Driving while bullying
I was standing in the lunch line one day in seventh grade when an eighth grade boy tried to cut in front of me. I was a shy child but somehow I managed to summon the courage to tell him to go to the back of the line. He did.
I don’t seem to have as much luck with modern day bullies, perhaps because they’re protected by the glass and steel of the automobiles they drive and because courtesy goes out the window when you get behind the wheel of your car, regardless of what it ultimately costs.
When a student on a school bus recently took a beating and others sat back watching and laughing, the news was full of people exclaiming, “oh, how awful”, except for the mother who insisted “that’s just what kids do”. Anything not to accept responsibility for her child’s behavior.
My sister works in a prison. I told her of the mother’s comments. My sister’s response, “I work in a place with rooms for people who think that’s what kids do.”
A recent article in the Washington Post about red light cameras discussed how upset these cameras make people. I’m not upset but maybe that’s because I don’t run red lights. If you’re going to break the law, the last thing you want is a “witness” who can actually do something about your bad behavior.
Bullying with an automobile makes the bully feel good, at least temporarily. All bullies really manage to do is make others give a little ground. When they get home or to work, they’re still the same old nothing.
The St. Louis Post Dispatch has refused to weigh on this issue because changing how people drive is behavior modification and they don’t do behavior modification (the opinion pieces they publish aren’t meant to change anyone, they’re only to fill up space).
Elected “leaders” won’t take up the issue because they might make their constituents angry and then they won’t donate money or turn out to vote (that their employees are speeders would never enter into their calculation).
Religious leaders haven’t stepped up to this issue because modern religion doesn’t teach caring (I’ve seen my share of church vans speeding). Besides, how do you tell a driver with a bumpersticker that says, “It’s not a choice, it’s a child”, he’s being a hypocrite when he runs a stop sign? Making a choice about whether someone lives or dies is okay as long as you’re not a pregnant woman, right?
Kathleen Jordan
St. Louis
Welcome to Missouri! Where the majority drive as if they are the only ones on the road and have no idea where they are going even though it’s been the same route for the past decade. Self-entitlement seems to be a requirement of birth in this state. Maybe Missourians should spend more time learning how to drive than what high school I attended 20 years ago.
Don’t drive. Its a jungle out there!
Do you spend this much time and concern about how Washington is stealing your money and your freedom?
By the way, people say the same thing from state to state. There are many interpretations of what you are talking about. Are you the person in the left lane on the highway that is driving below the speed limit and refuse to move over?
–Maybe the PD doesn’t want to write about the issue because it’s silly, which had it’s rightful place in the seventh-grade.
whether it’s driving or verbal or physical, bullies suck.
Kathleen; There is a law on the books that will deal with these road ragers (road bullies, aggressive drivers, whatever) whip out that cell phone and dial *55, give the Highway Patrol the license number and a brief description of what happened and go on your merry way knowing some moron will be getting a visit from the authorities…nothing may come of it, but the moron will think twice about that kind of driving again.
Here is another option, Patriot: Put down the phone, change lanes, let the other driver pass, then go about your business. The other drivers are not trying to bully you or punk you out, they are trying to get where they are going. The highway is not a lunch line and the left lane is for passing.
This is the dark side of the car/transit discussion. (some)People dislike being in the company of others (i.e. on trains or buses), and who feel that, ensconced in a glass and steel cocoon, they are free to harass everyone around them with impunity.
It is a bastardization of the notion of individual liberty, and whats worse, if you honk your horn, they suddenly become full of indignation and rage, as if how DARE you ‘disrespect’ their right to break the law. Really; I’ve seen this many times. These individuals seem to think that being held to the community standard is an honor challenge, and that they must now pummeel you into the ground (verbally or physically) in order to ‘defend’ their honor.
It’s sad, really. A little common decency would make driving a lot better for all of us.
(PS: thanks for the *55 note; dialing 911 on the interstate is a royal pain, especially the local operators. Does that work in Illinois as well?)
Yet another example of an unnecessary inconvenience due to society’s failure to fully embrace the Second Amendment. If we just had more guns on the highway, most of these problems would take care of themselves.
John has hit the nail square on the head.
The local yahoos don’t give a rip about much unless it is the ‘St. Louis connection’ on the news, the stupid highschool question, or bad pizza, bad bbq, toasted ravs, smoking everywhere, etc. Don’t dare any try to give constructive critism here as well, the yokels will use any subject to bring up how ‘big bad gubmint in washington’ is out to get us all, take our freedoms, and eat our children. Is it any wonder that most people with more than a 6 grade education flee this sorry backwater when they get out of college?
Charles,
–You are one sincerely twisted and tortured soul. Seriously, our “backwater” would be better off without you, so don’t let the car behind you hit you in the trunk on your way out of town.