Driving aggression is all the rage
Virtually every day, local law-enforcement logs include complaints about people's driving - and hostilities that erupt from inside of vehicles on our roadways.
We've all seen it: Angry honks if someone drives too close to someone else's perceived space. Drivers who swerve toward other vehicles to exaggerate how close a call they thought an encounter was. Utter frustration with other drivers who are too busy talking on their cell phones to pay attention to their driving. And those gestures that our parents taught us polite people don't use.
Recently, a woman went to the hospital after another woman bit her in a road-rage incident. It wasn't a bite that merely left a tooth impression either. It was an attack that ripped a large chunk of flesh from the victim's forearm.
What's particularly worrisome is that the reports of road rage haven't abated much this fall - the season in which tourists usually clear out and the pace of the Flathead slows. This is normally the peaceful period between the rush of summer and the activity of the holidays.
It is, in other words, mostly local residents on local roads at this time of year. So we can't blame our bad behavior on crazy tourists or unruly visitors now.
In reality, we shouldn't be quick to condemn out-of-state drivers, anyway. While they might hesitate at which direction to go at an intersection they're not familiar with, many come here with the skills of navigating bustling freeways and experience in waiting out traffic jams - situations we don't encounter in the Flathead, no matter how much we complain about delays at traffic lights.
It is mostly our own faults that we need to consider. Maybe we shouldn't glare at each other with so much venom when we get behind the wheel of a car. If someone is driving too slowly to suit us, maybe we should be patient instead of tail-gating. And maybe if we didn't curse so much at the driving of others, we would be setting a better example for our children - who will be drivers themselves soon enough.
It's ironic that many of us live here because we prefer rural living to the congestion of the cities. We like our more relaxed lifestyle. But yet when we are taking that five-minute drive to the fitness center or that half-hour drive to the trailhead, we get tense and edgy at the first sign of a real or imagined traffic transgression.
None of which means we have to tolerate reckless or dangerous driving either. But if you have to use a cell phone while driving, maybe you should use it to call the police and make your report. Better yet: Pull over and make your call from the side of the road.
Law-enforcement officers will follow up on reports of drivers who appear to be intoxicated or are imperiling others. A license-plate number, a description of the car, and its location is the information police need. They also ask witnesses to sign a complaint about the offending driver.
If you see driving that's bad enough that you are willing to sign your name on a complaint, go for it. But if it's not that bad, we should take a breath of autumn air, move along at our own comfortable pace, and get to our destinations at peace with ourselves.