Traffic Divination

I can't really recall when I discovered 'traffic divination' but I suspect it was shortly after the breakup of my long term marriage in the early nineties. It was then that I declared to myself that the roads were full of 'little egos' in the guise of motor vehicles and this realization was what later led me to notice that there are many psychic and spiritual messages to be gleaned from traffic experiences.

Just over a decade ago I was working at many prison sites and such places tend to be beyond the rural edges of the city and as such required many long drives. I got into a daily routine of noting how my day was going to pan out by the behavior of the traffic along the route. For instance when prison authorities and the powers that be were going to obstruct my course delivery in some way I would get stuck behind a slow moving obstacle and if I was going to have trouble with 'one of the boys' someone might harass me from behind to go faster, change lanes etc. One day someone sat right on my tail and almost side-swiped me. This was the day I ended up having an instinct to get an officer to escort me all the way from the Programs area right through the large grassed area that meanders past many other prison buildings into the relative safety of staff only areas. This also happened to be the day that one of the SHU prisoners had somehow managed to escape from his locked down unit which was unknown to prison authorities at the time I asked to be escorted.

Traffic on the way to work always had a more relaxed element whereas on their way home people acted far more aggressively as a matter of course. Yet nonetheless the traffic still managed to help me debrief my day. It's hard work running programs in prisons and it is very intense work. I was always grateful for the long drives home as they helped me to assimilate and debrief my day and I could rely on the behavior of the traffic to bring to mind important points that needed my consideration.

At the moment I am delivering a composite anger management, stress management and violent behaviors course on a one-on-one basis to a private client and I am using techniques from across many programs that each use different approaches.

My client happens to be a young 'petrol head' and can really relate to the idea of 'messages from the roads'. The traffic story I had received to relate to him yesterday was this; that for some reason when I started out my journey to deliver the course yesterday I was not feeling to be a relaxed driver and I pulled out quickly at an intersection such that an oncoming driver would have to slow down to accommodate me. Two blocks later someone did the same to me and just a little farther along I was in a situation where two lanes at traffic lights soon merge into one and being that I was in the 'under' lane I sped up instead of giving way to the car that lawfully had the right of way. I always hate such 'undertakers' and this is not something I do as a matter of course. However a couple of sets of traffic lights later someone else did the same to me. Interesting I thought and my client liked this story.
He also taught me something about traffic I had long pondered.

I cannot, just physically cannot bring myself to sit close on anyone's tail. I have even tried to edge myself closer and out of my comfort zone in an attempt to better understand the mindset required. I like to be able to stop easily if that person right in front of me stops dead in their tracks. I was discussing this with my client who found it very easy to understand. To be able to do it you need to imagine that you are driving on behalf of the person in front of you; for example you are looking right through their windscreens. Of course he didn't realize right at that moment that what he was saying is that you need to have the mindset of completely taking them over to such an extent that they feel a need to lose their sense of control but he figured out soon enough the implications of his explanation. It turned out to be a very good "a-ha" moment for both of us.

I hate those who I call the 'road rapists'; those who sit right on top of you, almost touching your bumpers.
When I am traveling I tend to skirt the rural edges of the city as much as possible and the route between here and there gives me opportunity to do this. This morning as I returned and was just about to get into the rural strip of the journey I recalled how my daughter had recently rang me from very close to where I was currently was having this thought to say she was lost as she had gone for a random drive because the baby was sleeping. At this point in my journey I also noticed a 'road rapist' truck that completely obscured my view of any traffic behind me. That truck sat on my tail until I was almost home which turned out to be just over ten miles. This truck so absorbed my attentions and eventually I braked a little to allow it to undertake me at some traffic lights; pointing a gently twisted finger into the air as it undertook me.

When I finally arrived home I got a phone call from my daughter who asked me, "How did you fail to notice that I was behind you in traffic for over ten miles"? She explained that she had spotted me going in the opposite direction and had waved to try and attract my attentions. She then shortly did a 'u-ey' and sat behind the truck for many miles.

Yet another interesting traffic story that seems apt to relay to my client in our next session. I was so wrapped up and taken over by the road-raping truck that I had failed to notice far more pleasant aspects of traveling. And for the three miles or so when the truck was firmly in my view yet in front of me I had been too preoccupied with it's behavior to notice her following not far behind me.
Keep posted.