stop getting angry at bad drivers

I’m going to keep a note throughout February of when I verbalise at bad drivers and set myself a little sub-goal of keeping that number below 10.

this past weekend i was riding paradise loop in the bay area on my bicycle. coming over a freeway overpass, a car began drifting in and out of the bike lane ahead of me as i approached. as loudly as i could, i yelled “hey!” multiple times to make them aware of what they were doing, but to no avail. i went to pass them along the left, and saw that it was a very old lady – probably in her 80’s. as i rode by disgusted and pissed, a girl hung out of the passenger-side window of another car and yelled / scolded “hey that’s an old lady!!”

yes, it was an old lady – one who probably had no business being behind the wheel of an automobile. regardless though, a 24 year-old in full lycra on a bicycle screaming at a senior citizen looks bad no matter which way you slice it. this year, if and when i have to engage with bad drivers, it’s going to be on peaceful, non-aggressive terms.

...I’d just like to stop actually saying/shouting out loud when some idiot driver risks other people’s lives for the sake of getting wherever two minutes quicker. It’s not such a big deal when I’m by myself, but when I’m driving with my family it only causes them more stress too and doesn’t help anyone.

I’m trying meditating at the wheel – it helps!.

I drive on a toll road for my new job. I’m noticing that people there like to drive REALLY FAST. It’s actually kind of scaring me. I used to like driving at 70 mph and I will still do it under the right conditions. But since the price of gas has hiked up a lot, I drive a lot slower now. I really try to keep it under 65, and usually at about 60.

Since my exit is one of the first ones out of the toll booth, I use the EZ Pass lane on the far right and slowly traverse to the far left and try to go leisurely to work in the mornings. It’s actually been quite good.

Evening traffic has been really awful with this new job, but it’s stop and go and frankly I can’t get too upset with folks since we’re all stuck.

This is all a different attitude for me. It’s kind of neat. Slow lane driving isn’t for everyone, but I never before thought it was for me.

I have a goal to rewrite my 43 Things to be specific and achievable. I’m not sure how I can turn this goal into something more specific. Today I flipped off a driver that cut me off twice. I know that I am certainly a lot less angry with bad drivers in general over the last 18 months. I used to really have a cow and grumble the whole commute home. These days, I just get cheesed off. I think I’m still getting angry, but I’m expressing it more calmly. It’s an improvement, but have I really ‘done it’?