Reptile Brains And The Road Ragers In Our Midst

     I have to admit, road ragers make me nervous.

    Actually, I call them "Reptile Brains" because they are not thinking rational by taking high risks and driving extremely dangerously using their vehicle as a 3,000 lbs. weapon.  I have been seriously road raged a couple of times in my 47 year driving career (I have been driving since I was 15 years-old).  Both of them have happened in the last ten years of my life.  The first time that I remember was down in Nashville probably about eight or nine years ago.  My wife and I were going to eat at a restaurant in Madison, Tenn., and my son and his girlfriend were following us in his car. Apparently, I pulled in front of somebody at a red light.  But when I looked into the rearview mirror, I did not see a car coming my way.  I know is that he must have been speeding and because he was on my tail before I knew it. All of sudden, he was honking his horn, cussing me, giving me the finger and edging up to my bumper.  The red light turns green and then he swings around the side of my car and does the same thing.  I just ignored him and kept looking forward trying to stay calm. But my heart began racing and I was trying not to have a panic attack or react.  My wife, fortunately was looking down at her phone and I did not tell her what was going on. That's what I was trained to do in all my years of taking professional driver training courses in my 27 years of working in the pest management industry. Mainly, we were trained to stay calm and not react. Then the road rager pulls in front of me and slams on the breaks a couple of times.  Again, I did not react and stayed calm.  Finally, I guess when he realized that he was not going to get a reaction out of me so he decided to move on.  I was incredibly relieved but shaken up.  I didn't tell my wife about it until we arrived at the restaurant parking lot.  My son pulled in right behind us and jumped out of his car. He was concerned about me and asked if I was okay.  I told him I was but it had shaken me up and he said he understood.  It took me a little while to relax even to eat my meal. My son said that it would have done the same thing to him.

    Then last week basically the same thing happened to me again in Bowling Green.  Except this time, I was slowing down to see where a pothole was so I could report it to the city in order for it to be fixed.  I looked into the rearview mirror and there were no cars behind me.  Again, all of sudden, this particular driver in a car was on my tail, honking his horn, cussing, giving the finger, swerving and trying to go around me. In my neighborhood, drivers have a bad habit of speeding, driving 50 or 60 mph in a 30 mph speed zone.  It's scary sometimes to witness this especially when I am sitting on my front porch or walking the dog on the Greenway. Finally, I pulled off on a side road in order to get home.  If he followed me, I had a Plan B.  I would drive away from my house and start heading toward the police station or call 911 on the way there.  
Thank God, he went on.  I was shaken up again. However, I used my training by remaining calm and not reacting.  That is your best defense when being road raged.  There is a couple of other things that you can do also. (Please watch the video below that I have posted).  Thank you for reading and be safe out there!