Road Rage

As the traffic only gets worse in Seattle, so does the quality of driving, and so does the instances of road rage.  And, sadly, I am guilty of this as well.  There are so many bad drivers, but worse there are so many clueless drivers that don’t think they are doing anything wrong – signaling is apparently not something they teach at American driving schools.  It’s no wonder there seems to be a fender bender or some other crash that snarls up the commute most days.  I haven’t been involved in an accident yet, though I’ve had my share of close calls.  But I have been involved in multiple instances of road rage – and I probably don’t help myself in that regard because I follow a philosophy of “no signal, no space” and also if I see someone behind me lane weaving, I will close the gap to make sure they can’t get in front of me.  But also, there have been several instances where someone has just started tailgating me for no discernible reason – and that happened again this morning.  Perhaps they see the GB sticker on my car and don’t like me as a foreigner, perhaps I inadvertently did something to annoy them, perhaps I’m going too slow for their tastes.  Whatever the reason, whenever it happens I am prone to slowing down to annoy them even more.  And I am prone to gesticulating – which normally results in an exchange of middle fingers.  Perhaps I shouldn’t do this – I wouldn’t be surprised if someone I exchange pleasantries with in this manner has a firearm in their car or truck (and truck drivers are the worst).  And it’s probably not worth the hassle or the stress – I hate going into work flustered, blood pressure raised and pissed off at something that has happened on my commute.  I need to chill out.

PS If I develop cold or flu symptoms in the next week, I know exactly who to blame.  I was in a company-wide meeting this morning, and a person sitting directly behind me had the sniffles and was constantly clearing their throat and loudly sniffing throughout the meeting.  RIGHT BEHIND ME.  As you can imagine it was beyond annoying, yet I’m too gutless to actually say something.  I could almost feel their germ-infested breath on my neck – shockingly selfish and inconsiderate.  If you’ve got something contagious, don’t go to a meeting with 100+ people in attendance.  Some people… and this was someone who has an office and so has some degree of seniority and importance (more than me), so you’d think they’d know better.  People suck.