[Hendog]

I caused a road rage incident the other day: We have a gesture to tell someone off, but we need a gesture to say “I’m sorry” or “my bad” or some such thing. This would help diffuse many road rage incidents I think.

It all started when I turned west onto Marine way, while the oncoming car also turned west onto Marine way. That’s easy enough to do, since we each signaled our intentions and had our respective lanes to turn into. Nonetheless it happened in a rather aggressive fashion I thought, from his part, since we both knew we were now headed into a merge to access the bridge. I didn’t allow him to merge in front of me but rather accelerated to keep him from achieving what he was desperately trying to do. Yes, I did it on purpose and I accept that responsibility. He was a cab driver and I figured I just wasn’t going to let his aggressive (my opinion on that) turn take precedence. Had I just driven regularly, he would have easily made it in front of me and crossed the bridge without any inconvenience to me. I did it. I was being a p***k.

So this caused him to get “raged”. He pulled up on my a$$, went around me and hit his brakes and was gesturing etc. BTW, I was driving my 4 door Accord (not the 911). I really wasn’t feeling to good about what I just caused and didn’t like seeing this guy all worked up like that. I was truly sorry to have caused this guy such angst. I wish there was a way to make him understand that. He rolled down his window to yell at me etc. So I pulled over to the side of the road ahead of him and let him come to my window. I gauged his body language and kept inside my vehicle so as to show no aggression on my part. He told me how I should have let him in etc. I said to him: “You know what buddy? I’m sorry.” Which immediately diffused this guy “That’s all I needed” he said. I extended my hand and he shook it and off we went.

Talking to others afterwards, we all had stories about being at fault, whether deliberate or not, and not being able to communicate our regret effectively. You try to make a gesture to show you’re sorry but nothing conveys it effectively the same way the “bird” conveys displeasure. It would go a long way to reducing some road rage incidents. I know, I know, so would driving responsibly. A wave seems too much like indifference; the peace sign seems too much like the offended party needs to chill but no acceptance of responsibility of the offender. I wish there was a universal gesture to convey “sorry, my bad”.