Greg drives a 20 ton garbage truck every day and is amazed at how many people cut him off, holler at him and even play chicken with his behemoth hunk of steel. He’s had people who didn’t want to wait a minute or two, try to squeeze around his truck, which one time resulted in a car being destroyed as a garbage truck is made out of heavy steel, not plastic like most cars. He’s gotten so fed up, that one time, with loud thuds, he dropped his huge garbage dumpster/bucket up and down on the street a few times to show a car coming at him, to back off. That car’s driver was trying to make him back down a street so they could cut through quickly. When that big bucket stared bouncing up and down with loud thuds I’m guessing that driver had a come to Jesus moment.
And there was Joseph, who was taking a cross county road trip with his wife and children when he flashed his headlights for someone to move out of the fast lane. That’s when all hell broke loose for Joe and his family. The car’s driver took exception to being flashed at which started a chain of events beginning with hand gestures and ending with the driver intentionally sideswiping him!
And there are men and women road rage drivers who start tailgating, cutting and flipping each other off and driving so aggressively that sometimes they kill themselves or someone else. Road rage accidents kill more than most of us would ever imagine. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration road rage is linked to 467 fatal crashes in 2015. Which incidentally, is an increase of almost 500 percent in 10 years.
Terrence Malone, a former police patrol sergeant and SWAT team commander says that with the increased amount of people having handguns there’s more of a chance of people getting shot during road rage incidents. And he’s not talking about legally licensed carriers, but more so, that there are many more people ready to protect themselves against violent instigators. In fact, licensed, concealed carry permit holders are extremely unlikely to be engaged in gun related incidents (CBS—2017) nevertheless, there were at least 620 gun-involved road rage incidents in 2016 (The Trace); that’s more than double from two years earlier.
And just a few days ago, I turned on the news and watched two males in the middle of a street, in broad daylight, with other cars all around them doing their damnedest to cut and stab each other. One had a box-cutter and the other, a pair of scissors. Nuts!
A police sergeant in Ohio that I recently talked to said that there are often 3 sides to a story—yours, the other guys and the truth. He wasn’t saying that everyone lies but that quite often, people have different perceptions of what may be occurring or what was meant by a word or an action. Misinterpretations can not only start a road rage incident but can also escalate them. It can also alter the way police are summoned to a road rage incident. Just recently, a motorist, in the middle of a road rage incident thought that he heard the other guy say that he was going to shoot him, when in fact, he said no such thing. But the cops got his 911 call saying that a man was threatening to shoot him. You could imagine how the police came to that call! All because someone in the middle of a fit of anger, perceived incorrectly.
What I’ve personally noticed in road rage incidents is that more types of people are doing them. Back in the day, they seemed to be done by tough-guy types, or perhaps, on the edge type people who would fight you in a heartbeat. Not so much nowadays. To me, it appears that so many who are cutting or flipping us off and who are driving crazy at us, are quite different. When boxed in or confronted or nowhere to go, these new type of roadragers disengage or flee the scene like a high school bully. Nevertheless, their aggressive driving can lead to injury and death. And of course, there are plenty of angered motorists who will fight or even go further.
While Greg drives his monster garbage truck day in and day out he ponders why there seems to be more and more road rage occurring. He has some ideas that explains much of it, in his eyes. Greg believes it has a lot to do with a culture of entitlement that he feels has been occurring in America for years. He thinks many people have the feeling that they deserve whatever they want, whenever they want it and they’ll do pretty much anything to get it. He also thinks it’s similar to that of being on social media. Like there are few consequences to whatever one says on Facebook or Twitter and the like. That they’re protected by their smartphone or computer and the distance from those that they’re demeaning or disrespecting is so vast that they can do and say things with impunity and safety. Greg feels that vehicles offer a similar line of protection to do whatever they feel that they want to do, again, without much of or without any consequence. Quite an interesting hypothesis from someone who deals with road age on a regular basis.
The important fact regardless of the reasons for road rage is to know that it’s increasing and the possible dire consequences of being a part of it. We should do whatever we can do to stay out of the fray. If we’re harassed or threatened, or someone’s driving aggressively toward us, dial 911. If we can’t seem to get away from a roadrager, drive to where there are people or cars in the area, while dialing 911. We should not get out of our vehicles. We can never really know who we may be dealing with. A wanted felon, a head-case or simply a very violent thug. Conversely, we may punch or strike someone and just by the draw of the cards, seriously injure or even kill someone—all over what, a driving frustration or disagreement? Nah, none of it’s worth it.
We’ll all be better off by saying no to road rage—in any shape, form or fashion.
Steve’s latest book:
https://www.amazon.com/Protect-Simple-Childrens-Safety-Survival-ebook/dp/B01FENUW4G
Steve's a three-time survivor of violence in his youth, a former police supervisor and a graduate of The Police Executive Leadership College (PELC) and was also an award winning part-time college Criminal Justice instructor.
For several years, Steve did written and radio political and current event commentary and was the former host of the long running 'The Kovacs Perspective' Internet radio and TV talk show.
Steve presently owns a small businesses in Ohio--The Mayfield Academy of Self-Defense.
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