[Waterthrush]

There are a lot of angry drivers out there! A lot of them are in SUVs and pickups. They didn't see this coming, now people are looking at them as though they are the problem (which they are, for the most part). They are not pleased, because the "normal" order is being upended. Big doesn't mean smart, powerful, alpha. Big means loser. Big means lighting $20 bills and dropping them on the pavement.

But I digress! What I mean to say, is to remind all you who DO know what is happening to drive more peaceably than ever. Too many other people are going to be driving around infuriated after their latest fillup. Let them act it out on somebody else.

Adopt the motto: Easy Driver. Road rage is definitely increasing, why get caught up in it?

[jmacdaddio]

The other day on the way to work I found my exit rapidly approaching with only a small gap to work with to get over to the right lane. I put on my blinker to signal a lane change, so the driver behind me on the right speeds up so I can't get in. He's driving a red Chevy pickup, probably late 1980s - early 1990s model. I slid my fast Subaru WRX into the gap, cutting him off which is wrong but we all do what we have to do, and he brought it upon himself by speeding up. He's livid. It's almost comical to watch, but then he gets off at the same exit. He then followed me all the way into our company parking lot. It turns out he works in the same building!! I'm not sure what he does but thank goodness I don't have to work with his department.

Sure enough the back of his truck was covered with POW/MIA stickers and jingoisitic flag bumper-stickers. I have a feeling this was the first of many road rage incidents I'll see in the coming months.

[AmericanEmpire]

I was at the filling station the other day and there was a man who filled up two tanks on his truck in addition to filling up two riding lawn mowers that he had on a trailer behind his truck. He didn't look very happy.

I hate to think was his gas bill rang up as?

[GoIllini]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Waterthrush', 'T')here are a lot of angry drivers out there! A lot of them are in SUVs and pickups. They didn't see this coming, now people are looking at them as though they are the problem (which they are, for the most part). They are not pleased, because the "normal" order is being upended. Big doesn't mean smart, powerful, alpha. Big means loser. Big means lighting $20 bills and dropping them on the pavement.

But I digress! What I mean to say, is to remind all you who DO know what is happening to drive more peaceably than ever. Too many other people are going to be driving around infuriated after their latest fillup. Let them act it out on somebody else.

Adopt the motto: Easy Driver. Road rage is definitely increasing, why get caught up in it?

[Klatuu]

The present increase in road-rage fueled (pun intended) by the ever-increasing costs at the gas pumps is only at the beginning of its inevitable spiral toward increasingly more violent behavior.

I fear the worst human behavior will flare to the surface when the very act of obtaining ANY fuel will become a difficult task for the average Joe Sixpack - rationing, long lines at fueling stations, limited quantities available, etc.

In the early 70's when rationing was implemented, everyone suffered in a similar fashion and we all bitched and moaned about our plight, but we still maintained our composure and there was little, if any, violence associated with the fuel shortage. But in this day and age I see a very different type of temperment and an almost boiling-under-the-surface hostility for anything that disrupts the everyday routine of the Mr and Mrs Sixpack. It most likely will be real ugly as things ratchet up.

I believe we POers will all have to draw on our inner-Gandhi to cope.

Besides road rage, be aware that the next "hostile" acts will be theft of fuel from private vehicles. As a precaution I would suggest that if you do not have a locking gas cap on your vehicle that you invest in one.

As for coping with road rage - I have found that the very act of driving along over-crowded US roadways filled with aggresive, obnoxious, arrogant dirvers elevates my blood pressure and I find myself becoming furious with the whole endeavor. I become what I see around me.

From a doomer perspective - I can't wait until the roadways are vacant of hostile fools racing down the pavement in their metal behemoths in pursuit of ever-faster consumptive behavior.

Gandhi at the wheel...............

[hoplite]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jmacdaddio', 'T')he other day on the way to work I found my exit rapidly approaching with only a small gap to work with to get over to the right lane. I put on my blinker to signal a lane change, so the driver behind me on the right speeds up so I can't get in. He's driving a red Chevy pickup, probably late 1980s - early 1990s model. I slid my fast Subaru WRX into the gap, cutting him off which is wrong but we all do what we have to do, and he brought it upon himself by speeding up. He's livid. It's almost comical to watch, but then he gets off at the same exit. He then followed me all the way into our company parking lot. It turns out he works in the same building!! I'm not sure what he does but thank goodness I don't have to work with his department.

Sure enough the back of his truck was covered with POW/MIA stickers and jingoisitic flag bumper-stickers. I have a feeling this was the first of many road rage incidents I'll see in the coming months.

[some_guy282]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jmacdaddio', '
')Sure enough the back of his truck was covered with POW/MIA stickers and jingoisitic flag bumper-stickers. I have a feeling this was the first of many road rage incidents I'll see in the coming months.

[seldom_seen]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('some_guy282', 'I') was a little surprised by that actually. It seemed like a large number of incidents for such a small city. I wonder if the same is happening across the nation, and it's just going unreported by the media?

[gg3]

What do do with a pissed-off SUV owner, if you have a chance to talk to him (usually it's a him) for example at a gas station:

"You're a good Republican, right?"

"Yeah, so...?"

"You're not going to whine like the liberals, right?"

"Hell no."

"You're not going to scapegoat and blame others like the liberals, right?"

"What does that...?"

"And you don't believe in the welfare state or other attempts to steal others property, right?"

"Hell no!"

"You believe in personal responsibility, right?"

"Sure do!"

"Okay, so what's a responsible person, a person with morals and conservative values, going to do when they don't like a product or a price?"

"What?"

"Be a smart shopper in the free market! Buy the competition! Or sit it out until the price comes down! You've got the smarts and you've got the guts. You can exercise your choices as a free individual. You can think of something, and you can roll up your sleeves and do it!"

Something like the above just might get a few of 'em to try a more efficient lifestyle. And if the memes get into circulation, they might spread.

[jmacdaddio]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')hy didnt you SLOW DOWN before taking the exit? And while we're stereotyping people by what they drive, why do so many wrx owners think they become Speed Racer once they spend 30k on a 4 cyl econobox? Obey the speed limit, problem solved

[jmacdaddio]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')hat do do with a pissed-off SUV owner, if you have a chance to talk to him (usually it's a him) for example at a gas station:

[SeasonOfPain]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('hoplite', 'A')nd while we're stereotyping people by what they drive, why do so many wrx owners think they become Speed Racer once they spend 30k on a 4 cyl econobox? Obey the speed limit, problem solved

[fossilnut2]

You Americans must be a mean and violent bunch. Here in my city in Canada I don't see an iota of difference in the politenss of drivers or driving habits.

You let a thing like gas prices control your temperments? More self esteem might help.

Perhaps Americans need to drink less coffee and smile more.

[seldom_seen]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('fossilnut2', 'Y')ou Americans must be a mean and violent bunch. Here in my city in Canada I don't see an iota of difference in the politenss of drivers or driving habits.

You let a thing like gas prices control your temperments? More self esteem might help.

Perhaps Americans need to drink less coffee and smile more.

[fossilnut2]

No. According to Torontonians, Toronto is the center of the universe.

Why do you drive more recklessly because of gas prices? Do people really have this lack of self control in their lives? Many moons ago I learned that my actions are my own and only a fool lets other fools control those actions.

[Dingbat]

What fossilnut fails to say is that Torontonians (and Montrealers) have access to a fairly generous public transit system. That surely helps.

- Ding.