I’ll try not to read too much into it. Though I cannot explain why a driver in a car thinks they they can shout abuse “watch where you are going- you w#nker!” at a pedestrian walking over a pedestrian crossing. I did not suddenly dash across the road, I was walking normally over a well-marked crossing in an inner city area where people had only just walked across a second before I got started to go across.
To make matters worse, not only was the subsequent bad language uncivilised, the man driving had his pre-teen aged son in the front passengers seat to witness his father’s dressing down of a pedestrian minding his own business crossing the road in full compliance with the law. A fantastic example to the child, to the other people witnessing in the area and encapsulates an unfortunate facet of the mindset of many a driver.
I’ll cut to the chase- I love driving. Cars sounds good (some of them) they can be fun to drive, they can take you to amazing places and can bridge families together over distances. They move goods all around and provide services we have conditioned ourselves to think are critical to survival.
Unfortunately, the feeling of having control of a what is percieved to be a highly sophisticaed machine has the effect of switching off the mind to good reasoning, to manners and gives many people a sense of ownership or rights to the road over anything else.
Some typical driver mindsets:
- Animal crossing the road? = I want a bull bar
- Cyclist? = Get off the road, you don’t pay rego!
- Pedestrian = What?? I have to stop? – I’m in a hurry!
I was just as susceptible to this mindset and I would consider myself to have been an “angry driver” who felt that anyone that didn’t see my logical reasoning and started moving as soon as those lights went off was holding me up and was in my way!.
It is a good thing for my safety, sanity and health that I now can use a number of public transport options as alternatives and live in a sufficiently well-serviced area that I do not need to drive to get by.
As deeply remorseful as I am for holding up that driver this morning for 0.5 seconds at 8am this morning. I am far more sorry for that child in his passenger seat who will retire to a 3 degree warmer world of depleted oil reserves.
Why?- because daddy used up all the oil and good will shouting at pedestrians crossing the road and then flooring it in a turbo subaru…
Adam Gilbert
adamgilbert.wordpress.com 