I always pay attention to driver behavior as I drive. In general the drivers making the smoother, quieter lane changes and adjustments certainly seem safer and with lights and traffic don’t seem to lose much time to the jumpier drivers.

I had two experiences in the last year at different parts of the cost and reality spectrum which provided excellent examples of how to reduce stress and get through the day efficiently. And this means not just your driving day, getting wound up behind the wheel carries over to every part of your day and not in a good way.

In the first example; I was on a morning bus into Vancouver from Tsawwassen. The driver has a polite hello for every passenger and an equally polite wave of the hand to every car that eased off for a second to let him merge.  Significantly, if a driver did not let him in there was no reaction from him at all He waited quietly and then gave his thank you wave out the window to the driver who did let him in. He accelerated quietly and smoothly, used his brakes well and we all got to our stops on time and in the right mood to face the day.

The second experience cost more than the bus, but the driver’s behavior was almost exactly the same. Once a year my wife and I treat ourselves to a chauffeured Town Car ride to dinner in Vancouver. The car and driver may cost more than the dinner, but it is fun to be driven in an elegant black Lincoln. Ken is the driver on most of these trips and he is, perhaps not surprisingly, every bit as smooth as the bus driver. There are no unnecessary lane changes and the speed is always one or 2 kmph under the speed limit.

In both of these examples we arrived on time, safe and comfortable. More importantly the drivers were calm and stress free.  They both knew that they were going to be out there all day every day and had learned that the best way to get through those days without getting old way too soon was to do what they could to reduce stress and avoid high intensity situations. I doubt if either of them go home at night with stories of bad driver behavior.

A couple  of links to add to this discussion are http://www.suite101.com/content/avoiding-road-rage-a105624. This one has some common sense tips but I particularly like the advice in http://www.dumblittleman.com/2008/10/surviving-driving-6-simple-things-to.html The picture of the driving cat is worth the click. You want a better attitude than that cat when you are behind the wheel