Pushy People

Today's Thoughts 4/13/12 Pushy People

Don’t you just love pushy people? Everyone trying to get to his or her destination, do his or her business; and then hurry back home again. Seems to me that if they are in such a rush to get home, why bother to leave in the first place. I guess though, that people have many different places that are important enough that they need to get there as fast s they can. And I guess that there are people that just are built in such a way that they need to get everywhere as fast as they can for no particular reason. I probably fit into this last category myself. The thing is as I see it, unless there is a life threatening situation going on, why do the rest of us have to have our life put into danger just so someone can get there fast just because they decide their need outweighs the rest of our lives.

I guess I started thinking about this yesterday morning on my way back to the house from my trip down to Miami. I was just south of Atlanta, Ga, listening to one of the trucking radio shows; and a truck driver had called in complaining that as a new truck driver he was continually being pushed by other truck drivers on the CB radio to go faster in situations that he was not comfortable to go faster in. I remember thinking to myself that one of the reasons that I never turn my CB on is because I, as a professional well seasoned truck driver, was tired of being pushed to drive faster then I felt comfortable to drive.

Let us not pick on just the truck drivers here. Just look in your mirror and you will see vehicles of every kind back there two inches off your rear bumper bobbing back and forth trying to figure a way to get around you. It does not matter where you are or how fast you are going, someone will be back there and they will if for no other reason than to be the person out front, pass you. Then if my guess is right, slow down in front of you. Well, at least that is the way it seems to happen to me just about every time I am passed.

So what is there that can be done to deal with these pushy people? Not much really, unless you are a cop and have a ticket book handy. Truckers of course can be called in on and as for the cars that that drive in an unsafe manner, not much really at all. Sometimes if a driver is bad enough or unsafe enough, I have called the police. Yes they will come out if they have the man power and believe that they can do something to prevent a accident. But you cannot count on this and the time it takes for them to get there is way more time then it takes for this pushy drive r to push you into a accident.

The driver that I had been listening to talking on the radio went on to say that he would get on his CB radio and tell the drivers behind him that he was doing the best he could with the experience he had. I am thinking big mistake doing that. I have learned the hard way over the years that the chance of you getting an understanding driver that will back off and allow you to be safe is not very likely. No matter if the person behind you is in a car or a truck, they are not interested in nothing else then being in front of you. If they were, they would not be pushing you in the first place. Trying to make contact and reasoning with them only results in a argument in most cases. In some cases as I have learned, they will come around you eventually and try to teach you how to get out of their way. The methods used on me over the years have included running me off the road. So trying to reason with them is something I do not even attempt anymore.

The best way I have found to deal with pushy drivers is to just ignore them. I want you to notice that I said to ignore them, not to not keep an eye on them. While making some kind of contact with them can become dangerous, you still have to watch them for any sudden unsafe actions that you can count on them making. You know they are going to do it, get in front of you that is and at any cost to boot. Also the safer you are driving only means the crazier they will get to get around you. That is the same argument that I have been having for years. Is it better to drive safe, or is it better to drive legal? Because the two of them do not always go hand in hand as you learn with experience. Personally, I always drive legal until it becomes unsafe to do so. Then I get myself out of that situation as quickly as I can and then go back to driving legal. I would rather get a ticket and save someone's life then to drive legal and kill them.

Anyway, this is what I have found you have to do with pushy people out on the road. Keeping yourself safe and out of an accident is a mindset when it comes to dealing with them. Just relax and keep a close eye on them and when it is safe to do so, help them get around you as safely as possible. Anything beyond that will find you in a bad situation. Anything short of that is their decision and nothing much you can do about what they decide to do.

I wish there was a cure for pushy drivers. I thought about it for years and the only thing that I can come up with to get them off the road is to not make roads. There are over three hundred million people in this country. Look hard enough and eventually you will find two of them that disagree on how to drive. It only takes one of them to push you into a accident. Only if you let them though, the decision is yours.

Be safe peeps …
Jeff Head.
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