Your Other Personality: Who Are You Behind the Wheel?
In every community, there are people who shine with kindness. Neighbors help one another without hesitation—offering to carry groceries, babysit kids, or lend a tool. These are the folks who would stop to give you a hand when your car breaks down or check on you just to see how you're doing. It’s the kind of kindness that makes a community feel like home.
But the moment these same kind-hearted people get behind the wheel of a vehicle, it’s like a switch flips. Gone is the thoughtfulness, and in its place comes impatience, pettiness, and downright recklessness. The compassion we show to one another on the sidewalk evaporates on the road, leaving behind chaos, frustration, and danger.
There’s a troubling pattern in drivers who choose to cruise slowly side-by-side with another car, effectively blocking anyone from passing. This behavior isn’t just an accident—it’s intentional. It’s a petty game that turns roads into battlegrounds, designed to inconvenience others simply because they can. Then, as if flipping another switch, they speed off in a fury the moment they get bored of their little blockade.
What drives someone to act this way? Simple: control. These drivers likely feel powerless or unseen in other areas of life, and they use their vehicle as a way to assert dominance over others. It’s an immature, petty way to compensate for the emptiness they feel, and it creates frustration and stress for everyone else on the road.
The Truckers Who Should Know Better
Professional drivers, especially truckers, should be setting the standard for courteous driving. But too often, they join in this toxic behavior, slowing down alongside one another and blocking entire lanes, leaving other drivers trapped. This isn’t just inconvenient—it’s dangerous. They turn roads into pressure cookers, forcing people into reckless decisions out of pure frustration.
The Cost of Petty Driving
Let’s be honest—blocking traffic, driving recklessly, or playing these petty games on the road isn't a harmless habit. It’s a reflection of deeper insecurity, an attempt to feel powerful by making someone else feel helpless. But here’s the truth: these actions only reveal how small and unfulfilled a person truly is.
Driving isn’t a competition or a battlefield. Every reckless maneuver, every blocked lane, and every passive-aggressive action sends a clear message: “I don’t care about anyone but me.” And that’s a shameful way to behave, especially when it contradicts the kindness these same people show outside of their vehicles.
Carry Compassion into the Car
The kindness we show to each other shouldn’t stop the moment we sit behind the wheel. Just like we hold doors open for strangers or offer a helping hand to neighbors, we can show respect on the road too. Merging lanes gracefully, giving others room to pass, and staying calm in traffic—these are small but meaningful ways to carry compassion with us everywhere we go.
If you find yourself playing these games on the road—blocking others just for the fun of it or speeding off like the world owes you something—it's time to take a hard look in the mirror. What are you trying to make up for? What joy could you possibly find in making someone else’s day worse?
The way we drive is more than just a means of getting from one place to another—it’s a reflection of who we are. If you’re kind-hearted on foot but a tyrant behind the wheel, ask yourself: Which version of you is the real one? What message are you sending to others when you use your car to frustrate, control, or endanger?
A Call for Better Driving
We are better than this. The kindness we show to each other in person can, and should, extend to the way we drive. It’s not hard to treat other drivers with the same respect and patience we show to neighbors and friends. Every trip we take is a chance to make the road safer and smoother for everyone. Why not take that chance?
It’s time to leave the pettiness behind. Let’s use our vehicles to get where we’re going—not as tools for petty power plays. If we can show compassion on foot, we can show it on the road too. Let’s make every journey a reflection of our best selves.