Road Rage

I have clocked up many miles driving back and forth to the city (4 and a half hours away) where our daughters attended high school.  Even before that when they were at the local primary school it seemed I was forever on the road going to pick them up, or off to a meeting, or taking them to weekend sport.  When my older daughter had to describe the occupations of her parents she said, "Dad is a farmer and Mum is a Driver!"

Of course in the hours I have spent behind the wheel I have muttered a few obscenities at the occasional deluded motorist who performs an erratic/ill judged/dangerous manoeuvre in front of me.  I have even tooted twice!  Once in a crowded car park so that the driver wouldn't reverse into me (I was in their blind spot) and once when the other driver pulled out onto the highway causing me to brake hard.

I did feel bad about that because when I passed the car the other driver was some one's great grandma I think.  Still, it was a bad mistake which could have caused an accident.  In general I think I am a reasonably capable driver but I am in no way a perfect driver.  I have had my fair share of dings and scrapes.  I have reversed into a pole, a retaining wall and the car of a visitor to my home.  I have learned that you can achieve a great result to a dented bumper with a hair dryer and a can of touch up paint.  I too have been beeped!  For this reason I have mastered the art of the apologetic wave.  I use this when I have misjudged or got in the wrong lane or performed a minor driving faux pas.  On a couple of occasions I have done something so heinous that an apologetic wave wouldn't have sufficed and I would not have been surprised if the police had been informed and fronted me afterwards.  Luckily no damage was caused, except the deep shame I always feel when driving though Cuballing. I think they have altered that intersection because of me.  I shall say no more.

I do try to be a considerate driver.  I let people in if the traffic is heavy I try to be patient if they haven't noticed the light change.  In short I try to drive by The Golden Rule! I think it's important to acknowledge that you are just as likely  to make an honest mistake as much as other drivers and to rein in the tendency to be intolerant and discourteous.  By honest mistake, I don't mean driving through a stop sign I hasten to add.

Yesterday my daughter had to attend an appointment at a major hospital.  Being unfamiliar with the car park she mistakenly drove into the entry to a boom gated car park for staff only.  Realising her error and needing to reverse out, she got out of her vehicle to politely ask the woman behind her if she would reverse out so she could do the same.  My daughter could not have been more apologetic or polite but this woman was unnecessarily belligerent and ungracious.  She grudgingly backed out a little bit, but not fully, which caused my poor girl to have to drive over the curb thereby scraping the undercarriage of her car.   She was left upset and flustered by this encounter and by this woman's rudeness.

Obviously this woman may have a nice side/many problems/a prickle in her bum but I think she is in all likelihood just a bag of snot!  Hoping what they say about Karma is true.