Introspection

There are some things over the course of my day that make me really mad. Really... the only thing that happens on a daily basis is that I get mad at other drivers. And I'm pretty sure that the "points" I have against them are valid, but the real problem is something else. I'll go over my pet peeves on other drivers first to give you an idea of what's making me mad, and then see if I can come to a useful conclusion...

My first pet peeve is drivers who don't know how to use their turn signals correctly or who don't bother to use them. They serve a purpose in traffic. They alert other drivers that you are intending on doing something other than follow the current pattern. An example is when you change lanes (cross the dotted line). If a driver doesn't use the turn signal, I should be safe in driving as though that person is going to continue following their course. Not using a turn signal at the right time can easily mean accidents. And yet on a daily basis, I see people use turn signals in "turning only" lanes, or lanes where the road is curving away from the other lane... even though it's the expected behavior to continue to follow the lane. Then I see people cross the dotted white line without turn signals, or actually turn out of the main path onto a side road without a turn signal. This is the most minor of my pet peeves about driving.

Next in severity is loitering in the left lane on the highway. The left lane is called the passing lane. The right lane is called the travel lane. When you are just driving on the highway, you're supposed to be in the right lane. If you catch up to someone and want to drive faster than them, you use your turn signal to switch lanes, move to the left lane, pass the car, and use your turn signal to get back into the right lane as soon as you're done passing. It's actually a pretty neat algorithm. Now I understand that in times of heavy traffic this becomes harder and I often give up and stay in the left lane just in hopes of going faster... but it has to be pretty heavy traffic. But there's no excuse for those people who just sit in the left lane not passing anyone during normal or light traffic. Sometimes, they end up keeping pace with a car in the right lane... and then don't seem to care that a huge line of cars is building up behind them. I hate those people. They should be fined until they smarten up and drive correctly. This probably causes me the biggest aggravation on the road... being stuck behind someone who seems oblivious to the world around them or the people they are inconveniencing.

My final big pet peeve with other drivers is the most dangerous one: Merging. How is it that people can pass driver's education classes, pass the practical exam, and then not know how to merge. A quick explanation: Match speed with the traffic you intend on merging with, then move into the traffic. It's pretty simple. So why is it that so many people come to a stop at the end of the on ramp to a highway? What do they think the on ramp is for? I'll tell you. It's for matching speed with the highway traffic. The only time you should be coming to a stop on the on ramp is if the highway traffic is also stopped. And these people are going to get someone killed. It's so much harder to merge with highway traffic from a stop. And everyone behind them who was forced to stop also are now in danger. This one pisses me off the most. These people should lose their licenses.

Now with all of that said, I end up coming to work in a bad mood, and I end up going home from work in a bad mood. It's like a twice daily dose of medicine to keep me agitated. But here's the introspective part. Why am I really getting mad about this? I'm looking at other people who I have no real influence on, and I'm getting mad at them. They are influencing me because I make it happen. I shouldn't be getting mad at these people. I've been driving for nearly 16 years, and have only gotten into two accidents with other drivers involved... and they were both my fault. Granted, the conditions of the accidents were fairly extreme (like ice on the road that I under estimated), but they were still my fault. And while it bothers me that people don't use their turn signals correctly, it hasn't caused an accident that I've seen. And while people being inconsiderate in the left lane on the highway is also bothersome, I'm still going to get where I'm going with only a few minutes difference in arrival time at most. I just need to change my expectations and not be so impatient. And while people stopping to merge is stupid and dangerous, I haven't been in an accident because of it yet, and getting mad about it isn't going to teach the bad driver anything.

So the problem is me.

I'm getting mad for no good reason. I sit here as I type this and wonder if I can apply this knowledge to my life. I wonder if I can help myself be less angry with a seemingly simple understanding that getting angry won't benefit anyone. It won't help me deal with anything. It won't help my headaches go away. It won't help my work. It won't help me relax at home when the work day is done. I understand that anger is an emotion that can be very important in some situations, but I also understand it will never help me make good decisions too. If I can change myself... I think I'll be a happier person.