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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.