What Road Rage?

So, I have been told on many occasions that I have Road Rage. My answer is always that I don't have Road Rage, I just have very little tolerance for stupidity. I very rarely am in a hurry to go anywhere, I just feel like we all took a test on how to drive and are supposed to understand the basic rules of the road. In addition there is such a thing as driving etiquette, which seems to have been lost some time ago.

Take, for instance, the simple act of staying to the right except to pass. This not only is something you are taught in driving school, something you sometimes see posted on highways, but it is also a law in most if not all states. Yet you do not see this ever being enforced. I can not tell you how many times I have been driving on the New Jersey Turnpike and hit a log-jam across three lanes of traffic, only to find out in time that it was someone parked in the far left lane doing 60 when the speed limit is 65. And chances are it is either someone who is driving totally scared to death or someone on their cellphone having the conversation of their life. This is not my problem, this is not Road Rage, this is just people being plain stupid and not respecting those around them.

Another thing that drives me nuts is people who are going along at a certain pace, then when you go to pass them they decide at that time they are going to speed up. I don't know if this is some macho game, some sense of pride that "I can not allow you to pass me", but whatever the reason it is plain stupidity. So yes, I want to (and most of the time do) curse at you when I finally get to pass. Call it Road Rage if you want, but to me I am not the one with the problem, it is the pinhead in the other car with the issues.

Driving should be a pleasant experience, a scenic ride from one place to another, in the comfort of a climate controlled vehicle. Instead, it is becoming more and more of a headache. Cops should start writing tickets for "Stupid Behavior While Driving a Vehicle"...just imagine how much money this could bring in and possibly help our economy!

So please, when you are out there on the roads think of me next time you encounter someone parked in the left lane, talking on their cell phone at a green light instead of moving, speeding up when you try to pass them, put on their hazard lights and slow down to 30 mph when it starts to sprinkle, and things of the sort...and tell me that I am wrong for having Road Rage.