The "news" that Aussie drivers are arrogant and cocky according to a recent survey is not news to me. I would echo the findings that we live in an uncouth world of tailgating, changing lanes without indicating and dodgy parking.
Yet if Sydney is in the fit of a road-rage epidemic, it's the honkers who drive me most bonkers.
Every day our highways and arterial routes are a hellish opera of toots and beeps.
No crime is too small to be beeped out in the court of car justice. Tailgating. Going too slow. Going too fast. Alleged texting and driving. Not being quick enough off the mark at traffic lights. Being a cyclist. Being a pedestrian. Being a human being. All are honked.
I would understand if the honkers had an important reason for honking, such as delivering a pregnant woman to hospital or being late for accepting the Nobel peace prize. Sadly, the reasons for this low-key bullying are always more pedestrian.
Honk if you're happy? It's enough to make you wonder whether the world in general has become an angrier place.
Contrary to the survey results, I don't find Millennials, Gen Y or P-platers the most annoying drivers on the road. Instead, I face gratuitous honking from two other market segments: men in luxury vehicles and women in 4WDs.
No mercy is shown during the 3pm Flight of the 4WDs as immaculately made-up mothers in activewear pick up children from private schools on Sydney's north where I live.
In the suburbs, it's the tradies who drive me mad with their incessant symphony, apparently conducted with an outstretched finger.
In country areas, they don't honk so much as tailgate you.
In most instances, I resist the urge to honk back. I keep calm. I keep my middle finger in its pocket holster. Most of all, I never get out of the car.
Yet there are some people who truly drive me to despair, such as the ones who can't offer so much as a "thank you" wave when you let them into your lane. Those people are the real monsters.
- Charles Purcell is a Sydney writer.
