Friday 6 April 2007

Good manners don't cost nuthin'

What is it with people and cars? They are nice folks most of the time but when placed behind the steering wheel, become ranting lunatics - completely intolerant of anyone slowing them down for even a couple of seconds.

Here's what happened to me yesterday . . .
I'll set the scene . . . I live on a road which is a thoroughfare. This means that many of the motorists do not live on the road they are using. This seems to give some of them (well most really) the right to zoom along with impunity and disregard for those who actually live there.

There is a blind and dangerous corner just up from my house, I can clearly see it from my driveway. If someone is at the corner, I wait for them to pass and then pull out. BUT if someone is speeding, I can be halfway out and they are up my tail in a flash. I had one of these - a 20 something female in an old Laser come around the corner at speed . . . I had already begun moving forward, but she was coming upon me quickly. This meant that she would need to back off the accelerator and reduce speed while I got from 15kph to 60 - total inconvenience would have been a slow up of her journey by 2 - 3 seconds maybe?

Her response was to hold her hand on the horn!! So I stopped the Mustang. Before I even turned to look at her she blasted me again! So I got out of my car, held my arms out and asked her what problem she had with my pulling out of my driveway?

Her response was to flip the bird and mouth off abuse, scream her car around me and race up the street waving rude gestures in a manner normally reserved for lunatics.

I called after her "I hope your day gets better" and got back in my car.

I have wondered since, what she would do if someone did the same to her when she was entering or leaving her driveway and their excuse was "you are in my way you idiot".

So what is it that makes people become so incredibly arrogant and inconsiderate when faced with such a small inconvenience of their own making? Would she do the same thing in a queu at KFC? What happens if she is walking on the footpath and has to wait a second for an old lady who drops her umbrella?