Road rage

Watch "Road Rage - A Current Affair - 16 Nov 2011" on YouTube

Now we all know what this is like. Being cut off by some idiot who can't work out where they are going or getting stuck behind that car doing 80 in a 100 zone for no reason other than they don't know how to drive at the right limit. If you don't want to exceed th speed limit that's fine but if you can't even do the signed limit then you shouldn't be driving on that road.

I dont condone any kind of violent response to something another driver might do. I admit that from time to time I will vent and yell within my own car but I am very conscious of not allowing my frustration affect how I am driving. I am very aware of making sure I am not contributing to endangering other road users. But personally I do not think that enough gets done to counter people that cause situations which lead to road rage. Sometimes the idiot who speeds or drives erratically gets pulled over and given a ticket. Most times they don't. But I have never seen the police pull over someone who drives significantly below through signed speed without adequate reason. I experience this every time I drive to work. Even though it is clearly a 100 zone people refuse to do more than 80 on the straight stretch of road leading down to the base. I cannot tell you how many accidents there have been on that stretch of road from people impatiently trying to overtake. Now you probably sit there thinking its their own fault, and partially it is. But does the person who decides they don't want to drive at the right speed not also play a part? Does their actions not contribute to the situation?

road rage is not always, though it is most times, the result of someone doing something dangerous or driving wildly. And whilst I agree that the main focus should still remain on those individuals who do something dangerous or risky, shouldn't some attention also be paid to the other side of the coin - those people who lack the ability or confidence to drive appropriately and as a result contribute to the irrational responses and/or actions of other motorists who are directly affected by them?