idiot drivers

[cellio]

There are lots of stupid drivers out there. Locally, the three main classes of stupidity seem to be snow ("what's this stuff on the ground and why am I skidding?"), tunnels ("the mountain might fall; better slow down"), and turn signals ("I have a finite number of blinks in my life and I'm not wasting any on you"). This morning I encountered a different sort; the loser behind me didn't seem to understand that a school bus with flashing red lights trumps a green light. Sheesh. We really didn't need close to a minute of uninterrupted horn blast... (So he's not only stupid, but rude.)

I was tempted to put the car in park, saunter over to him, and explain in words of few syllables about big yellow vehicles, flashing red lights, and Pennsylvania laws on the subject -- with the goal of delaying him well past the point when the bus would have -- but I decided against.

Comments

[elletweedy.livejournal.com]

I'm big into the "yell back" philosophy. It reduces my stress level. If they honk at me in a situation you describe above, I would yell, "School bus, asshole!" at the top of my lungs out the window and probably gesture towards the bus so he could see it. (Similarly for cross walks, which is where I usually encounter stupid drivers who think it's okay to cut off/run over pedestrians in the crosswalk.)

Unfortunately, while this reduces my stress level about it, I also have a tendancy to react the same way when others are driving. That does not help them cope, however, and usually has the opposite effect, so I'm trying to just ignore stupid drivers.

[indigodove.livejournal.com]

I often think both the drivers and the pedestrians can't break out of their own little world of "must go now" to consider the other people and things (like school busses) on the road. I've been trying to learn to be calmer about this -- they won't change, so I have to.

But it really frustrates me. I think y'all would be amazed at the amount of cursing I do behind the wheel. (Just ask Ralph)