Help Prevent Road Rage: Accept Defeat Gracefully

Failure is inevitable! In life, we fail and have to face up to the consequences. The same thing is true on the road, however, on the road we are in control of a guided missile called our car. This creates the dangerous potential for foolish and dangerous choices out of stupid pride and stubbornness.

My favorite example is the infamous case of a lane ending and merging into another lane. It's amazing how territorial drivers become in this situation! Drivers often make dangerous moves for the sake of gaining just one or two car lengths. And the result is they frustrate and anger other drivers which contributes to road rage. First of all pay attention! Know when a lane you are traveling in is ending and start planning your merge. Otherwise, you are going to endanger, and likely frustrate, another driver. Next, don't be territorial! It's not worth the danger and anger you will cause. If another driver won't let you in then ease off and merge in behind them. Remember, merging traffic yields to through traffic.

I can't possibly make a complete list of all the situations a driver may encounter where they aren't going to be able to get what they want. I'll just put them all under the umbrella of, "IT DIDN'T WORK." A pass, a merge, a turn, whatever! Just like learning to share our toys as children, drivers must have the discipline to be patient if they are unable to complete a particular maneuver. You will feel frustrated, embarrassed, impatient, and more, but you will help prevent road rage by backing off and trying again later. DON'T cut someone off or do something else out of frustration because it is inevitable that you'll have another opportunity soon enough.

Making dangerous maneuvers creates a domino affect. A driver that gets cut off may react by jamming on the brakes which means everyone behind them will have to as well. Or maybe they react by not jamming on the brakes but all of the sudden you have to jam on your brakes and there is a collision. This creates tons of traffic and creates delays and frustration for more people than you could imagine! Think about it: You get into a wrek on the highway and create a traffic jam. Drivers start to exit the highway and clog of arterial streets making traffic terrible all around.

In summary, accept defeat gracefully! Back off, go back to where you were, take the next road, make a u-turn; Do whatever it takes to avoid treating another driver rudely or getting angry at another driver. Engaging in a confrontation with another driver is far more upsetting than feeling upset because you couldn't do whatever it is you were trying to do.

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