Driving Is Our Friend?

I’ve come to the conclusion that people who regularly commute to work on busy highways are prone to meanness. They have to be.

All the traveling I’ve been doing these past few weeks has gotten me totally out of sync. The traffic has been about the same volume. Nothing really super bad. But my demeanor has been different. The annoying stress of driving on the beltway and the crowded highway has definitely affected me. I have found myself easier to irritate, less tolerant of co-workers and people in general and all around restless. I have been talking to the stupid drivers and laughing at the others. It’s been weird.

The highways are strange too. Strange in the way that they were designed to keep traffic flowing but we all know that at certain parts of the day, traffic hardly moves. Turns out that it’s not only just certain parts of the day either. I can be certain days too. Holidays for example. I think it’s because people don’t use on and off ramps properly. If they would get up to a good speed and slowly merge with moving traffic, things wouldn’t slow down. Also, people already traveling just don’t let others in. They act like allowing another car in front of them will keep them from getting to their destination indefinitely or something. Very rude.

Then there are the panicky drivers that see a little sun and slam on the brakes. The lead car can certainly recover quickly, but that first slam causes all the cars behind to decelerate and after it gets back a few cars, the slow down is permanent.

Then you have the dorks that see something along side the road and just have to slow down to check it out. It may just be a truck picking up trash or something but to certain drivers, it is an event not to be missed. Of course, this makes for a major backup behind the peeper. Stupid.

This whole experience is magnified in bigger cities and their surrounding. I can see how some people start shooting at others. Not that I think they are justified. I just understand how they get wound tight enough to act really, really stupid.

Lately we have been visiting the hospital daily to see my Uncle. The traffic has been exceptionally crappy this weekend since it’s a holiday. Total standstill on a major highway. But once you pass the mess, there is no apparent reason for the slow down. It’s perplexing.

Nope, I’m glad I don’t always drive the whole way to work alone all the time. There is an advantage to car-pooling I guess. I do love driving, but if I had to do it for a living, I would probably be a total butthead.