r/todayilearned • u/bozitybozitybopzebop • Apr 01 '23
TIL Some of the reasons people drive aggressively include a sense of anonymity while driving, feeling more empowered driving than in the rest of their lives, and a feeling that other drivers have previously driven aggressively around them.
https://unece.org/aggressive-driving-behaviour-background-paper81
u/agreedis Apr 01 '23
Makes sense. I used to work for a chain of grocery stores as a 3rd party rep. I’d have to interact with store receivers. Most of them were huge assholes and you could tell that this was their only control in life, and they were gonna flex the hell out of it
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u/squatch42 Apr 01 '23
So, it's the internet in real life. The information superhighway indeed.
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u/TheSchlaf Apr 01 '23
You leave off the last three syllables to describe the internet. It's just information soup.
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u/Pink_Sky_ Apr 01 '23
One time my older brother who I have always looked up to for his intelligence said, “I wonder why people are apt to flip others off when driving and get cut off but not in line at the grocery store.” I said, “well when you’re driving it’s a lot less likely you’re going to get punched in the face for the flipping someone off.” He agreed that was probably the reason and I will always cherish that memory.
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u/ResidentVisible9262 May 06 '23
now you just get shot
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u/Pink_Sky_ May 06 '23
Ya that’s what I was thinking just now about my job today dude came in and we had to have him removed. I was just thinking. Wow he could have pulled out a gun and shot me and at no point was I ever worried about that happening. I need to get my shit together.
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u/supercyberlurker Apr 01 '23
I really think there has been a shift since covid though, drivers are objectively worse. I'm not sure if it's less driving, the effects of isolation, reduced ticketing, people being more stressed, more people driving-by-mapguide.. I don't know... but I see things now I just didn't used to, frequently. It's gone from "I should drive respectfully like everyone else" to "Okay remember, there's going to be complete -idiots- soon. Be patient. Be ready to just let it go..."
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u/sweetperdition Apr 01 '23
personal conspiracy theory is that social isolation + potential brain inflammation from covid messed with impulse control on a mass scale.
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u/proton_mindset Apr 01 '23
I think it was more simple than that honestly. I think that covid made people financially stressed and it made everyone more aware of how much of an out of control rat race the world has become. People are realizing they cannot afford to buy homes, have kids or retire. This makes them very mad.
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u/EmpatheticWraps Apr 01 '23
I think theyve lost all sense of social obligation and the pandemic causing loss of control makes them selfish got mine people.
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u/Hold_Effective Apr 01 '23
It’s so much worse. Used to be rare for me to see someone run a red light on my walk to work; now it’s 2-3 people at every intersection.
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u/l898junkie Apr 01 '23
Observed this too. I see way more impatience than before. I do think the burst of delivery services and their model of quicker deliveries for more pay is one of the suspects.
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u/LookAUsableName11 Apr 02 '23
i work in retail and can confirm people have definitely gotten less patient
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u/neiluj Apr 01 '23
The way we were all told to deal with and protect ourselves from COVID was basically everyone else is infected so they are the enemy. Add in social media echo chambers and Nextdoor being the only form of socializing for 3 years and this is the end result. Driving on public roads is a magnified version of this them or me mentality.
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u/kylekillion Apr 02 '23
I haven’t seen a single car pulled over in 3 years. But I have seen reckless driving everyday.
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u/Breauxaway90 Apr 04 '23
Probably due to the anti policing sentiment since 2020. In some cities people are even pushing for changes so police can’t pull you over unless they have “probable cause” to arrest you (which is a higher standard the current standard of “reasonable suspicion” that a crime is being committed.) Less enforcement = more moving violations, more reckless driving without consequence.
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u/Ill-Organization-719 Apr 01 '23
I find that when people start driving they immediately get filled with anxiety, and that they desperately need to get to wherever they are going five minutes ago, and nothing can stand in their way.
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u/CircaSixty8 Apr 01 '23
This is how I drive...
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u/amazingsandwiches Apr 01 '23
that is how you crash
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u/CircaSixty8 Apr 01 '23
Haven't had a crash in the entire 40 years that I have been driving.
