Date: Fri 11-Dec-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

edink-road-rage-traffic

Full Text:

ED INK: Our Cheerless Highways

When the arteries of our transportation system fill up with holiday traffic,

the psychological pressure also builds to the point where some ordinarily

temperate people work themselves into a hypertensive fit on the roadways. For

some, getting into a car is like putting on a suit of armor to go out and do

battle.

The rules of civility that one routinely observes among people on foot --

pausing to let someone else go first, smiles and greetings even between

strangers, and stopping to help someone obviously in need -- are left in the

swirling December dust on the highways. In heavy traffic, the wave and the

smile have long since been replaced by the obscene centrodigital salute we saw

once again just this week after being cut off and nearly driven off the road

on I-84. And it seems no one is immune from this kind of treatment. Senior

citizens, who tend to be more scrupulous about observing traffic laws,

particularly speed limits, bear the brunt of much of this rude behavior.

Instead of getting the extra measure of respect and consideration they

deserve, they get less.

If we are at all serious about bringing joy to the world in this holiday

season, we should bring it to the journey itself and not just to the

destination. What good is it to arrive at grandmother's house laden with gifts

and good cheer if the path we have taken there is littered with people,

grandmothers included, we have trampled and insulted along the way.