reassuring reply right away to my email, explaining my items should arrive by August 16th. Great news.. except, they didn't. Nor did they arrive in time for the first day of school. After three more emails, I sent an angry email asking for my $120.00 to be refunded and cancelled my order. My son went to school on the first day with nothing but paper and a pen and I was not particularly happy about it. Off I went to Wall mart with my two year old in tow, to try and buy the items he needed.

Unfortunately every other person in the lower mainland had the same issue I think because the WallMart Parking lot was a complete nightmare! Instead of circling the parking lot desperately hoping to get lucky (like every other vehicle), I decided to stop and put my blinker on near an elderly lady with a full shopping cart, (who had just started loading her car and was moving slowly). It may take forever but at least I will get a spot. So there I sat, for almost fifteen minutes, contemplating, (several times), getting out and helping her, but my sleeping toddler made me reconsider. I was feeling very pleased with myself for being patient when she finally headed off to return her cart. Having spotted her doing this a little red clunker came barreling up and slammed on the brakes facing me, putting his blinker on. A man was in the driver seat, smoke was pouring out the back of his car, and one headlight was hanging off the front of the vehicle (by a wire, coat-hanger)?

"No way are you stealing my spot" I said out loud quietly to 'clunker' staring him down, " I have waited fifteen minutes and my SIGNAL IS ON!" I said glaring and gesturing to the front end of my car, (like he could hear me). He still sat there.. blinker on... waiting. Grrrr.. .'My' lady made her way back to her vehicle , sans buggy, and got in, starting her car. Thankfully, when she backed out, she did so in the direction that her vehicle was temporarily blocking 'clunker'. So I floored it and zoomed my little Mazda 3 right into my spot before he could get around her. "Hah."I thought to myself. 'Victory is mine!'

Apparently he would not, after all, take that, not sitting down anyway. He pulled up right behind my car, I saw him in my rear-view mirror, roll down his window and start screaming at me. He yelled until spit flew from his mouth and I was terrified! I locked my doors as he opened his car and got out. He stalked towards my car in an obvious rage and slammed the flat of his hand against my trunk and yelled obscenities at me. I have never felt so scared in my life! My heart was pounding and I knew I should call 911 but I couldn't take my eyes off this scene in my rearview long enough to locate my phone! I thought to myself, "this guy is going to kill me right now in front of my child" and I couldn't move.

Then he turned around and got into his car and drove off very fast..but not far, only two spots down from me. A car had suddenly left, and a spot opened up. Saved by the parking spot? I sat there for a few minutes and picked up my phone wondering if I should call the police... definitely not wanting to unlock my car or get out! I sat in my car terrified for several long minutes until this insane lunatic decided to exit his vehicle and head into Wallmart. Seriously? Just like that, off he goes to shop. Jesus . Insane much? I ended up going into the store ten minutes or so later straight to the school supplies aisle, looking over my shoulder the whole time, scared he would see me and accost me again. That was the worst school supply shopping trip EVER !

EndNote; Upon returning to my car I noticed 'clunker' was already gone, thank god! I made a point of walking around my entire vehicle, checking for slashed tires or signs that it had been keyed. Luckily for me, 'clunker's crazy rage seemed to have subsided as soon as he got his parking spot?


September 22 2011 - On my Street

Yesterday I had an appointment during Grayson's (my 3 year old) pre-school hours. Unfortunately Grayson woke up very sick with a nasty cough and runny nose and I wasn't sure what to do. I am lucky enough to have a wonderful friend, Angela, who was also keeping her daughter home from school for the day and offered me to bring Grayson up the road to play for an hour or so while I went to my appointment. Thank God for Fabulous Friends! I dropped Grayson off at 9:15am and went to my appointment. An hour or so later I drove past my house up the road to pick him up, and stopped at the four way stop. Another vehicle, a green 'SUV' with a female driver, had arrived at the same time, to my left. I was the vehicle to the right and we arrived at the same time, so I looked over to make sure she wasn't taking right of way, and proceeded to drive through the intersection...

This woman layed on her horn before I even cleared the road and stomped on the gas to follow me up the hill. She tailgated me (dangerously) all the way up the road, honking, gesturing angrily and obviously screaming (as I could see in the rear-view mirror ) at me. Several blocks up I took a left turn off to my friend Angela's house at a high speed very relieved to lose the lunatic in the SUV! She was practically driving on top of me!

Halfway down the road I glanced in my rear-view to see this lunatic had stopped back on the main road to give me a very elaborate rude gesture using her whole arm, hanging it out the window (giving me an enormous middle finger at the end). Really? Not only was I in the right, but its 10:30 in the morning on a weekday and this phyco in her stupid enormous gas guzzling brand new SUV is so obviously unemployed and wealthy I am completely floored! Did somebody pee in her Cappuccino this morning or something? My God.

I am just lucky she didn't cause a horrible car accident and hurt somebody, namely my three year old, normally in the backseat!!


Road Rage Facts

Statistics show that 250,000 people have died in traffic since 1990. It is believed that two-thirds of these deaths are at least partially caused by aggressive driving, although only 218 were found to be a direct cause of angry drivers. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 66 percent of all annual traffic fatalities are caused by aggressive driving actions, such as passing on the right, running red lights and tailgating.
In addition to fatalities, there have been an estimated 20 million injuries; 12,610 caused by aggressive driving. These numbers show that there has been a 51 percent increase in aggressive driving incidents since 1990. Of these incidents, 37 percent involved the use of a firearm, 28 percent involved other weapons, and 35 percent involved the use of a car as a weapon. Related to this increase in aggressive driving incidents may be the fact that the number of drivers on the road is increasing; as of 1990, 91 percent of people drove to work.

On that note; I am so grateful 'Wallmart Lunatic' didn't own a Gun.

Stay safe and calm out there friends.