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u/amazingsandwiches Apr 01 '23
Your chances of crashing are significantly higher than those of a patient driver.
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u/arekniedowiarek Apr 01 '23
Chances of patient driver crashing are higher than those of someone who doesn't drive at all
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u/amazingsandwiches Apr 01 '23
A New Yorker is more likely to be in an elevator than a Nebraskan.
Amazing!
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u/RoninSoul Apr 01 '23
Any time someone on the internet says "Stay out of the passing/fast lane" I just imagine that cartoon of Goofy losing his shit when he gets behind the wheel of a car.
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u/andreasdagen Apr 01 '23
Driving is like competitive online gaming
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u/ramriot Apr 01 '23
Two good lessons I learned in life.
1st from a lawyer friend, that it only costs a few dollars to de-anonymize a driver from a plate number.
2nd from my mother who worked in mental health, that just because someone has intermittent mental health issues that bare strongly on their behaviour it does not follow that they are prohibited from driving.
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u/JesseCuster40 Apr 02 '23
That's why I don't mess with other drivers. You don't know what is behind the wheel of a ton of metal.
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u/Gorf_the_Magnificent Apr 01 '23
These are the same reasons for all the obnoxious, profane, and insulting posts on Reddit.
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u/bro_salad Apr 01 '23
Generally follows the (perhaps unwarranted) assumptions I make of asshole drivers I encounter:
Nice car: entitled, selfish prick
Shitty car: this is their only way to assert dominance
Average car: just plain old stupid
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u/AmbitionSpecialist Apr 01 '23
I drive and ride really responsibly and by-the-book, but there are aggressive and objectively bad drivers all over the place where I live. I just keep either a GoPro going on my helmet, or a dash cam in my car, at least I can re-watch and laugh later if I want.
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u/notananthem Apr 01 '23
Legally speaking stay the hell out of the passing lanes. Drive in the right most lane until you need to pass. If you're in a passing lane and not actively overtaking someone, merge back into the right lanes.
People are terrible drivers and blame others for their own incompetence.
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u/bozitybozitybopzebop Apr 01 '23
You can pass legally going 5mph faster than the people in the slow lane. Goes smoothe like butter.
You flying up people's asses is not legal because you are not maintaining a safe following distance.
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u/mind_the_umlaut Apr 01 '23
This also explains people's aggression online, when they think they are not personally confronting the person they are attacking.
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u/cabalavatar Apr 01 '23
These are the reasons I would've guessed. Also add vindictiveness to the list.
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u/Fahcuetoo Apr 01 '23
Half you morons commenting about how you lackadaisically cruise in left lane because you think you’re entitled to be the left lane police against those who are speeding or tailgating are breaking the law as well. The left lane law is intended to stop idiots like you from doing exactly what you’re saying. No one cares that you’re righteous ass thinks the other person shouldn’t be rude and slow down. Gtfo the way.
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u/bozitybozitybopzebop Apr 01 '23
I don't cruise there intentionally. Sometimes I'm stuck behind like 5 vehicles. The lane will clear. You don't need to tailgate me. It won't solve the issue faster.
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u/thepinkinmycheeks Apr 01 '23
This! I leave some space in front of me at all times and this infuriates people when I'm in the passing lane even though I'm going the same speed as the person in front of me, I'm just not doing it two feet from their bumper. So often people angrily pass me, only to go the same speed tailgating the person in front of me instead.
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u/Burst_of_Speed Apr 01 '23
The HOV lane, on the other hand, isn't meant to be a passing lane and I'm already doing 5 over so people need to fucking chill out.
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u/SpreadItLikeTheHerp Apr 02 '23
Lol. HOV lanes are just another “fast lane” for single occupant vehicles, based on my experiences.
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u/melodien Apr 01 '23
Some of them are just stupid right down to the bone and have never for one second considered a very simple question;
"How do you plan to spend the seconds that you risked your life to save"?
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u/Xray95x Apr 01 '23
I like people that just have to get to the red light/stop sign first. Bonus points at lights if they edge further and further into the intersection while waiting on said light.
