We have all had the experience of being cut off in traffic, or not being let in when we need to change lanes. In fact, in California, it has become a common habit to start changing your lane and hitting your indicator at the same time. The reason for this is, if you put your indicator on too early, people will move up to fill the gap. That’s just being inconsiderate. All you have to do is listen to people when they’re talking, and Wear sure you will hear many of them say that they hate driving. Really, why is that? If you were to actually ask them, it would probably tell you it’s because of the traffic, and how inconsiderate other drivers are. Driving can be very stressful when you are always worried about other people. In fact, quite a few years ago it got into the news for people that were carrying guns in their cars and waving them at other cars in anger. This is not the way to live life.
It can ruin a whole day
You may get in your car in the morning in a wonderful mood, and within a few minutes from inconsiderate drivers, you can come crashing down and becoming negative inconsiderate drive yourself. It is driving always bad? No of course not! How many times have you taken a drive up the coast when there’s no traffic, and just enjoyed the coastline. It gives you time to think, and it’s almost like meditation. However, when you add traffic to that in the big city, it turns into hell. There is no bigger melting pot for negativity and ruining one’s day than freeway traffic. So just like in the real world, treat others as you would have them treat you. The more good intentions you can spread while you’re driving can make a difference. Letting somebody in, and giving them a little wave, can help make their day.
Ripples in a pond
You may not think that just being considerate while you drive makes a difference, but it does. Just like being mean and inconsiderate makes a difference too. It’s like ripples in a pond. Your one action transfers to others and then they transferred to others and on down the line. The more people we have the can transfer those positive ripples, it gives us a chance to change the negative ripples. Driving doesn’t have to be a terrible chore, so if you keeping your head to make sure you’re always considerate, and not let the other people get to you, you will stop their ripples and start some of your own positive ones.
Safety first
It may seem silly, and I’m sure you’ve heard it 100 times before, but safety first. When you’re in a good mood and are considered to other drivers, there is a far smaller chance of any accidents happening. If you get upset and mad, there is a much higher chance of you, or someone else, doing something that can cause an accident. So just think about that, your actions can be life or death. We don’t say that lightly, that something you really need to think about. Just the action of you being angry, and possibly tailgating, or cutting somebody off, can have real-world life or death results. If you are in a store, you wouldn’t randomly start throwing knives around, as that is inappropriate and you know somebody can get hurt. But when you’re driving, your car is a lot more dangerous than a knife, but most people don’t seem to have any thought or reservation to cutting people off or tailgating, or any other highly dangerous and inconsiderate thing. So you could logically say, that being a considerate driver can save lives, possibly even your own.
We could talk much longer on being considerate driver, but most of us have driven for many years, and really know how it works. Most of the time you just don’t pay attention to it. You know what you’re supposed to do and how you’re supposed to drive, but in those moments of negativity, you may throw all those bits of knowledge out the window. You don’t want to do anything stupid, so let’s go back to the basics, and drive exactly like you would teach your child to drive. Be considerate to others, and make the world a better place. Let’s see if we can start more of those positive ripples.
