Yeah, we’re angry
When I read the headline of the article “How Angry Is Your City?” on MSN.com, I thought to myself, well, pretty angry. We’re probably on that list. Sure enough, we’re number 44 in the nation, based on some interesting factors, including high blood pressure, aggravated assault, and road rage.
The road rage factor definitely applies here in town. Every morning when some (or more than some) crazy drivers cut me off or fail to use their blinkers or…drive under cell phone influence (I.e. crazy), I feel the burst of what could be called mini-road-rage. Then my rational mind takes over.
But it was also striking to note that we’re the second California city on the list–not too far behind L.A. We’re definitely moving up in the world, aren’t we? At least we can say we’re less angry than Wichita, Kansas…wait a minute, Wichita is angrier than Sacramento? How demoralizing. They must be using funny data that they don’t mention–like number of barbeque chains or something. We’re still pretty impressive on the list. We were even angrier than New York City. But then again, it all depends on how you look at it.
I get rage-y at times, but mostly on 80 where Sacramentans can’t seem to stay off my *ss. Seriously, do they give classes in tailgaiting up here or what? All parts of the world have their own driving culture - perhaps I’m just partial to the foibles of LA drivers who’s quirks seem so much closer to home. But there is nothing less safe than the road practices of people between here and, say, Vacaville who, eager to get, like, somewhere, just can’t factor in heavy volume and prefer to leave around an eighth of a car length per 20mph of speed. Argh! Back OFF!
Since I have also lived and driven in LA, I can say that I think the driving culture is much more polite there. I mean, I have never had a problem “dove-tailing” until I started driving in Sac! Folks still drive like we’re in the country or something–