Sometimes road rage is justified

Road Rage. Nearly everyone experiences it at some time in his or her life. For even the… Road Rage. Nearly everyone experiences it at some time in his or her life. For even the calmest driver, another driver’s actions — be it that they cut you off, drive too slowly or fail to use their turn signals — are bound to get under your skin at least once.

As we unfortunately know, road rage can escalate into outright violence in some cases. There have been drivers who have purposely created accidents, chased other drivers or caused physical harm to fellow motorists because they became enraged at others’ on-road actions.

But, for most of us, road rage manifests as a general feeling of anger out of which no real harm comes (except for a rise in blood pressure). Maybe you shout or curse to yourself in your car, hit the steering wheel, lean on the horn or gesticulate wildly — hoping that the other driver will see you and realize their stupidity.

I long ago made a resolution not to make obscene gestures, faces or loud noises at other drivers that I think are making stupid highway decisions. I thought it was largely unnecessary.

However, lately, I’ve reconsidered that decision.

In recent months, highway driving has made me nearly insane. The problem? While traveling home to the midstate, or back to Pittsburgh, for that matter, I have seen more than a few incidents of the same roadway stupidity and rudeness (yes, I’m attacking rude behavior again!).

You know the signs that read, “Keep Right, Pass Left, It’s The Law?” It seems only half of the drivers on the road listen to this obvious statement of road etiquette, and, indeed, safety.

When on a four-hour trek home, there is nothing worse than getting stuck in traffic that is moving at the same speed in both lanes of a two-lane highway. Even if the left lane is only moving five miles per hour faster than the right lane, the obvious difference in speed means that, eventually, the person in the front of the left-lane line is going to get ahead of the person in front of the right-lane line, switch lanes and thereby allow the rest of us left-laners to speed up.

But when the lanes are moving at the same speed, I get infuriated. If you’re going the same speed as the right lane, why aren’t you in it? It makes no sense not to be! Drop back, speed up, whatever it takes — merge into that right lane and continue to go the speed of the other cars in it. Be courteous; even if you don’t think someone should be traveling more than 65, maybe that person has a reason to, and you should allow them to pass. I’m sure there will be a time when you’ll wish that the person in the left lane would get over, too.

Unfortunately, this situation has even worse scenarios. It is far more irritating to find a driver cruising along in the left lane when there is no one in the right lane. Why do this, either? If you’re in the right lane, you can just zoom or put-put along, allowing other drivers to pass you nearly unnoticed as they come upon you.

But if you ride the left lane, you force other drivers to either ride on your bumper until they convince you to move to the right lane, or, if you don’t get the hint, pass you on the right.

I don’t know about you, but when I took driver’s education, I was told not to pass on the right. It’s just dangerous. As the driver’s seat is on the left-hand side of the car, we are less apt to notice a car coming up from the blind spot on our right (or worse, riding in it). Add that to the fact that we’re not really used to being passed on the right, and you’ve got a formula for an accident.

I’m downright afraid to pass people on the right, even on a multiple-lane highway. I’ve had several close calls where someone has nearly merged into me when I was moving up on the right-hand side — because they wouldn’t get over after I first tried to give them a tailgating hint, of course.

I’m not claiming to be a perfect driver. I have had moments where someone has come up on me when I was unwittingly driving in the left lane with no one to pass. And even the tailgating-to-get-someone-to-move technique really isn’t a good one to advocate — use it as a last resort.

After all, we have to share the highway. If everyone would do his or her part to be a conscientious and courteous driver, allowing others to pass, checking blind spots and trying not to tailgate, then there would likely be far fewer accidents or incidents of newsworthy road rage.

Erin Lawley won’t flick you off, but she will silently curse you if you ride in the left lane unnecessarily. Get over and shoot her an email at enl1@pitt.edu.