Stressed Out Commute

Today was an ordinary day; a beautifully crisp, sunny morning with that wonderful smell of early autumn in the air. The kind of day, that makes you happy to be alive.

In the time it took me to drive to work, however, I became a raving lunatic and nearly mowed down a tired looking woman who was headed for a massage at the office next to mine.

Stressed Out Drivers? No...Bad drivers

This crazy ride to work, which triggered my batty breakdown, started with talk radio station WTKK in Boston. The host was chatting about a poll that claims people in Boston are driving angrier and stressed out, more in 2009 than last year. That is what initially set me off. You mean less-irate drivers were actually on the road in Massachusetts in 2008? Apparently I missed that! I felt my mood shift instantly.

Anyone who has ever driven in Boston, or anywhere in Massachusetts, knows this is really about bad drivers and has nothing to do with anybody being on edge. So I am listening to this on the radio, shaking my head in disgust over the nonsense of that poll, doing the 55 MPH speed limit on the highway. I spot a car coming off a side road to the right and I watch the kid to make sure he is going to make the stop sign.

He slows almost to a stop-I think I am safe. I am almost to the road and he decides he can make it and pulls the nose of the car into my lane and stops dead, realizing he can't make it after all. He fails to back up, though, and with a car coming toward me in the other lane, I have to screech to a halt to keep from hitting the kid. I was on the road ten minutes when this happened.

Caravan of Campers

Breathing deeply, I continue on and end up behind a caravan of campers and pray they were not heading north to New Hampshire, which is where I was going. Still on the same highway, speed limit 55; the campers are crawling along at 35 MPH and I cannot pass them due to oncoming traffic. First I wondered what time the package store opened and then I start shouting at the campers like they could hear me.

I am yelling at the back of a camper; hello...some of us are working today. I know it is Labor Day weekend, but you are never going to get camping at this pace and I need to get to work. Oh...for God's sake, ya think you could let me by...I am not on vacation and why don't you know this?

I was agitated and talking out loud to myself in my car. "There is a Dunkin Donuts coming up and I hope you all need coffee," I said to no one. "Please stop for gas or pull over for some stretching...please, I am begging." The campers moseyed on oblivious to the fact I had to get to work.

When we crawled into the center of the next town, I knew I could take several routes to get to the NH border. The campers headed one way and I scooted right. I knew we were all headed in the same direction, but I could easily beat them to the NH highway because they were doing a snail's pace.

I waved to the campers, did my best evil laugh and sped away to freedom, feeling much better knowing I was just slightly late for work. I was sure I could salvage my mood and I let it go.

That was short-lived. When I got to the end of that road; the highway department was working on the bridge and traffic was stopped. I was stuck again. I said a few swear words, rested my head on my steering wheel and waited for what seemed an eternity, but was really maybe ten minutes.

Finally we were moving, but I am in a long line of traffic, which is not doing the posted 55 MPH. I can see up the highway for a good distance and to my horror, way up ahead I see the camper caravan pulling onto the highway from the road I normally take every day.

One by one, I watch them all try to get on the highway before this long line of traffic reaches them. I was doomed! I was not going to get to work on time and I was talking out loud again, cursing the campers as if they could hear me.

I also had the sad realization that maybe; just maybe that poll was right after all and I was indeed one of the angry and stressed out drivers on Massachusetts roads. I might be part of the problem instead of the solution!