I Ponder My Horrible Driving Habits

My car is my kingdom, where I rule with an iron fist. It is not peaceful there: it is a war zone. I am one step away from committing an intentional violent act every time I sit in the driver's seat. Everyone else on the road can snack it.

In other words: I find myself becoming an entirely different person seated behind the wheel. For example:

• A few days ago, I stopped at the striped white lines to let a biker cross the street. There's a sign that few heed prior to the striped section of road: Yield to pedestrians in crosswalk, yadda yadda, $500 fine...A car behind me beeped their horn. Instantly my right hand goes up, my middle finger extended. I now realize that anytime I feel that I get "beeped at" for unjustifiable reasons, I flip off the beeper.
• If a car cuts me off or doesn't let me through when I wish it, I swear like a sailor.
• If a car tailgates me during the few times I drive the speed limit, I slow down, and take glee in slowing down in between cars in other lanes so that driver cannot pass me.
• Once I actually blew kisses at a guy who was clearly irritated with my driving (I still maintain that I was doing nothing wrong, since I was driving slowly in a blizzard).

So I guess I suffer from a teeny bit of road rage.

I just found a site that analyzes your driving style. It's 32 single choice questions, and it took less than five minutes. Here are my results:

Safety:You are a Safe Driver Your Safety Score: 72.5 % The average score among all people who have recently taken this test is 69.19%
Aggressiveness:You are a Marginally Aggressive Driver Your Degree of Aggressiveness: 55 % The average score among all people who have recently taken this test is 57.02%
Courtesy:You are a Courteous Driver Your Courtesy Score: 72.5 % The average score among all people who have recently taken this test is 73.75%
Rage:You are a Potential Road Rager Your Degree of Rage: 50 % The average score among all people who have recently taken this test is 55.55%

Hmmm...not too bad...guess I'm just your average frustrated DC Metro driver.

I've observed lately that when I come upon a car that's going much slower than the speed limit, or has cut me off, or is driving erratically, if I happen to pass that car, the driver is on a cell phone. Nine times out of ten, I swear. For this reason, I am making a concerted effort to not use my Crackberry in the car. It's tough, though--long lights in Tyson's Corner or rush hour traffic on the beltway is a great excuse to whip the addicition out and check out what my peeps on Twitter are doing. But it's becoming clear to me that cell phones are a hinderance while driving.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has a policy about driving while talking on a cell phone. Studies show that 25% of all traffic accidents are caused by folks talking on their phones while driving. That's a lot. Of course some folks want to ban the use of cell phones in cars; however, I'm not entirely sure that solves the problem, and this guy agrees with me.

We are a nation of multitaskers. We speed through life and become incensed when someone or some thing slows us down or prevents us from "moving forward." Judging from my actions, I am a prime example of this. I think the solution lies in the bumper sticker above: "You're really not that important." I would change that to "Everyone else is as important as you." Perhaps if the larger picture of life permeated my awareness more often--that I am connected with every single human being on this earth in big and little ways, I might rule a more peaceful kingdom in my car.