I am here once again as a representative of all of the sane individuals out there who read Jaylyn Bergner’s article about finding honor in oneself if you are a person who frequently experiences road rage. I do not write to The Quad to quarrel about politics, weight loss, or faculty strikes. Nor do I choose to try and correct people who are expressing an opinion which has a valid defense.I am here to protect the rights and privileges of those who do not wish to infringe upon another’s rights. With my voice as my weapon, my power, if you will, I have to let Jaylyn know and understand that what she wrote about road rage is not only absurd, but also dangerous.
Those who act negatively toward busy traffic have a greater chance of harmful things happening to them. Bergner says that road rage has gotten a bad wrap.
Well, she’s wrong. It has no reputation, it is what it is: it is pathetic. There is no good road rage. It doesn’t relieve stress, and it does not help with communication skills. Her reasons are so foolish that she should be banned from The Quad for the rest of her career here at WCU.
Bergner then proceeds to question why cars go up to 150 mph. Cars go up to 150 mph because that’s what consumer’s want. Speed limits are put in place after the fact. Speed limits are there to keep people safe, not to give police officers jobs.
If we lived in Jaylyn’s world, road rage would force everyone to be aware of all of the situations you encounter on the road. Isn’t this thought the essence of driving? Every driver should maintain awareness on the road to keep themselves and others safe. No argument on my behalf would be concrete without evidence.
One example is that of which happened on I-95, a road which many of you travel had experienced road rage to the extreme. I will never forget what I saw on the news, and then later followed up by “20/20;” a man of the cloth, a minister, shot another man with a crossbow on the side of I-95 after the two had experienced road rage over a few miles.
I, myself, have experienced and learned from the uncalled-for events of road rage and what can happen during this breathtaking experience. There is nothing lucky, valuable or positive about the trait of road rage.
These adjectives are the one’s Jaylyn Bergner looked up in her thesaurus to try and promote this behavior. I am not saying to abandon your ways of driver talk such as, “Put the petal to the metal dude,” or perhaps, “Come on lady, grow some balls,” just think of the outcomes that may occur if you take road rage to far, because there are no positive ones.
Nicholas J. Hulik
WCU Student