None of us are perfect. We’ve all accidentally cut someone off or had to swallow the rising road rage when we see someone do something stupid on the road.
The bottom line is, it’s dangerous either way. Being alert, aware and calm on the road is the only way to minimise the chance of an accident – and we all need to be more aware of our own driving behaviours.
Every time you get behind the wheel, it’s almost guaranteed another road user will do something annoying, inconsiderate or possibly even illegal.
From sneaky, last-minute mergers to those who don’t seem to realise what an indicator is for, those that tailgate, stop in the middle of the road to let a passenger out, can’t grasp the ‘merge like a zipper’ concept and those that fail to ‘keep left unless overtaking’ – plenty of drivers have bad habits that frustrate fellow road-users and create dangerous situations.
It’s a vicious cycle and it creates a dangerous environment. Distracted, inconsiderate drivers make other drivers mad. Then the tailgating, swearing, beeping and shaking of a fist out of the window begins, and that can potentially end very badly.
Drivers out of cars, getting into a physical and verbal altercation on the side of the road, causing delays for other motorists… Sometimes the tailgater ends up rear-ending the car in front causing further disruption for others.
These people manage to create problems for everyone else that pays attention and is considerate to other road users. The majority of the time they arrive at their destination calm and with their vehicle and body intact.
Perhaps they get to their destination a few minutes later than an aggressive driver who weaves through lanes almost sideswiping other cars, but what are a few minutes in the grand scheme of things? Maybe more of us should think about that.
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