This time you might be wrong Ms. Acres.

So apparently a blogger called Ryan Holiday documented and justified his road rage, and Ms. Acres called him a self centered brat. I think in this particular case she might be right, but she does not see the whole picture.

I drive really fast. I run red lights. I'm a stupid youth that thinks I'm invincible. This is where I attempt to justify it.

First of all I speed for sport. I speed all the time, and I tend not to speed more when I am in a rush. My driving style is largely mood based and really has little to do with how late I am running.

I think this makes me safer than the "I'm in a hurry let me hit the gas" type in that I take the same level of calculated risks in a given situation. I don't push it.

Now here is my take on someone driving slow in the left lane being socially irresponsible. No in reality its not worse than murder, pedophilia, killing Jews, or whatever. However, let me tell you a few of my driving stories.

My First Accident

My first accident happened a few days after I got my license. I was waiting to go through the toll booth of the Tapanzee bridge. I noticed a few miles before that I did not have my wallet in my pocket and thought I might have left it at a rest stop. I was searching in a panic for it on line for the toll booth and accidentally let my for off the brake and scratched the bumper of a brand new Camry. The driver insisted on going through insurance even though the trooper even said it was a bad idea and since it was less than $500 dollars worth of damage and he was not under an obligation to file a damage report if both parties agreed. She wanted to go through insurance.

Naturally I felt guilty damaging another drivers car, but honestly I felt a lot more guilty about jamming up traffic in that tool lane for 5 minutes.

Learning Stick Shift

I always wanted to learn stick shift. So I bought a brand new Corolla that I planned to burn the clutch of in my companies parking lot on a Saturday. A kind friend offered to teach me to minimize damage. So I drove around a park until he said give it a go on real roads. I got nervous in my first intersection and delayed alot of people in cars behind me. During this time I felt it was quite selfish for me to want to learn stick shift. I drove around some more and now I am good enough not to burden the other drivers on the road.

Jersey City Bus Stops

Across the Hudson river from Manhattan is a place called Jersey City. Image the Bronx if it were a New Jersey Municipality. This is Jersey City. They even have their own subway system to Manhattan called the PATH Train.

I've been unfortunate enough to have to spend significant time in Jersey City. If it wasn't for my sworn duty as a New Yorker to have nothing but bad things to say about the Garden State, I would say a few good things about it. However this story is about something that pisses me off greatly.

In NYC people don't park in bus stops. We double park and occasionally block hydrants, but would never park in a bus stop. This is mainly because you will get towed. However, as a huge proponent of public transportation, I consider such an act morally reprehensible.

In Jersey City this is just not the case. Running into the pizza shop at 8pm? Just park in the bus stop no one cares. Granted there is a huge parking problem in Jersey City, and while you can rent a spot in someones driveway or empty lot, unless you are downtown or by the waterfront, there are no lots to buy a parking space for a day from.

This is why I came to the conclusion a while back that if I am ever was a mayor or local legislator, I would decree that whoever was found parking in a bus stop would have to spend the night in jail. This is how reprehensible I feel about the crime. Its not even a self centered thing. When I ride the bus, having to step twelve feet into the street does not inconvenience me. When I drive, I really don't mind getting stuck behind a bus as I am a big fan of taking buses. However, parking in a bus lane just shows a lack of caring for society at large in my opinion.

Conclusion

This Ryan is angry and aggressive and needs to grow up. He either exaggerates when he describes the anger of being behind a slow driver, or Ms. Acres is absolutely correct in her assertions that he is completely self centered. However, maybe, just maybe he has a similar thought practice as mine, and just wrote that post while still angry. Maybe he is absolutely guilt stricken, when others suffer for his actions. Then again I didn't read any other articles in his blog, so I am not in a position to back up these theories.