Angry aggressive drivers for no reason cause more anxiety!!

[Jessie1995]

I have driving anxiety but realised one of the main things that triggers my anxiety when driving is angry agreesive drivers.. anyone else feel this way??
I feel like in the last year or 2 everyone has got a lot angrier on the roads and more impatient!!
last few days I’ve had ( mainly men in vans 🙈) tailgate, sound their horn, swear etc at me for no actual reason!

these are some of the reasons for this week:
I was driving 30mph in a 30mph zone and he didn’t like it but instead of simply overtaking just tailgated and shouted at me instead!

I was turning right where you have a little box to go into with the arrow and there wasn’t any room for me to fit in the box so I waited behind the cross line incase the lights changed to red! Man behind did not like that and wanted me to go forward not sure where too & where he thought he was going too!?

And today there was a car reversing out of a space onto the road I was travelling on. They were 1/4 of the way out when I approached them so I stopped and let them out the space and also let a man cross infront of me whilst I was waiting as he was waiting to cross! But then I get tooted at from the person behind me??

Anybody else have situations like this? I’m finding it hard to just ignore when it’s a daily occurance over nothing!? Fair enough if I cut someone up accidentally I’d maybe expect something but those 3 examples from my week I’m not sure justify me being tailgated sworn at or tooted at!

had to rant as it’s really not helping my anxiety at the minute 🙈🙈🥲

‘ It’s not just van drivers. I get major anxiety from old people going through red lights!’

You do realise you’re not doing the image of van drivers any favours there?!

So? If everyone’s speedometer is showing the speed limit, even if they aren’t actually covering the ground at that speed What does it matter? It’s not a race or a reason to be impatient with another driver.

Some drivers need to understand that a speed limit is a limit…not a target.

just because you can go up to 70, doesn’t mean you should. You adjust your speed to the conditions around you, including heavy traffic.

It’s completely reasonable to drive at the speed limit as shown on your speedometer. If some other twat on the road thinks everyone should be driving a few MPH over to account for the speedometer being under, well that’s their problem.

It's intimidation. They want you to feel less superior to them because they deserve your full road respect, they listen to gangsta rap music and watch incel videos about how modern women, like the ones in small cars, are trying to make them feel emasculated and it must stop you know. And because legally they can't actually stop an inferior woman in an inferior car driving on public roads (stupid laws) they must try and make her so nervous of driving to get her off the road. They should just go live in Saudi Arabia they would be happier there.

Happy men, and women, don't act like dicks if something holds up their day by seconds.

I am just thankful I, neither is my H or our children, are so unsure and unhappy in ourselves we have to try and intimidate others to make ourselves feel better.

They are already losing at life OP.

Try and not let it bother you.

Twice on my drive home last weekend I had men in SUVs tailgating me when I was overtaking someone at the speed limit. The second then overtook me and sped off doing 80 on a single carriageway, overtaking others in front really dangerously. It happens all the time. I have a small car and I just stick to the speed limit. There's no excuse for it, they are just arseholes. I'm glad when they've overtaken - better in front of me than behind - but I also think they must be pathetic, inadequate individuals if they behave like that.

I've done the advanced driving course and learnt it wasn't my driving that was the problem. It was indeed the other bad, agreessive drivers at fauly. I do get more aggro as I drive a smaller, slow car but I try not to care. A Dashcam helps too.

I'm learning to drive and in my fifth lesson was doing 20 in a 20mph zone near a school. A lovely man in a land rover deduced to drive practically on my rear bumper along this road, then when I pulled over about halfway along to let him past, he sped straight past me, sounding his horn all the way.

I was in a very clearly signed Learner Driver car, doing the speed limit, near a school, and that still wasn't enough to get this guy to stop being such an arrogant entitled arsehole.

As long as they are in the leftmost possible lane and not holding up others by lane hogging it’s not a problem.

So someone on single carriageway driving at the speed limit on their speedometer is a problem for you?

it is absolutely unreasonable to complain about people driving “below the speed limit” when they are driving at the speed limit by their speedometer. There is no reason to complain about this unless you are an aggressive twat of a driver. Your speedometer should also be showing the speed limit. I have driven 500 odd miles this week with no impatience for drivers going at the speed limit by the speedometer, why would I?

I was doing 60 in the inside lane yesterday as the conditions were awful with very poor visibility. I ended up with a Land Rover up my arse because he wanted me to go quicker/get out of the way. Once he managed to overtake me he then undertook dozens of cars at full speed. There’s no dealing with these people.

I drive the speed I want (below legal limits) and if people think I am going too slow then tough shit. They can overtake. I never get intimidated even when someone is obviously trying to be a bully.

What kind of car do you drive? I have a tiny Seat Mii that looks like an old lady car. People drive aggressively when I'm in it. I get tailgated and overtaken all the time. I also drive my DH's Tesla model 3 a lot. I never get tailgated or overtaken despite driving both cars the same way.

I think people are generally stressed and fed up and as a society we’re becoming more selfish and quick to react in general. I then think it’s amplified on the road as people are self-contained in their vehicles so are less concerned about the consequences of their poor behaviour as they feel untouchable. It’s not pleasant and not acceptable but it feels like a lot of people are very unhappy and a boiling point at the moment.

I would pull over and let them pass. I know it's wrong but I'd rather be behind and idiot than in front of one.

If he could undertake them then they were in the wrong lane ( aka lane hogging)

Not what we were talking about, but it depends.

I'm a van driver and I am often on the receiving end of aggression. The speed limits are different for large vans and just yesterday I was tailgated, pipped at and erratically overtaken by a woman in a Chelsea tractor who wasn't happy with me doing 50 in a 60 zone. I don't agree with the limit being lesser for vans as I think it causes problems with the flow of traffic on single carriageways but i don't make the laws. I don't think it matters what you drive, if you drive regularly, you regularly encounter idiots. 😩

You need to address that, it can’t improve the safety of your driving to be finding that frustrating. I do a lot of driving, someone driving at the speed limit according to their speedometer doesn’t even register as something to get annoyed about.

I tend to drive at night so that I encounter as few other people as possible.

(I’ve an advanced driver licence and a race licence. There is nothing wrong with my driving. Never had an accident, never had as much as a parking ticket in nearly 30 years of driving. But thanks.)