And for an instant, just an instant, I looked into the eyes of a youngish women with black hair, who gave me a look I have never seen in my life. Honestly. I felt that she wished me not to frying in Hell, or dead, at the very least.
A few seconds later, she dropped back, slid two lanes to get by me, and then she took off, driving like a NASCAR racer, using all four lanes of the free way as her playground. Soon she had disappeared from view.
I said my silent request for a highway patrol person to be around to observe her and to slap her with a very expensive ticket, and I continue to hope.
Her behavior got me wondering about why there seems to be so much aggressive driving these days - people sitting on your bumper at 65 miles per hour, unsignalled lane shifts and turns, headlights off in deep twilight, gestures using single digits, all that.
In the context of the climate of fear, anger, distress, frustration, and loss surrounding us for the last year (with no clear end in sight), perhaps it's easy to understand why so many of us are "acting out," on the highways.
But not excusable.
On other hand, I tend to drive the speed limit, slow down in the rain, and leave my turn signal on accidentally, so I need to understand that I am a rolling obstacle for others. That might also explain why if someone behind me seems to be in such a rush, I just pull over and stop to let them go by.
Over the years, I've tried to understand that driving is a cooperative activity, not a competitive one, and that realization may be one of the benefits of accumulated years....
