The Road To Road Rage

Let's start with the fact that I had to think about the spelling of 'road'.


For the last few years my job didn't take me very far (quite literally, it was about a five minute walk). However, in July I started a new job with the added bonus of a daily commute. Admittedly it's a relatively small commute of about twenty minutes, nonetheless it still involves cars and traffic.
Driving to work everyday was the first time I was regularly enraged by other road users. I'm assuming this is because I drive to work with a time limit, whereas in most of my other journeys I wasn't rushed at all. Suddenly almost every driver, in my eyes, was making dangerous and unnecessary mistakes. Inevitably, this invites an array of obscenities on a daily!


Speed


If a driver is speeding in front of me, I couldn't care less. If someone wants to drive irresponsibly away from my car it really doesn't bother me. Conversely, I become infuriated when a driver is two metres behind my car when I'm driving at a safe, comfortable speed (most likely the speed limit). In fact, I find I find it so distracting I'll usually pull over and let the vehicle pass. I was caught by a mobile speed camera driving 37Mph in a 30Mph limit. I attended a Speed Awareness Course, which was surprisingly informative and enjoyable, and since then I speed much less often.


Cyclists


The law needs to decide whether bicycles are road-worthy vehicles or not. Swerving in and out of traffic, on and off the pavement with useless lights is not acceptable. As much as I want to love cyclists for their commitment to the environment and what-not, I can't help but hate them. Cyclists with cycling gear, effective lights and knowledge of the highway code are hard to come by (a red light means stop, folks). Don't get me started on parents who cycle with children in a seat on the bike, or worse parents who cycle in tandem with children. It's incredibly dangerous.


Indication


If you are turning left, indicate left. If you are turning right, indicate right. I have no idea why some drivers find this so difficult to understand.


Elderly Drivers


I don't want to generalise, so let's be clear that most older drivers use the road safely. However, there's no denying that one's sight, hearing, and reactions all become less effective with time. According to the Insurance Insurance Highway Safety, a senior citizen is more likely than a younger driver to be at fault in an accident in which they are involved. Obviously they don't want to hear it, but we all know it's true.


In all honesty, I could write this list forever. I know I'm not the only driver who feels this way; it's no wonder I choose to drive at night for a more pleasant journey.

Twitter Or Facebook?

Where do I begin? 

I'll start with Facebook - after all it's the most popular of the two. Everybody signed up, and why? Because everybody else was doing it. I stopped using Facebook about six weeks ago now (something I never thought I could do) and life is much more enjoyable. 

    Sure, it's great to be updated with videos of your cousin's first steps, but most users forget who they're sharing with. Remember your friend's colleague you met that one time? Her grandmother's "cat has just shat on the carpet." Don't get me wrong, I love sharing continuous useless information about my life - but that's why I have a Twitter account. Those who don't want to know can easily click "unfollow" and nobody gets judged. The problem with Facebook, however, is that removing somebody as a friend isn't generally acceptable. In fact it's damn right offensive! After four years of heavy usage I found myself at a brick wall. The same people I dislike posting statuses about the old woman on the bus every Tuesday, the same Mafia Wars invitations eight times a week, the same five people talking about Eastenders.  Thanks for everything Mark, but I think I'm done.

I made the switch to Twitter for one main reason: change. 

Change is great, and it's one of Twitter's long list of talents. My Twitter timeline is infinitely more fluid than my Facebook timeline once was. People, places, articles, photos and everything else fly past and for twenty minutes on my lunch break I'm completely indulged. Twitter's content lives in the present; if you blink, it's gone. I follow users because he or she posts interesting articles, anecdotes, great photos or simply because I enjoy reading about their cat's toilet habits. The point is, I have complete freedom in what I see and it never gets boring.

This article is one I remember reading a year or two ago when I signed up to Twitter, and we all see the same happening everyday. The article is about how Twitter was the first to break the news of the Hudson River plane crash in 2009. A passenger tweeted a photo of the plane right from the river within minutes - who'd want to wait a half hour for CNN coverage?

 I find myself consuming so much new content without even realising. When a friend asks "Where did you hear that?", my answer is almost definitely "Erm...I read it on Twitter." I rarely read a newspaper or watch the nightly BBC News any more as the news is old news. A reporter will report a story as soon as enough information has been gathered but it's already too late. No doubt tweets from the front line will have appeared before Trevor McDonald can say "Breaking News".

Try Something New

Well this is my first post. Welcome. As everyone is aware, the internet is full of fantastic free services; I do my best to register with a new one as often as possible. One of my new favourites is If This Then That, but we'll talk about that later.