I was heading over to St. Johnís Lutheran School last Thursday to take a photo of the ìstudent of the weekî for the Bank of the West ad.

I stopped at the corner of West California and North Kingston. An RV was coming from the right, but I had plenty of time to turn left in front of him.

Or so I thought. He didnít think so. Iím assuming it was a guy because, well, it was a kind of guy thing that happened next.

He drove his mammoth vehicle up close to my bumper and honked his horn. It wasnít just a single honk, or even a double one. It was one continuous honk, and it lasted for three blocks, all the way until I turned right onto East Taft Street.

I glanced out my window to see who was driving. Maybe it was Darth Vader. I thought I would catch a wave of the good old flag, but he was already past me and hurtling angrily onward.

He had to be angry. Either that or his horn was stuck, or he was trying to impersonate a towboat.

Iím sure this gentleman has a different perspective on what happened. Heís probably still steaming about the idiot in the little red car that pulled in front of him on his very busy Thursday afternoon.

I donít think I did any bad driving, but maybe I did. Itís sometimes a relative issue. It still doesnít explain his anger. A simple honk would have sufficed to tell me his opinion of my driving. That would have translated into ìYou jerk.î His blast would not have translated into English that could be printed on this page.

Iím puzzled by road rage. I think thatís what this was. And it brought out an interesting reaction from me. When I realized that he was blaring his horn non-stop at me, I slowed down! I got angry. I thought, ìI didnít do anything wrong, you idiot. But Iíll show you now. Weíll just go nice and slow.î I didnít even pull over when the road widened in front of St. Johnís Church.

Anger begot anger.

Things could have gotten worse. A few what-ifs pop into my mind. In these days when your average Joe might be packing a .38, you never know. Luckily I had to turn when I did.

You may have a road rage story of your own. I recall watching a truck driver and car driver going at it on Highway 23 north of Askov, Minnesota, about 10 years ago. I was driving behind them, and I could see the truck driving waving his fist and trying to pass. The car driver, who I knew to be a hothead, wouldnít let him, he would speed up and slow down, that kind of thing.

The car driver finally turned off the highway, drove into town, and got out of his car to walk to the bank. I stopped across the street at a gas station. The trucker roared into town, stopped in the middle of the street, hopped out, ran over to the man, punched him in the face, then got back in his truck and drove off. It was a very strange and scary thing to witness. I donít know who started the altercation, but it should not have come to that.

So Iíll offer this in closing: control your temper, drivers. I donít think my advice will do any good.

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Caledonia Argus
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