Road Rage

Piety is of no use when it comes to traditional road rage. It is a disease that every person has had a few times; when you are so beneath yourself with anger that you want to climb out of your car and go give that ‘donkey brained driver’ a good wallop! I have experienced that people who drive 4x4s tend to want to run that driver off the road.

You might be reading this and agree, “Yeah, that’s me alright!” or you think are totally innocent. Well, let’s see what the general response is to a scenario that I will sketch.

Scenario: A small unavoidable fact is that countless South Africans [particularly -in my experience- people from Cape Town] detest taxi drivers. So much so, that many people have complained to councils and traffic departments about ‘taxi activity’.

The typical taxi in Cape Town is a 12-16 seater mini-bus [filled sometimes to two times the allowed capacity] that illegally weaves through traffic while speeding or skipping traffic lights. Many people can recall taxis involved in near-accidents or actual pedestrian fatalities. Usually when a typical taxi gets in an accident, most people suffer bruises, or cuts, or in the worst case scenario, loose their lives.

Now, having this picture in your mind, picture you are on your way to work. You leave at home a whole 2 hours earlier than you start with your shift, because a normal 15 min drive has turned into rush-hour traffic -since many people from various provinces and countries flood your city and therefore your roads. You get in your car, Michael Bublé is singing as you switch on your radio. The sun is shining and your lawn is green as you pull out of your garage; man, life is good!

You start your normal drive to work, keeping at the annoying speed limit as a good, law-abiding citizen. A taxi flies past you at the speed of light and skips the red traffic light. You come to a halt at the red light and shake your head, “Typical!” You turn up Michael Bublé, who happily sings on. You drive on; somehow, traffic picks up out of nowhere! A car cuts in front of you, “Stay calm… count to ten…” you inch forward till you finally make it to the next red traffic light. You are second in line, and the light goes green; the car in front of you suddenly dies, and it takes ten seconds to start again, “Why you! Can’t you look at what you are doing!? It’s probably a foreigner who stole his license card from an unsuspecting old lady!” you start getting a little worked up, and hot under your hood. Michael Bublé is turned down.

You finally managed to pull away, just as the light goes orange. You suddenly hold the steering wheel with both hands and glare forward as if you are a race car driver, trying to cause a rival racer’s crash. You swerve around the car in front of you show him a sign from your carefully constructed finger arsenal. You find that you are driving a little bit over the speed limit, but “who cares anyway!” You come to a red traffic light again, and you are annoyed with the fact that this one is red as well! Then -vanity of all vanities- a taxi standing in front of you decides to unload people right there on the spot. The hazards come on, and you bump your head against the steering wheel. The traffic light turns green and someone from far beckons the taxi to wait for him as well. “Argh!” The traffic light turns orange as the taxi door slides shut and the light goes red as you watch the taxi just drive over it.

The light finally goes green again, and you pull away in second gear; almost murdering the car. As you drive, the taxi is in your lane, picking up and dropping off more passengers. What do you do?

Decision 1; “I think I’ll give that man a piece of my gym arm!” You climb out of your car, fuming to from head to toe and you walk over to the taxi. The man looks at you with contempt as he asks you what you want. You reply, “It’s judgement day…” You send your arm right through the open taxi window and precisely smash the nose of the driver. Filled with satisfaction, you walk to your car, climb in it, and enjoy your drive to work. “Man! That guy was totally lights out!” It’s not till the police knocks on your door a few days later -and then lock you up for harassment while the taxi driver sues you- that you start to think about your actions… Oops…

Decision 2; you stop behind him, and then you go crazy in your car, “Why you son of a -! If I get my claws on you, you’ll be sorry! Away with your head you idiotic donkey!” You nearly burst a vein in your brain, but the taxi driver only continues on his merry way… He can’t hear your cries anyway.

Decision 3; “Oh Lord help me not think bad thought about him. Help me to see him like You do; a lost soul only doing what is natural to him -sin.” You wait for the taxi to pull away, and then just switch lanes to avoid similar occurrences. You reach work -peacefully- and enjoy the rest of your day.

Ok, honestly, if you know what it’s like to drive with and even behind taxis, you’ll know that Decision 1 has crossed your mind frequently, right? Yet, taking your feelings out on the driver is not good for your bank account or good for your family when they have to come and visit you every week in the jail. Think before you act, to avoid catastrophes like Decision 1.

Decision 2 is probably the most frequent of the lot. You rant and rave till your ears hurt from all the screaming, but to no avail. This is useless, and will only upset you and spoil your day. Think about it; is it worth it to sacrifice your mood and your day just because a taxi driver lived up to his reputation? Remember; they get paid to drive like that.

Well, about Decision 3; you’re probably thinking “That’s impossible! This guy is just one of those ‘Jesus freaks’!” Yes, it is undoubtedly difficult in the beginning, but the ‘side-affects’ are amazing for both you and the driver. You might be the only one who prays for that man, and it might even be your prayer that causes that man to change his final destination when he closes his eyes. You probably think I am nuts. No I am not, because for you, the whole scene is a building block to being an overcomer. Jesus didn’t give us the easy, He gave us the possible.

Think about it, people drive bad, full stop. Don’t you drive badly as well, you might be the person contributing to someone else’s temper.

At the end of the day, it is all down to whether you dig a deeper hole for yourself concerning road rage. Getting angry is hard to stop, but not impossible. Pray and watch out, you might be the next person to get bitten by the disease.

NOTE: Decision 2’s swear word that I replaced with a dash is meant for affect, please don’t take it badly.

N.B. No discriminatory intentions are meant towards taxi drivers; it was just a useful example.

Thanks.

N.B. No discriminatory intentions are meant towards taxi drivers; it was just a useful example.