speed
I haven't mentioned it before, because I really didn't imagine I'd be able to stick to it, but I've decided to stop speeding. This was a decision taken after the slightly depressing drive home after Xmas.
It's a small step. I don't normally go in for this sort of thing, but it does seem to me that a lot of the mean and nasty things in this life stem from the state of our roads. Because no matter how civilised we are in person, and no matter how right-on our political views, it's a universal truth that we act like total bastard ignorant twats when we're driving our cars.
Even the most anti-establishment, anti-capital, Ned Flanders, bearded hippy christian socialist is likely to turn into a psycho killer when he's behind the wheel. And I include myself. I know I get aggressive, angry, meanspirited and cruel when I'm driving.
I've been thinking about it for a while. because I might drop off CJ at school and smile and say hello to a variety of other adults. But then I might be driving behind or in front of those very same people 5 minutes later and I want to kill them, effectively.
Or I'll think about it as I'm crossing the road to go to the shop or Chris's Caff, and an oncoming motorist accelerates towards me. You know, you'll wait for a reasonable gap in the traffic, and start to cross the road, and the motorist will deliberately slam his foot down in order to close the gap quicker, threaten you, and what? Make you feel bad for trying to cross the road in front of him?
It's not as if it happens only once. It happens almost every working day. And I think, you do that to me, because I'm an adult male not of your tribe and you instinctively want to kill me. Would you also do it to my 6 year old daughter?
So I'm forcing myself to always, always, stay within the speed limit. And I'm letting people cross the road, and pull out at tricky junctions, even if I know they're only there because they took a rat run short cut. And sometimes I have to mutter something under my breath, because every day you see people behaving absolutely disgracefully. But I'm trying. And I haven't been late to work, and, as I said before, it's not as if I'm travelling to Mars.
It's a small step. I don't normally go in for this sort of thing, but it does seem to me that a lot of the mean and nasty things in this life stem from the state of our roads. Because no matter how civilised we are in person, and no matter how right-on our political views, it's a universal truth that we act like total bastard ignorant twats when we're driving our cars.
Even the most anti-establishment, anti-capital, Ned Flanders, bearded hippy christian socialist is likely to turn into a psycho killer when he's behind the wheel. And I include myself. I know I get aggressive, angry, meanspirited and cruel when I'm driving.
I've been thinking about it for a while. because I might drop off CJ at school and smile and say hello to a variety of other adults. But then I might be driving behind or in front of those very same people 5 minutes later and I want to kill them, effectively.
Or I'll think about it as I'm crossing the road to go to the shop or Chris's Caff, and an oncoming motorist accelerates towards me. You know, you'll wait for a reasonable gap in the traffic, and start to cross the road, and the motorist will deliberately slam his foot down in order to close the gap quicker, threaten you, and what? Make you feel bad for trying to cross the road in front of him?
It's not as if it happens only once. It happens almost every working day. And I think, you do that to me, because I'm an adult male not of your tribe and you instinctively want to kill me. Would you also do it to my 6 year old daughter?
So I'm forcing myself to always, always, stay within the speed limit. And I'm letting people cross the road, and pull out at tricky junctions, even if I know they're only there because they took a rat run short cut. And sometimes I have to mutter something under my breath, because every day you see people behaving absolutely disgracefully. But I'm trying. And I haven't been late to work, and, as I said before, it's not as if I'm travelling to Mars.
posted by Anonymous at
Thursday, January 15, 2004
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