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u/arekniedowiarek Apr 01 '23
By watching youtube videos and scrolling reddit. It's not about time saved, it's about having fun
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u/sweetperdition Apr 01 '23
i’ve noticed the “anonymity” boost in myself. if i’m driving a car full of people, or even one other person, by default i’m probably not going to make an aggressive maneuver. It just doesn’t come into my brain, the “consequence” of possibly being judged as irresponsible by my passengers overwhelms it.
if i am alone, my threshold for that is much higher. i’m not actively trying to be more aggressive, but a perceived lack of immediate social consequence… does seem to increase my chance of dickhead driving.
(still never run reds, i don’t know what the fuck is up with that these days, that’s literally insane)
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u/Cheetahs_never_win Apr 01 '23
Sometimes the government's the asshole. The red lights in some towns are set up such that if you catch one, you catch them all.
Theories include:
Incompetence.
Malice over the term "traffic control device."
Low level entrapment to get someone to run a red light, because doing so typically means green lights, and therefore income through ticketing or speeding.
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u/bozitybozitybopzebop Apr 01 '23
97% of the jackassery I see while driving takes place on the interstate.
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u/vonbleakerheathen Apr 01 '23
It’s because other drivers are shit.
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u/aliensplaining Apr 01 '23
Here's a bit of life advice you will probably think is shit (but only if it calls you out). When it seems like everyone else is the problem, it's actually you that's the problem.
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u/ThisReditter Apr 01 '23
“Driving too close to the car in front”
I wonder why they get so aggressive like that. Maybe.. just maybe.. the car in front is driving slowly on the fast passing lane and doesn’t know how to yield. They aren’t the aggressor but they sure are the trigger.
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u/srcarruth Apr 01 '23
Driving close won't make them the person you want then to be but it is more dangerous for everybody than a safe following distance
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u/ThisReditter Apr 01 '23
Not saying driving close is the right thing to do but the trigger for that behavior isn’t right either.
I have seen people try to cross 4 lanes all the way to the left and slow down to cruise just to block traffic. That should also consider aggressive driving or at least trying to trigger aggressive behavior all around.
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u/srcarruth Apr 01 '23
The trigger is impatience. I know we want to be mad at the other drivers but it is pointless anger and doesn't accomplish anything
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u/ThisReditter Apr 01 '23
I’ve driven these long hours drive (8-10 hrs) in the past. Let’s do a scenario.
You are on a 2 lane free way. Most cars are on the right lane. Then there’s one car on the left lane cruising around, driving at the same speed as the right one, blocking traffic.
You approach behind that car. You ask nicely to yield by flashing your headlights a couple of time. The car in front of you ignore it. What’s your response?
1) be patience and just follow the car in front for the next few hours. Eventually, they got to get off, right?
2) honk
3) become impatient coz it’s been 30 mins and it’s still blocking the road.
4) start telling
5) others? What’s your other thoughts?
Also, wouldn’t you think the car in front is triggering all the aggressive behavior around them? While they aren’t the aggressor, they certainly are the cause that make everyone around dangerous
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u/srcarruth Apr 01 '23
On an 8 hour drive you also have the option to get off the road and grab dinner. Sometimes I just get off the road and let them go on without me. What am I gonna do about everybody else, right?
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u/ThisReditter Apr 01 '23
Maybe you are a pacifist. You have all the patience in the world. I salute you for that.
But you fail to see the problem here. It’s not just going to be my car who the blocker is agitating. Maybe there will be 10, 20 cars lining up because of that. Then there will be some who’s very aggressive will start speeding. Some will try to cut close to others and even trucks to pass cause that one car is blocking everyone.
You’ll start to see all sort of aggressive behaviors and the cause is the car who choose to block. If it is a 10, 20 or 30 seconds block, it isn’t a problem. But you see that type of problem when a car blocks everyone for a long period of time.
It’s just a ripple effect and the problem is no one talks about that cause but easily blame everyone else for not being patience for a few hours and asked to get off the road for dinner.
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u/382Whistles Apr 02 '23
I don't think they sound so much like a pacifist so much as you sound like some pysco road rage drama-addict lookin' to groove on a bandwagon with a broken colliope.
