Driving Maniacs

My son and I were standing with our bike/trailabike combo at Beacon and Herrick Road on a beautiful Sunday morning, waiting to cross, when a green SUV turning right from Centre cut off a white SUV coming down Beacon. The white SUV honked, loudly, for a full 15 seconds, while both the driver and passenger waved their arms in anger and consternation. The green SUV turned onto Herrick Road and slowed to a stop. The white SUV pulled up behind. We heard a door open... .

Yo, people, relax! It's a lovely Sunday morning, nobody's hurt, there's no real threat of an accident: both SUV's were going under 25 mph.

Worst case scenario? Fender-bender, totally taken care of by insurance.

I just don't get why people get so worked up about nothing. Look, why drop 40 grand for an SUV if you're just going to have a hissy-fit about almost getting a scratch?

Me, I'm on a bike. I'm vulnerable. I've got my son trailing behind me. When a car cuts me off, I have a right to anger. I really don't want to think too much about the worst-case scenario; I just work diligently on avoiding it. (Note that we were off our bikes waiting to cross Beacon.) But it's a funny thing: the small stuff just doesn't get to me. I'm not worried about scratching the paint on my bike.

Oh, and thankfully, this little bit of Newton road-rage didn't go any further, as far as I know. Both SUV's drove away after a blessedly brief interchange of hostilities.

But I can't help thinking that if they'd just get out of their SUV's a little more often and walked or biked, they'd be a little more civilized. Or at least they'd be separated from their horns.