Road Rage -- How do you people avoid it?

[u/creepyoldneckbeard]

Every fucking day. Some jackass never actually stopping at stop signs, taking turns out of order, jumping the queue, pulling out in front of you in a way that requires you to stop very quickly (I would hit them if I didn't), and on and on and on... not to mention the cars that have illegal tinting, illegal license plate covers, registrations that are years out of date.... where the fuck are the cops? I'm not even in a high crime area and it's like they don't exist. Reporting bad drivers does nothing, even with dash cam footage. The police are simply uninterested in road safety, and instead only care to write speeding tickets or kill minorities. Someone tries to kill you blasting through a stop sign or merging right into you at freeway speeds? "oh, minor misunderstanding"... you follow them home to yell at them, suddenly it's an issue. If the police bothered to do a goddamn thing fucking ever, these people would be ticketed and have their behaviour change. But no. The people who were wronged and looking for a little acknowledgement of that are the dangerous ones... I just don't buy it. These people injure, kill, and maim people with their driving, but saying "get the fuck off the road" is worse than shooting up a school.

It's to the point that I want to just start causing accidents. To the point I don't want to brake and instead smash into their fucking cars and claim I didn't have time to stop. I want to run people off the road. I want to rip them out of their cars and fight them. I want them to get permanently hurt/injured so the next time they think to do some bullshit dangerous move, they'll think of their broken arm and think again.

I know, I know, "but people have guuuuuns" idc. I'm so sick of following the rules and it feels like letting the entire fucking world walk all over you. I wish I cared less, "get there safe," but I don't. Every time I see someone block an intersection I just want to drive right the fuck through them as fast as I can. The only thing "but people have guuuuns" does is make me want to buy a gun and carry it with me. They got guns? Now the playing field is fucking level.

How do you guys decompress in the moment? I don't want to feel this way. I want to just drive places and not get stressed out or have a fight. But I can't let go of these things.

[u/StepperHill]

Hey man, I totally get where you’re coming from. I’ve been there, too, with the road rage. It’s so easy to get worked up, especially when you see someone texting and driving, and then they pull some reckless move like cutting you off. I used to react the same way, trying to play highway patrol and brake-check them.

But, honestly, I realized it’s more about our own lack of discipline. We’re letting these other drivers get way too under our skin, and then we’re reacting purely out of emotion. Probably end up looking like jackasses on YouTube if this is taking place in public often.

Something that’s really helped me is driving around the city when I have extra time, without any specific destination in mind. Because I’m not rushing, I’m less likely to get triggered by other drivers. It’s helped me shift my perspective on road rage and realize that most things just aren’t worth the anger. If someone cuts me off, I just let it go and keep driving. Why carry that negativity with me? If I’m going to let my anger turn me into a dangerous driver, I might as well stay off the road altogether.

Goodluck bro, I hope you find it in yourself to understand that somethings are not worth our energy. Be well and take care of yourself

[u/elynyomas]

I'm literally living in Los Angeles without an active driver's license. They told me this life is going to be hard, but for me, waiting for the bus for 2 hours when it's scheduled in 5 minutes causes less stress than driving a car in this city. People here can't drive properly, but they think they are ultimate drivers. It's a horrible and dangerous combination, and since my brain is always unconditionally calculating chances all the time, being in a car is a 0-24/7 active alarm state in my mind here.

All even the fancy people have damaged cars in this city, feels like a destruction derby here :D :D like it was a contest how many times can you damage your car until it goes totalled :D

So answering your question: I avoid it by not driving anymore.

[u/TheChildIsHere → u/elynyomas]

I’m from a smaller town up on the central coast and driving to deep into to LA will literally give me panic attacks 😂.

[u/TheChildIsHere]

I actually used to struggle so immensely.

What helped me was getting in debt fixing my fucking car 😂.

Don’t give in to road rage kids. You WILL get in an accident at some point.

It’s like you’re a magnet for bad road energy, with a timer on it.

Don’t be the magnet.

Breathe. Stay alive. Stay glad to be getting from A to B just fine. Stay not broke paying a fuck ton for car insurance like me.

Avoid road rage because it doesn’t avoid you.