Driving Is Bad For My Health

I used to love getting into my car and going for a drive. Lately, that hasn’t been the case as I find myself becoming more and more stressed behind the wheel.

Admittedly, I do have a bit of road rage but it’s never been more than just cursing at other drivers or pedestrians. OK…I usually don’t actually curse at them so they can hear me, it’s more to myself, but on the rarest of occasions I will let someone have it with both barrels.

I mean, they deserve it! Bad drivers and people who either don’t know the rules of the road or just refuse to follow them really irritate me. In fact, I would say that every time I travel some place, someone will do something stupid to make me want to force feed them a driver’s handbook.

Now I’m not suggesting that I’m a perfect driver and never do anything wrong but I know how to use my signal and I always drive at least the speed limit and turn into the proper lane.

The examples of how people annoy and frustrate me are endless. Some of the most common annoyances lately include:

- drivers treating stop signs as yields and blowing right through them.
- turning into the wrong lane at multilane intersections.
- Not using a turn signal or waiting until they’re starting to turn before activating it.
- Women drivers in general are the absolute worst in all areas. I’m sure some are OK but most I’ve seen have a lead foot and talk on cell phones.
- Riding the brake. One foot on the gas and the other on the brake so their brake lights are on constantly. How the hell do I know if you’re actually going to make a stop?
- driving 60 km/h in an 80 km/h zone. Just driving too damn slow all together.
- pulling out without looking for oncoming traffic.
- cars flying by you on the highway and then cutting in front to take the exit.
- using the high beam lights but refusing to put them down until you flash your lights. Some still don’t put them down.
- drivers who have high beams on during daylight hours.
- drivers who can't wait for one car to go by before pulling out but would rather cut you off and force you to slow down.
- the list goes on and on.

It’s not just people behind the wheel that stress me out. I don’t know why but lately I’ve noticed more and more people walking on roads and refusing to move over when I approach them in the car. They have the room but I guess they feel as though they are entitled to the road and I should go around them. Of course I do because I don’t want to hit them but they’re putting their lives at risk just to be stubborn. They don’t even move to single file but remain walking two or more side by side out into the road. Sometimes I’ll pull right up to them just to see if they will get over. It’s one thing if there’s no sidewalk or walking / biking lane for them to use but when they’re walking where they shouldn’t be, I just want to pull up behind them and blast the horn to give them a wake-up call.

Speaking of cyclists, when did the law change that states they must ride with traffic? Lately I’ve noticed more and more riders driving on the wrong side of the road heading into oncoming traffic. I’m pretty sure that’s still not allowed.

Oh the things I see every day that annoy me to no end. I don’t like to let it bother me but stupidity and ignorance are two things that really get under my skin and lately they’ve been stressing me out. Maybe I need to see my doctor to get some time off work. Of course I’d have to take a cab and keep my eyes closed the whole way.