This just in: According to “Everytown For Gun Safety,” as published in the December 17, 2021 edition of “The Week” magazine, “The number of fatal shootings and injuries resulting from road rage confrontations in the U.S. is expected to hit 500 this year—double the number of 2016’s casualties. Since 2016, the number of Americans who have concealed-carry permits has soared 48%, to 22 million.”
Hmm!? You know I’ve written before about what I have observed as a seemingly increasing number of angry people on America’s roads and highways. I don’t know if the Covid crisis has contributed to increasing angst, which is then manifested when people get behind the wheel of their cars. Cars are powerful instruments. They make deadly weapons. Especially when their operators carry guns that can make a statement of control and “don’t mess with me.” So, what we have here is literal double jeopardy…not one, but two deadly weapons.
And, as noted in my most recent blog, when all that is coupled with what is surely going to engender more frustration, impatience, and anger via the Biden administration’s new infrastructure bill, badly overdue but now sure to cause severe traffic delays, we’ve got a sure-fire formula for more “…fatal shootings and injuries resulting from road rage confrontations in the U. S…..”
The solution? We must be more proactive in our travel plans in an attempt to circumvent construction delays. For instance, last weekend, on my way eastbound to Asheville to spend the weekend with my daughters, I noticed about a twenty-mile parking lot of absolutely hundreds of cars not moving an inch in the westbound lanes of I40 as construction crews had all but one lane of four closed. Ugh! What to do on the way home two days later? Not being naturally tech-oriented, I sought the aid of my daughter, who also lives in Knoxville, and who found a rural route that bypassed all the impasse on our way home. It turned out to be a relaxed and beautiful drive, as well as one viewing scenery previously unseen. Slower perhaps, but not nearly as slow as we would have experienced if we had taken I40E back to Knoxville.
No road rage. No impatient crazy drivers. And no guns.
So, what if you are unfortunate enough to be confronted by an angry, gun-wielding driver through no fault of your own? Stay cool— what the Germans call “sangfroid”— that is, exercise a degree of equanimity that will enable you to finesse your way to safety. Control your emotions enough to record the license plate, if you can. Or worse still, what if you’re injured by an irate auto operator?
Give us a call. We’ll do all we can to calm your frazzled nerves. And get you the justice you deserve.
