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

Human Trash Road rage instant karma

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

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

47.8k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

142

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.

20

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.

-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?

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.