Gas Prices and Road Rage
With gas prices pushing $2.30 a gallon here in Northern Kentucky area, I have noticed there are a lot of complaints about them being so high, but I don't see people slowing down to conserve gas. Of course, driving more slowly immediately increases a car's mileage, thus reducing the cost per mile. By driving at more moderate speeds and not accelerating fast, one can get more miles per tank of gas.
Our government and other institutions do not seem to be doing anything to encourage saving gasoline like has been done in the past. During President Jimmy Carter's administration, we were strongly encouraged to save energy by turning off lights, adjusting thermostats and driving more sensibly. We were even encouraged to buy smaller cars, which many people did.
During recent trips in my car, I have not seen any noticable slowing down on the part of other drivers. In fact, I have seen several cars actually racing at speeds approaching 90 miles per hour. Last night, I noticed a driver weaving in and out, trying to get through a group of us, who were driving around the legal limit. When he did get through, he slowed his car down and began giving all of us the finger with both hands. He had his driver's side window down, and appeared to almost have a fit of finger giving. I guess we did not get out of his way fast enough, so that he could get on with his important business.
One of the wildest things I ever saw was similiar to this and took place a couple of summers ago. A couple was in a car that was driving at a high rate of speed. They were probably high, too. We were in four lanes of swiftly moving freeway traffic, and they were weaving back and forth across all lanes. They went from the far right to the far left lane in an instant, and their car sat on my bumper until I passed the car on my right and swung in ahead of it. I delayed them perhaps five seconds on the road to hell or wherever they were going.
As the speed demon passed me, his female passenger pulled herself out of the window, so she was sitting on the windowsill of their car, with all but her legs and feet outside their car. She then yelled something which could not be heard and gave me the finger. A professional daredevil or stuntwoman could not have done the trick any better, but would have had more realistic motivation. Had she fallen, she might have injured that finger severly. I can see how her boyfriend driver might have consoled her. "So, baby, you injured your "the finger" finger. The doctor says you will not be able to use it at all. That will limit your non-verbal vocabulary quite a bit. But the good news is you still can use the f-word in everyday conversation! You can still use all of those 50 words you know. Every one of them."
Several years ago, I was driving my family to church, when we passed a man driving a Cadillac. He was driving with one hand and reading the bible, while holding it on the steering wheel. While this was not road rage, it was insanity of another type. I commented to my wife that the act gave a whole new meaning to the phrase, "God is my co-pilot."
Our government and other institutions do not seem to be doing anything to encourage saving gasoline like has been done in the past. During President Jimmy Carter's administration, we were strongly encouraged to save energy by turning off lights, adjusting thermostats and driving more sensibly. We were even encouraged to buy smaller cars, which many people did.
During recent trips in my car, I have not seen any noticable slowing down on the part of other drivers. In fact, I have seen several cars actually racing at speeds approaching 90 miles per hour. Last night, I noticed a driver weaving in and out, trying to get through a group of us, who were driving around the legal limit. When he did get through, he slowed his car down and began giving all of us the finger with both hands. He had his driver's side window down, and appeared to almost have a fit of finger giving. I guess we did not get out of his way fast enough, so that he could get on with his important business.
One of the wildest things I ever saw was similiar to this and took place a couple of summers ago. A couple was in a car that was driving at a high rate of speed. They were probably high, too. We were in four lanes of swiftly moving freeway traffic, and they were weaving back and forth across all lanes. They went from the far right to the far left lane in an instant, and their car sat on my bumper until I passed the car on my right and swung in ahead of it. I delayed them perhaps five seconds on the road to hell or wherever they were going.
As the speed demon passed me, his female passenger pulled herself out of the window, so she was sitting on the windowsill of their car, with all but her legs and feet outside their car. She then yelled something which could not be heard and gave me the finger. A professional daredevil or stuntwoman could not have done the trick any better, but would have had more realistic motivation. Had she fallen, she might have injured that finger severly. I can see how her boyfriend driver might have consoled her. "So, baby, you injured your "the finger" finger. The doctor says you will not be able to use it at all. That will limit your non-verbal vocabulary quite a bit. But the good news is you still can use the f-word in everyday conversation! You can still use all of those 50 words you know. Every one of them."
Several years ago, I was driving my family to church, when we passed a man driving a Cadillac. He was driving with one hand and reading the bible, while holding it on the steering wheel. While this was not road rage, it was insanity of another type. I commented to my wife that the act gave a whole new meaning to the phrase, "God is my co-pilot."
posted by The Joker at 6:03 PM
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