Yestarday my co-worker, a Russian girl, too, was giving me a ride from work. Unlike me, she drives fast, and was in the left lane at about 80 MPH. We saw a green car behind as, which was clearly shpwing that we have to give it a way to go. My friend said:
-I won't let that jerk go!
And she slowed down. The guy in the car behind as could easily go in front in another lane, but he did not want to do so, instead he was trying to make my friend to change the lane. She slowed down more. The stupid guy finally went ahead of us using another lane, and when the cars were side to side, he showed his stupid middle finger, and then, got in front of our car, and suddenly slowed down, probably wishing some accident to happen.
It is increadible how mad my friend got! She just fired up, and, using all Russian swears (and Russian sweara are extremely colorful) began to chase the guy... OMG.
My reaction, though, was different and, I would say, totally normal.
On the highway, I usually drive slower, since my car is too beautiful to break (it is Lincoln Continental). If someone is acting stupid, I just let this person go. That might be an amargency or simply a self-expression of some stupid jerk, I do not care - I just do not want problems. Finaly, every person can have an emergency forcing him/her to drive so fast, and stupid jerks usually end up where they are supposed to: in the cemetery. I only feel bad for the people involved in accidents caused by them.
So, even when I realized that the guy who got in front of us was a stupid jerk rather than a person having an emergency somewhere, I began to try to convince my friend to stop chasing him and report to the police instead. She stopped chasing, but we could not call the police, since he was too far to see the car number.
Anyways, I find my reaction very reasonable and _totaly_ normal for the situation. Unlike my friend's one, who was still mad even today. And this is me who is supposed to be getting mad and lose the control, not her! :biggrin:
Holy, things are going upsidedown.

Good stuff Linda. Extremely dangerous, road rage. Glad you have more sense than your friend. And why not? PTSD need not be synonymous with acting improperly.

Jim.

Linda,

Glad you didn't feel the 'need for speed' here and that you could convince your friend to slow down.

Agreeing with Jim about PTSD (or any other condition) not being used as an excuse to act up. Too many times in my life I've heard people say something along the lines of 'Well, I have (fill in the blank)...so the rules don't really apply to me.' Yeah...uh-huh, you let me know how that goes!

Marlene, one of my greates concerns is not to be manipulative and not to use any issue I have as an excuse. If I act up, or get into argument, or get mad - I always apologise and try to recognise that I am the one who was wrong.