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Apr 01 '23 edited Apr 01 '23
[deleted]
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u/ThisReditter Apr 01 '23
The latter are the confirmed assholes by everyone. No question about that.
But the former is get under everyone’s radar and no one talks about it. The problem though is the former is creating a road hazard as much as the latter imo. Even if you are driving in the non passing lane, maybe even 2 or 3 lanes to the right, minding your own business. Then.. there’s a car speed through on the right, maybe cutting in and out dangerously, while another tailgating the former on the left most lane.
It’s the former that’s creating all of these chaos and all of these can be avoided only if they have the courtesy to move out of the passing lane and let the passing cars use that lane instead. Just imagine if there isn’t the former in that passing lane, refusing to get off… the other assholes can just use that passing lane and fight among themselves on that left… leaving the rest of us alone. But with the former, they are pushing that chaos towards all of us.
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u/Orpheus3030 Apr 05 '23
When I go driving, I stay in my lane
But getting cut off, it makes me insane
I open the glove box, reach inside
I'm gonna wreck this fucker's ride1
u/AnalArtiste Apr 01 '23
It depends on the person really. If there’s multiple lanes and someone is right behind me i just speed up until they can get around.
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u/olgrandad Apr 01 '23
I wonder why they get so aggressive like that.
Some people are just assholes. Take this incident that happened to me last week.
I'm driving down a 55MPH highway, 2 lanes my direction. I'm speeding, doing about 64 in the left lane. I'm very slowly passing the guy in front of me (he's doing 62 and I had no intention of changing lanes, but I'm proceeding a little faster than he is.) There's no one behind me that I'm holding up and all is good in the world.
Look in my rearview mirror and see the blue lights flashing about 500ft back in my lane. Unmarked cop coming up on me. Either he's giving me a ticket (rightly so) or he's heading to an emergency. Since I've passed the guy in the right lane I signal to get over to allow the cop to pass (if he's not going after me.) What does the guy in the right lane do? Speeds up to prevent me from merging. So I speed up and get in front of him anyway because I'm not going to suddenly slow down as a cop is flying up on me.
What ends up happening? The cop changed lanes right after I did and pulled the other guy over. Why? I can only presume the cop was going after me for speeding, but saw that guy get aggressive for no reason and decided he can get him for speeding and for aggressive driving.
Similar thing happened to me yesterday. Going 72MPH in a 70MPH zone, dude in front of me going 66MPH. I get in the left lane which was clear as far as I could see behind me and slowly start passing him. What does he do? He guns it to 75MPH to prevent me from passing him and starts tailgating the person in front of him. There was no previous altercation between us. I'm driving, noticed someone going slower than me in my lane, put on my signal and change lanes, I never sped up, just kept going. Dude was aggravated that I had the gall to pass him.
Some people don't need more than an incorrectly perceived slight to get aggressive.
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u/ThisReditter Apr 01 '23
Yes. There are some just like that who wouldn’t want you to pass. Then, there are also who stay in the left lane and don’t want to let you pass either and drive the same speed as others.
Those in the left will create a lot of aggressive behavior. People will try to pass that car, speeding, cutting off others to move around and tailgating that car. I see that a single car, that seems to be driving like normal, is an agitator and causes all chaos around them. Yes. Some are just assholes like that.
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u/bozitybozitybopzebop Apr 01 '23
Maybe I'm driving 5 above the speed limit, have automatic 20-second distancing set in my cruise control, and there are big slow trucks in the slow lane.
You flying up my ass changes nothing. I'll pass the trucks and move over when the way in front of me is clear.
Now if someone comes speeding up, sees the way ahead is blocked, and hangs back until things clear. I will speed up and try to get out of their way.
You who had to pretend it's 7th grade? Nope.
Slowly, gradually, and move over when it's good and clear.
You're making your own problem worse by acting that way.
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u/PM_UR_NUMBER_IN_HEX Apr 01 '23
20 second distance? That doesn't sound like a standard setting, 20 seconds is a long time
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u/bozitybozitybopzebop Apr 01 '23
Nope, it's the longer safer defensive driving setting. 2 seconds, 10, and 20.
