On Road Rage and the Grocery Store

I’m getting used to Denver traffic.   I’ve accepted the slow downs and the bumper-to-bumper traffic I’ve been experiencing since I started commuting to work.

It’s life.  No big deal.

I try to be a cool guy on the road and I try to be patient.   For the most part, I’ve found drivers are pretty darn polite too….for the most part.  So far I haven’t been cut-off or flipped off….yet.

Here’s a case I reported on where such a common moment turned violent.   The woman in my story received 40 stitches to the face after a road rage incident right in front of her home in Commerce City.

While there’s a big difference in how people react to each other on the road, there’s something to be said about reactions in tighter, closer spaces.

The grocery store is a good example.  We’re all pushing around shopping carts, turning corners, and trying to navigate a four-wheeled basket through narrow aisles.    We’ve had moments of getting in someone’s way in the soup aisle or getting stuck behind the slow-goer in the cereal section.

I love how people are far more polite behind the wheel, so to speak, of a shopping cart.  Personal space is reduced, and we are forced to be polite and nice.  You can’t flip-off a dude in the freezer section and speed off.    A fight could happen in aisle 6.

On the freeway, we are separated by several meters and are in our own little worlds made up of fiber glass paneled vehicles.    We can speed away quickly without a care to the stranger who drives slow in the fast lane.

As a reporter, I’ve covered several cases of road rage turning violent.  In the end, its always about personal pride getting in the way.   As I said on the news set today, it’s always best to let things go.  Be a good driver like a good shopper and just smile.  You’ll get there.