Oh. My. Angry. People

I was so mad when I heard this on the news this morning! What has happened to our world??
I know I am taking a moment to stand on my own soapbox, and if you really don't care, then just visit one of my friends' blogs while I take a moment to rant. (They have cute pictures on them).

This enrages me so much, as I have had very similar things happen to me TWICE now and both times I nearly called 911 myself. First of all, I do NOT consider myself an aggressive driver, as I rarely speed, I do NOT tailgate-EVER-and have even pulled over to let a$$holes riding my back end pass me, as their point of destination seems to be MUCH more important than mine. Second, I'm human-and I HAVE cut people off, or almost cut them off, but I ALWAYS give them the "oops I am so sorry" look with a wave, as it is rarely intentional, especially since I now have Gage in my vehicle 99% of the time.

So about 2 years ago, I was driving to the Burnsville Mall in Bursville, MN when I happened to notice at the LAST possible minute a man with his blinker on in front of me, wanting to get into my lane. By the time I noticed, I would have had to slam on my brakes to let him in, risking my own butt to get smucked, so I just revved it up and went forward, hoping that he could get in behind me instead. YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN what I had to put up with! Seriously. This man was so angry at me, he was flipping me off, calling me EVERY NAME in the book with such force, that I could read his lips from my rear-view mirror, AND hear him with my own windows up (I think his were down). He kept this up the entire time we were sitting at a light. I finally (stupid of me, I know), turned around in my car and mouthed "Are you done yet? I get it!" and THAT just made him even more angry. This screaming and calling me horrendous names (c-word, b-word, f-word) and flipping me off continued for what seemed like forever when the light changed. He followed me into the parking lot, and I grabbed my cell phone, dialed 911 and just waited to hit the send button. I finally turned down a lane, and he continued on, seeming to leave me alone. I was shaking!!! I swear I saw him in the mall, too, but that was the end of that. Thank GOD!

Then, about a month ago, I was driving out of New Richmond when the lane I was in ended. I made a split-second decision to speed up, rather than slow down, and the guy that I ended up cutting off rode my back-end SO CLOSE for about 10 miles, all the way from New Richmond to I-94. I passed 2 cars on my way and both times he followed, crawling up so close to my bumper that I was sure he was going to hit me. Again, my paranoid self grabbed the cell phone ready to call for help when he finally passed me.

Again-I am human. I do not cut people off to be ruthless, or to try and make someone mad. We all make split second decisions when we are driving, and some of those decision could be life-threatening. Obviously with lunatic drivers out there, they could be life-threatening in more ways than one.

Drive safely. Stay away from the psychotic drivers please.