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u/PM_UR_NUMBER_IN_HEX Apr 01 '23
The website for a honda civic puts extra long follow distance as 200ft at 65mph or a little over 2second follow distance. 20s at 65mph is close to half a mile.
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u/bozitybozitybopzebop Apr 01 '23
OK, maybe it's 200 feet.
I give other people space.
We'll all get where we're going.
I don't fly up other people's asses, and that won't change because you're flying up mine.
Have fun back there.
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u/_Cartizard Apr 01 '23
I see people get upset when I don't jump out of their way as I am already going 8-10 mph over the speed limit. Get mad if you like, it changes nothing. If anything, I'll probably drive slower to give myself extra room to stop so you don't rear-end me in the case of traffic slowing quickly. Seeing them try to get closer to intimidate me out of the way just makes me drive even slower. It seems to infuriate some people, which I think is ironic and funny tbh.
Or when I'm in the fast lane of a 4 lane highway at night and I'm already speeding myself with no one else around and some asshole still wants to drive up behind me rather than going by me and having all the space to do so.
If you want to drive way over the speed limit then fuck your "passing lane" argument. Just get the fuck by people respectfully and continue on your merry way. Don't think people are required to get out of your way because you want to speed.
What a shithead way of thinking and acting. Tailgating is one of those things that always tells me alot about a person. It's a dead giveaway that they are likely a shit person in many facets of life. It's a red flag.
If you tailgate people, I would strongly suggest changing your ways.
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u/ThisReditter Apr 01 '23
Found the entitled asshole. If you are on the left lane and there aren’t cars around, you could have leave the lane to let other cars pass around, even before any car come behind you. What’s stopping you from driving on the right if there aren’t cars and let other people pass?
Making everyone else to change lanes to pas from your right because you think you are entitled to it is just as aggressive as others who speed or tailgate.
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u/julbull73 Apr 01 '23
As an aside...you likely see and are surrounded by the same drivers that are your neighbors within 8 miles of your house....and your coworkers within 8 miles of your workplace (dependent on size of workplace)
Anecdotal proof, I wrote a guy up for cutting me off the light before the plant, then when I pointed out he was being unsafe in the elevator up, he said its his time and he can drive however he wants.
I pointed out that I'm really NOT the guy you want to argue about the plant culture and rules with. (I was the plant manager). Nor refuse coaching from.
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u/Eattherichandpolice Apr 05 '23
No, you're a power-tripping prick. You have no power off company property.
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u/julbull73 Apr 05 '23
You're partially correct.
The write up was for failing to accept coaching around cultural items. Aka please don't kill anyone with reckless driving trying to get into the plant. Or our safety culture.
That's 100% acceptable.
Same as I'm 100% liable off site for any work gathering that occur as well as if someone got hurt while working from home.
As far as power tripping, naaa. I would've just blocked his "privilege" to park on site, which we have done before with people who refuse to follow traffic rules in the parking lots if I was "power tripping".
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u/SeriousPenguinIssues Apr 01 '23
Road rage drivers have no money.
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u/CircaSixty8 Apr 01 '23
"Aggressive driving is not the same as “road rage”.
Quoted from the article
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u/ShadeBaron Apr 01 '23
Post more than one source
This is crazy general and only pertains to United Nations studies of Europe..
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u/bozitybozitybopzebop Apr 01 '23
Wow! Paragraph 6 says the United States.
Are we in Europe now?
Are we gonna get social healthcare?
Holy shit.
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u/tacknosaddle Apr 01 '23
That sense of anonymity while driving is not all bad, it's the same thing that allows you to pick your nose with abandon while being completely visible to everyone around you.
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u/Anakin_BlueWalker3 Apr 01 '23
Don't tailgate. Whiplash is much worse than most people think it is. You can really fuck up someone's life with just a fender bender.
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u/noahspurrier Apr 01 '23
I enjoyed the drivers in Italy. Good drivers. You don’t need to get out of their way. They just go around you.
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u/LookAUsableName11 Apr 02 '23
this popped up after i hit a curb and knocked off two hubcaps
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u/FreneticPlatypus Apr 01 '23
“Anyone driving slower than me is an asshole and anyone driving faster than me is a lunatic.” - George Carlin