My reaction to "older drivers"

Somehow I know that those of you who know me are already smirking from reading my title, before you even start to read this. Probably because you are not so different from me regarding this topic and likely can anticipate what you are going to read...and you're probably going to be right.

So I was given this assignment and instantly I knew what I was going to write about, the experience I had that very morning on the way to school. But first I would like to preface my story by saying that I do NOT have road rage. I am honestly not typically a rude or impatient driver. I have no issue with people who want or need to cut in in front of me for example or those who think they need to break the sound barrier and flush out the cops. Secretly I appreciate the latter.

Now that I've established that I'm not a mean driver, back to my story. So I'm on my way to school in rush hour traffic. I know how long it takes to get there and I anticipate heavy traffic as always so that is never a surprise. I resign myself to the crowds and typically just settle into the line of cars and basically just keep up. But what I discovered in my years of driving is that there is an unspoken rule when you are a driver in heavy traffic which is very simple - GO! That means find your place in the line and when you can move, go and keep up. Somehow I have such a hard time with people who don't do that.

I've never stopped to consider that some people, especially our older drivers actually need a longer following distance to compensate for their delayed reaction time, they know this and do what they need to, but in traffic, all it looks like to me is that someone does not want to "get with the program" like they missed the memo of the "GO" rule. So yes, I was the one in traffic on the way to school that was behind the older adult in a convertible (which in itself threw me off - yes another stereotype) and I was the one saying "oh, come on, GO!" Slow starts, big following distance, slow long rolling stops....UGH! I was sure it was someone texting or finding the perfect song on their ipod...that was until I finally passed him and saw a very older adult scrunched up behind the wheel. At that moment my slightly annoyed attitude instantly become my "oh, he's old, well then that's ok" attitude and I instantly forgave him for breaking the "GO" rule.

This is a strange sort of ageism that I practice. I give older people a pass on annoying me, as if they have earned the right to do that. As if a lifetime of worrying about other people's opinions and being polite has awarded them this pass, and is that a bad thing? We do that for little kids when we say "it's ok, they just didn't know any better". Well maybe for adults we can think "it's ok, they're done knowing better". (Or maybe they know so much better that we should follow their lead.) I kind of think that I would like people to do that for me when I am old too.

I hope this will be me one day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPlITw1YPj0