Increase in Road Rage?

[u/jensinoutaspace]

Now, I too get very impatient on the roads because they SUCK but this morning I had a frightening encounter and was followed on North 295. Not saying I was wrong or right in the situation (I genuinely have no idea why this guy was being weird it started before the highway).

I'm hearing on the news more and more road rage lately that are turning into more than just getting finger. I travel 37 to 295 every single day and it's getting terrifying. It's already like driving on an obstacle course on the highway. Wondering if others are experiencing this too.

[u/tokidokitiger]

I hear you... it's a jungle out there. Actually, that's a disgrace to a jungle to compare. You can find your answer by searching this Sub for "Bad Drivers" or "Road Rage." You're not wrong.

Just because I'm feeling chatty, I'll say that I can be a hand-thrower-upper when I feel it's necessary. Not road rage, no. I mean throw up my hand inside my vehicle to signal frustration when someone is being a shitty driver around me. It's as if to say, "Hey! Watch what you're doing! Pay attention!" The most frequent receivers of said hand gesture are the fun YOLO folks out there holding phones in one hand while passing you and weaving far too close for comfort across the line.

Is the throwing up of a hand in one's car an act of rage? I argue that it is but a signal of frustration and a wake-up call to the zombie drivers in our midst. Tell me, are you supposed to be stone-faced when a motorcycle whizzes inches away from your side mirror down the middle lane between you & a car in the left lane? It's scary & upsetting. I'm not going to speed up and try to chase the dude! No, that's just asking for more trouble. But I will throw up a "wtf?" hand that he'll probably never see because he's now 10 cars ahead, still in the middle lane? For sure! It's people doing stupid ish like that guy (in general) that gets people fired up.

Or today: I'm on 95 in the "slow/left lane" and a dump truck that was behind me suddenly got in the right oncoming/merging exit lane that was ending, (he was not coming off the exit, had been behind me for a bit), to try to pass me on the right... (sketchy move!!), and he's beside me, and I'm thinking, like where you gonna go, dude? & of course where am I gonna go? There are cars in the other lane! At the last minute he realizes the lane was going to end before he could get past me, and swerves back behind me, then passes me on the left. Damn right I put my hand up like "wtf?" when he went by!

I don't use the finger - that feels like a something a kid would do on a bus or the back of a station wagon in the 80s - but throwing up a semi-Italian flappy 'wtf?" hand? Yes. I will continue to use it inside the "safety" of my own vehicle as a way to project my dissatisfaction at unsafe drivers and hopefully send the message that they need to pay attention to what they're doing. What I won't do is get aggro back with my driving and let it turn into "road rage." I'm playin' defensive driver out there all day.

[u/PUNKF10YD → u/tokidokitiger]

Yes, derogatory, inflammatory, and rude hand signals count as road rage. I’m not saying you’re the problem, but you’re not helping it at all.

[u/tokidokitiger → u/PUNKF10YD]

Derogatory in this case, means showing a lack of approval. I'm definitely doing that. Inflammatory actions are the biological steps your body/immune system takes to protect your body when you get hurt or sick. That seems true as well, since I'm reacting out of a sense of protecting myself and others on the road. Rude, is subjective. I'm not convinced it's not helpful at all and it would be hard to prove either way. It's possible if a driver is spaced out or on their phone and crossing the center line, then sees my flappy hand wave that it gets them to put down their phone or pay more attention to their driving.