Don’t Be Aggressive, Don’t B-E Aggressive
Even if you can control your own temper, you will most certainly encounter other drivers who have more difficultly with the concept. Following the below tips can either help keep other drivers calm or at least keep you out of their way if they do decide to act out.
- Give yourself plenty of time to get where you’re going. This way you won’t feel rushed, you won’t speed or make bad decisions, and you consequently won’t tick anyone off. Unless you also have offensive or controversial bumper stickers on your rear fender, in which case: best of luck out there.
- Don’t cut people off. This tops the list of actions that provoke anger in other drivers. People don’t really like having their lives threatened for no reason (go figure), and they tend to go ballistic when some stranger takes the responsibility of driving too lightly. You never know how they’re going to respond, so make sure there is plenty of room between you and another driver before passing him. Preferably far enough ahead that he can’t read your offensive bumper stickers.
- Don’t drive slowly in the fast lane. There’s a reason it’s called the fast lane. This is for people who are in a hurry. If you’re not one of those people, move it or lose it.
- Don’t tailgate. You may be trying to push traffic along, but chances are good that this move will only annoy the driver ahead of you and cause him to drive more defensively or slow down to “teach you a lesson”. And you already get enough of those in school.
- Don’t gesture at other drivers. You could be making a perfectly innocent peace sign at them (yeah, right), but it can be observed incorrectly or misinterpreted and really throw somebody into a rotten mood.
- Don’t use your horn for non-emergencies. We’re sure that girl knows she’s attractive without you honking it at her.
- Don’t make eye contact with an angry driver. They may interpret this as a challenge, and you’re not appropriately dressed for a throw down.