I’m fortunate to have a 5-7 minute commute to work. When I think of all the people who have to sit in traffic daily for 30, 60, 90 minutes or more I really feel lucky. If the nearest light to my house decides not to cooperate, both ways, my daily commute both to and from work doesn’t add up to 15 minutes.

But then there is one other thing that can add to my commute time… stupid people. The light closest to my house doesn’t have a left turn lane. I hate when people wait until the light turns green to decide to put their indicator on. It irks me, and a profanity or two may or may not exit my mouth. I could have gone around them. I could have made the light.

Yesterday, on my commute home, I was turning left out of my school’s driveway. From the side street opposite our school someone was turning right, going the same direction as me. Although I was first to go, the person pushed out, and I let them go ahead of me. This person then chose not to move into the left turn lane, the direction they were going, and instead stayed in the lane going straight until it was way too late, and then they could not move fully into that lane, blocking me… long enough that I had to miss the green light.

Then at my not-so-favourite intersection, near my house and with no left turn lane, there were two cars turning left, and one more car in front of me. The two cars turning left were held up by oncoming traffic and the car in front of me was in the middle of the road, despite there being room to get around these two cars.

He didn’t have an indicator on so I didn’t know he was actually going right, and could easily have gotten around the left turners. One car got to turn left and we all moved forward. Now the car in front of me put his indicator on and moved over slightly to the right. But he didn’t move fully into the right lane. No, instead he stayed behind the left turning car, with about a foot and a half of the left side of his car behind the car in front… and 6 feet of available space to go around that car on the right. Both cars made it through the yellow light leaving me there wondering if the driver in front of me bribed someone to get his driver’s licence, and maybe saying a profanity or two.

While I would call the actions of these drivers stupid, I guess I’m just as stupid. Because I’m the one sitting in my car, windows rolled up, yelling profanities at people who can’t hear me. I’m angry because my ridiculously short commute had about 4 minutes of wait time added to it. I’m the one getting home angry and ranting to my wife, and later my friends, about this ‘hardship’ I had to go through. The other drivers are going about their day, so I really question who the stupid person is?

Ask any of my friends or family, I’m a patient person. I’m calm, I don’t get overexcited, I can settle into a stressful situation and be the voice of reason. So why do I let road rage get the better of me? What is it that pushes my buttons like this?

I feel like the guy in the elevator after Will Ferrell, in the role of Elf, pushes every button on the elevator and says excitedly that it looks like a Christmas tree, and now the elevator is going to stop on every floor.

I don’t know what kind of days the people I was mad at were having? Maybe the one turning left was following their maps app, and after turning onto the main street, it didn’t tell them in time that the next turn was a left. The guy in front of me, behind the lefter turners and going right, could have been a new driver, a senior, or maybe unfamiliar with the car he was driving.

And maybe the jerk driving my car didn’t need to be such a jerk about waiting an extra couple minutes at each light. 4 minutes of my day shouldn’t have caused my rage. This is a good life lesson, unfortunately I’m not sure I’m ready to learn it.