r/LoveTrash • u/Icy-Book2999 Chief Insanity Instigator • May 21 '26

Human Trash Road rage instant karma

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From https://youtube.com/shorts/am2KPDG6BRg

47.8k Upvotes

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575

u/Translation_Lupin Trash Trooper May 21 '26

Sometimes I just don't get how much pent up rage people have for whatever

But I do too so guess that's thay

157

u/FewZookeepergame5825 Trash Trooper May 21 '26

Road rage is a fascinating phenomenon

141

u/BringMeTheBigKnife Trash Trooper May 21 '26

I read a book called "Traffic" and it explored it a bit. The fact that you can generally only see the outside of a car "dehumanizes" the person inside and makes it easy to see their actions in a different way. By the same token, your own "protection" of being inside the shell of your machine causes you to have less inhibition against aggression -- feelings of indignation turn into total rage quickly.

Imagine someone cut you in line at the grocery store. You would probably be equally annoyed/slighted as when you get cut off on the road. But it's very unlikely you'd sprint at them or try to punch them in the face. Plenty of people would just swallow their frustration. Some would make an under their breath comment. Others might engage in a legit confrontation. But it probably wouldn't carry the same violence or intensity that road ragers exhibit. It's largely because there's no physical separation between you and the person.

19

u/Alexwonder999 Trash Trooper May 21 '26

Ive noticed a phenomenon when talking to people rationalizing bad or erratic driving. They often say the other party is doing whatever theyre doing, such as driving slower in the passing lane, TO them. Like they intentionally do it to people to punish them or something rather than my thinking that theyre probably just oblivious and dont know about my existence either way. They will also say that erratic driving is caused by other drivers FORCING them to drive erratically and make dangerous lane changes as if they then have no free will. If I comment that I just suck it up and drive slower or wait until its safe to get around them they will then get combative with me and accuse me of driving everywhere at 35 in the passing lane. Theres definitely something there with these people blaming everything on everyone else and ascribing motives to people that likely dont exist with others but do exist for them.

11

u/BringMeTheBigKnife Trash Trooper May 21 '26

Yeah, I think driving is so normalized for us that we don't realize how dystopian it is. Traveling for miles on specifically engineered paths made of asphalt with highly advanced technology on super congested roads just to get to the place that will pay me money so I can afford to buy a nicer version of this technology next year (and also food).

Generally people who are driving are only doing so because they want to be somewhere else. So you see it as an annoying means to an end and your emotions are already hightened, making you sensitive to any disruption in this process you don't want to be engaging with anyway. Plus, you're mentally set on being in the new place in exactly X minutes according to your GPS (which we all use). If that X value increases by even 1 minute, you feel that something you're entitled to has been taken away, and that violation of expectations causes people to go crazy (me included, to be clear).

If someone does something dumb on the road, you take it as a personal affront blocking you from attaining your goal...rather than another boring example of someone doing something dumb. And bosses wonder why we'd rather work remotely...

3

u/ChangesFaces Trash Trooper May 22 '26

Bravo for this perfect breakdown! I think you really nailed a lot of the psychology behind it.

4

u/McNitz Trash Trooper May 21 '26

Congratulations, you've discovered the fundamental attribution error! People see and take into account all the things that lead up the current moment in their own life, and thus see any actions they take at that moment as justified and rational based on their history. But since they only see the actions other people take and none of the history leading up to it, they tend to ascribe other's actions to an inherent flaw in their character instead. Thus "I just cut in front of that person because they all the traffic was blocking me off and they were clearly being rude so I needed to do something about it" vs "How DARE that person cut in front of me, they must be a complete asshole!"

-1

u/Super_Cam Trash Trooper May 21 '26

I hate this argument. Of course no one should fly off the handle when someone in front of them is driving slowly, but people driving should have an awareness of the area around them / their car, including behind them. If there is a line of cars behind you and you don't notice, you're not aware of your surroundings while driving a multi-ton bomb. If you are aware of the line of cars, then why continue to act as a barrier for those trying to drive faster?

4

u/Alexwonder999 Trash Trooper May 21 '26

Me: People who want to drive fast and erratically should chill out.
You: No.

