Crazy Texas Drivers

Posted in , , , By Nick Smith 1 comments

Texas drivers are crazy.  I’m not exaggerating; it’s a fact.  I have been to 42 states and the drivers in Texas are, without a doubt, the worst.  When I first moved to Texas a year ago, I thought that turn signals were the only problem.  I honestly don’t think they know what the turn signals’ purpose is, because they change lanes like children on a playground, with virtually no warning as to which way they’ll go next.
 
But then I learned that turn signals were only the beginning.  Texas drivers battle in traffic as if it is an Olympic sport and a single car length may be all that separates them from the Gold.  There will be a line of cars in the passing lane steadily moving along, and then one car will jet over to the right lane, slam on the accelerator until he is riding the bumper of the next car in front of him, and then bully his way back into the passing lane (without signaling).  I’ve even see people get frustrated because they weren’t able to bully their way back to the passing lane, so they took to the shoulder instead.
 
It.  Is.  Frustrating.
 
I’ve found myself getting pulled into this culture in a way I don’t like.  Don’t worry, I still use signals and I’m not driving on the shoulder.  But I’ve started to take some perverse pleasure in foiling the plans of the impatient idiots.  I’ll see one of them in the mirror doing about 90 in the right lane, so I’ll close the gap with the car in front of me.  With nowhere else to go, their only choices are to wait and merge in behind me or be an even bigger tool than they’ve already been and drive on the shoulder.  And if one of these speed demons does merge behind me, I’ll sometimes purposefully linger a bit when passing the next car.
 
Alright, alright!  Stop judging me!  I know this is wrong and I’m confessing!
 
It hit me the other day that I’m trying to fight fire with fire.  If people who are angry meet other people who are angry, it just adds fuel to their frustration.  (Insert Proverbs 15:1, “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”)  If everyone in Texas starting acting the way I have, the driving culture would only get worse.  To change this negative culture, it is going to take an even larger culture of patient people who are unwilling to be sucked into the madness.
 
The Christian faith is like traffic in that way.  We’re being swept along in this current of cars called the American culture and it is changing us.  We have our driver’s manual (the Bible) and we know how we ought to drive, but the overwhelming culture surrounds us and the manual is just a little book tucked away in the glove box.  The flow adjusts and we feel we have no choice but to adjust right along with it.  But maybe, just maybe, if we calm down, remember what the manual says and act on it, a few of the cars around us might see that our way is a better way to drive.
 
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” – Proverbs 4:23
 
Lastly, please enjoy this video.  The perverse pleasure side of me thinks this SUV is a hero.