kjmillig

Hi, I'm kjmillig, and I'm a road rager.
When I ride my scooter I'm an *** that must stay at my chosen speed and all others MUST get out of my way. Granted, I live in an Asian country where lots of people have no regard for others on the road and feel that the larger or more expensive vehicle always has the right of way or right to do as they wish.
I don't commute by bike nearly as often as I should, and I know that the forced slower pace of cycling would calm my nerves. By the way, on the rare occasions when I drive my car the only "rage" I exhibit is an occasional yell that others never hear. When on my scooter I zoom through dangerous holes in traffic, flip mirrors backwards of cars driving in the scooter lane, and yell at folks.
I promise to ride my bike more often and to try to transfer that attitude to my scooter driving.
Thanks for listening.

p.s. Anyone else do the same, rager in/on a motor vehicle but calm on the bike?

bragi

You kind of sound like you're bragging about being a jerk on your scooter, so I hesitate to respond, but yeah, I'm a better person on a bike than I am in a car. I think it has more to do with the negatives of being in a car than anything Zen-like about bikes, though. When you're on a bike, and you get stuck in traffic, the small mass and footprint of a bike make other options possible. You may not be moving quickly, but you're always moving, and a traffic stop is sometimes a welcome break to catch your breath. In a car, when you run into stalled traffic, you're stuck in your small box, and there's no escape. You desperately want to move, but often can't move at all, and this leads to frustration, which in turn leads to bad behavior. Only last week, I was driving my car, and a driver ahead of me absolutely refused to make a right turn for fear that a pedestrian might enter the crosswalk, even though no one was actually crossing the street. I honked my horn. A pedestrian gestured to me to chill out. I pointed to the empty crosswalk. The pedestrian got irritated and said, "People are walking!" On my bike, I would have smiled politely at this Portlandia moment. But, since I was in my car and not on my bike, I gave her the finger, unrolled my window, and told her to f*ck off, busybody assh*le. There's something about being in a box that makes some of us respond to the angels of our baser nature.

GeoKrpan

"......where lots of people have no regard for others on the road and feel that the larger or more expensive vehicle always has the right of way or right to do as they wish."

Sorry to hear it's so dumbass in Asia.

AND

I see it's the same in Asia as it is in the US.

kjmillig

Confessional, not bragging. I really want to slow down and drive sensibly, but something else takes over as soon as I get out of my neighborhood.

yep202

I get mad at people when on my bike. When they do dumbass things or if Im behind a car with ****ty exhast. In that case Im uselly swearing. But I keep that to myslef. I found if I take a different route I dont have to deal with breathing in that crap.

rex_kramer

Um. Whut? lol

Switch to decaf? Care about others instead of just self? I'm not sure what you need, but the change begins with you. I believe it's called "self control."

chipcom 

It's that natural Texan in you....it either makes you an impatient road rager or a gawking tourist who fails to achieve the speed limit.

locolobo13 

Bike or car I try to go with the flow. Of course you can fight it. It's amusing tho to watch someone zigzagging thru traffic only to get stuck behind the next slow poke. And to arrive at the same destination obviously less than a minute after the rushing fighting nitwit did.

unterhausen

I still get annoyed by people that don't drive with consideration for others, but I'm getting better.

GeoKrpan

I got hit on my scooter and was seriously injured and my scooter destroyed. It was really a drag. I got a free ride in a red truck with a flashing light on top and a siren with a morphine drip in my arm.

Think about that happening to you.

WPeabody 

Oh, don't I know it! I understand the OPs position very well. I used to be quite the rager, but I was a lot more stressed then. Even so, I drew the line before I got into an accident.
I've less energy to spend being angry nowadays, so a lot of it blows over. I'm only petulant if the other person did something that was downright dangerous. All I care about is dodging people and getting home in one piece...

SnowJob

I'm generally pretty mellow both on my bike and when driving a car (which doesn't happen very often).

ALTHOUGH...

Yesterday while riding with my gf some dude in a convertible passed me and yelled that I was an a-hole for riding in the road (I was taking the lane--it was a two lane street with a full parking lane on the right. I was riding in the center of the right lane).

So I get in the big ring and chase the car. Unfortunately for him traffic is moving at 25 or so and it's easy to catch up. I ride behind him and basically throw a tantrum for about 5 minutes, yelling "WHERE THE **** SHOULD I RIDE, *******!" <he points at the FULL parking lane and says:> "Have some common sense!" I yell back "THERE ARE ****ING CARS PARKED THERE!" and so on and so forth until he is able to get onto the on-ramp to I35 where I can't follow. As he is turning I pass him in my lane and make like I'm going to spit As soon as I did that I realized I needed to get a grip, so I pulled over and just took a moment to breathe.

I really embarrassed myself and left my gf behind at the library where we were originally headed.

bluegoatwoods

Rex might have been a bit blunt here. But he's right. If you want to stop raging, then you -and only you- have to do the stopping. I'm afraid it could take years. But it's worthwhile and you'll enjoy the small victories along the way.

I was suspicious, too, of your original post. To me it didn't seem like bragging. But I wondered if you weren't just writing something outrageous just to watch the spit hit the fan. But it seems that your post was sincere and that you do want to stop. In that case I say 'cool'. It's a good idea. Raging is not only unhelpful, it's actually wasteful. We really do have better things to do when we're out there on the roads.

I can remember, say, thirty years ago when I'd yell and shake my fist and stuff like that. But I (slowly) realized that I was better off paying attention to the others who were entering our mutual-sphere-of-influence. (As opposed to the idiot who did something stupid, but is now taking off like a bat out of hell.) Most of them aren't going to do anything rotten. But every single one of them needs to be watched. It's one of the reasons that driving is no longer any fun for me. Probably the biggest reason.

Of course, when you're on a bicycle you have a similar issue; you really, really need to watch them all very, very closely. But for some reason, it's less aggravating on a bike. I don't really have an explanation for that. But I'm glad for it.

Now on a scooter you are in a worst-of-both-worlds situation. You can not exit traffic and follow alternate routes like a bicycle can. You're stuck in traffic and you're a tempting target for bullies and for those jerks who don't pay enough attention. In this case you might actually have to be sort of raging. But you need to make it more of an act and try to repress it as a feeling. Try to have 'command presence', as they call it. When someone acts like they're going to try to take your place from you, then scowl and look 'em right in the eye. Maybe even point at them and say (or mouth) 'Don't do it!' This won't cover all situations you'll face, of course. But you'll figure out how to handle more and more situations and you'll feel good when you make these small victories.

Good luck out there.