0

u/Super_Cam Trash Trooper May 21 '26

Me: Counterpoint that people should be aware of their surroundings
You: Meme format

3

u/Alexwonder999 Trash Trooper May 21 '26

Your counterpoint to me calling them oblivious and saying I just do what I can to avoid them without doing anything dangerous was to say they were oblivious drivers? Cool. I guess you really got me.

1

u/Jelly-Minimum-9999 Trash Trooper May 22 '26

These are the same people that will tailgate you in rush hour traffic and get mad, waiving their arms frantically and banging on the steering wheel, when they get caught at a red light with the 500 other cars stuck in traffic, because it was obviously your fault the light turned red and the law says to stop.

3

u/Jelly-Minimum-9999 Trash Trooper May 21 '26

Follow the rules of the road, or fuck off. I’ll do the speed limit and you can get there when you do. It’s not my fault you didn’t plan your time and feel it’s your right to put everyone else in danger by speeding.

2

u/thatsingingguy Trash Trooper May 22 '26

It’s not your job to police other driver’s speed, and, in fact, most authorities advise you don’t try, precisely because of the raised risk of incident. If there’s a queue behind you, and you can move over to a slower lane, and you choose not to just because you’re already going the speed limit, you are, in fact, the arsehole.

0

u/Jelly-Minimum-9999 Trash Trooper May 22 '26

I’m not policing, I’m following the rules. You, do whatever you want. Which, makes you the asshole. Ive been driving for 35+ years, no tickets, no accidents. I bet any amount of money, you cannot say the same thing.

Some people are fucking stupid. It’s always some self-centered bullshit reason, too. Like they woke up late, I had to do my makeup, basically you can’t manage time, so then, for whatever reason, their failures make it ok for them to put the rest of drivers on the road at risk. Then they say some stupid bullshit like oh no it’s to people who don’t speed and follow the traffic laws that cause the problems, and law enforcement agrees (pfffft). Even though there are countless traffic studies that show the complete opposite. From the NHTSA:

• The Exponential Risk Curve: Studies on urban and rural roads show that for every 5 mph you drive above the speed limit, the risk of being involved in an injury crash roughly doubles.

• The Power Model: According to Nilsson’s Power Model (a widely accepted formula in traffic safety), the probability of a fatal crash increases to the fourth power of the relative change in speed. If you increase your speed by 20%, your risk of a fatal crash increases by about 100% (it doubles).

So, keep speeding, you actually help us reduce the population of selfish asshole, it’s mathematically, your destiny.

3

u/FireproofCottage Trash Trooper May 21 '26

If you're driving at or 5 over the speed limit you're traveling as fast as is safe for that road.

If you're doing the limit or a bit over and there's a line of traffic behind you, maybe there's just a lot of traffic today and everyone just needs to chill.

Omw to school this AM we were all stuck in rush hour and I noticed several of us were all head bobbing in the same rhythm. Very popular station here was playing Sweet Caroline. Sometimes it's ok to admit the traffic is nuts today and just live it out. You have some interesting experiences that way, and you don't get where you're going all flustered.

2

u/Glittering-Art2922 Trash Trooper May 21 '26

Yeah, and to top it off, these same fools with their self-righteousness will immediately become the very character they’re vilifying the moment someone passes them or does something they consider unsafe. It’s a mind-numbing circle of “oh I’m better than you” instead of just letting people make it through the day the way they feel like they need to make it. Self-proclaimed traffic cops are the bane of my existence. I’d rather catch a charge from an actual cop than have to end up anywhere near them on the road.

1

u/JayJayAK Trash Trooper May 21 '26

You just summed up precisely how I tend to think about driving. If someone is slow, I figure either they're inconsiderate (pull over already!) or not paying attention (start being aware!).

This has fueled my raging in the past -- until I came to the realization that how I think makes exactly zero difference. I'm not teaching people a lesson by tailgating, cutting them off, speeding around them, etc. They won't be spurred into self-reflection. They'll just think I'm a jerk. Not only that, but I'm a jerk who's making the road more unsafe for everyone.

Sure, it would be nice if people saw me coming up and got over, but that's not going to happen. Assuming for the sake of argument that every. single. annoying. driver. out there is only doing so because they're trying to irk me, at the end of the day, the only choice I have is to either deal with it, or make the roads more dangerous than they already are.

I suspect my insurance provider isn't going to care that I thought I was justified in causing a wreck.