An Open Letter to Aggressive Drivers Everywhere

Stop doing what you‘re doing

Dear Aggressive Drivers,

I would ask where you’re going when you speed past me pushing 90 on the highway, but I don’t care about your destination as much as the approach you are taking to get there. It becomes an issue for me when you’re riding my bumper on the highway (I can only go as fast as the car ahead of me) or when I have to be on even higher alert than usual because you and your high-speed brethren are dangerously weaving in and out of traffic to ultimately gain a just few cars lengths’ distance ahead of the rest of us law abiding peons.

Why is it that we have to anticipate the movements of other drivers on top of everything else that driving inherently involves? A few of the near misses that I’ve witnessed would have ended catastrophically if the other person wasn’t driving defensively. I myself was recently almost run out of my lane by an eighteen-wheeler but for the fact that I was paying attention. Seriously, what are solid lines for if not to cross over when convenient for you? Getting to my destination safely, i.e., alive, and preferably without damage to myself or my vehicle are my main objectives when driving; however, these goals do not seem to align with your insistence on moving not only into my lane, but into in the very space that I’m already occupying.

Tell me, what happens if the driver you’re attempting to pace picks up speed at the exact moment you try to slide ahead of them? Or the car in front of the slower driver brakes just as you pull in behind them? There are so many risks of aggressive driving and ultimately, none of them are worth it. No one wants an accident on their car insurance record, whether they are at fault or not. And no one wants to be the cause of another person being injured or worse

I get it, you don't want to miss your turn or exit. Or maybe the very idea of driving the posted speed limit greatly offends you. I can't say that slower drivers don't annoy me. They do. Put me on a one lane road behind a Sunday driver and I die a little inside. But I tough through it because again, safety is the priority.

How do you justify your mindset of the rules not applying to you? It astounds me to see you being so casually dismissive of the law as though this is your right to change lanes in a tunnel. Or to race up the shoulder long before it becomes a turn lane. Are you rich? Because the reckless manner in which you operate your vehicle would infer that you have money to pay out in the event that you cause an accident.

Might I also add that you do not fit into just one particular mold. Oh no, for teens, adults, and older folk alike, aggressive driving is an equal opportunity exercise. Avoidable, I would imagine, by allowing yourself more travel time, or just generally not being an impatient menace to the other drivers around you.

Seriously, do better.

Best regards,

Everyone fed up with your dangerous antics.