As far back as 1955 a guide to the drivers you might meet on the road was published. This guide told us of several different types of drivers and with the technology in use today it seems this guide was more about predicting the future than we would have ever thought possible. If driving is to be something we all get to enjoy and come home safe from some of these types of drivers need to be removed from the road. What’s worse is we might relate with some of these drivers and feel we haven’t done anything wrong when in reality we have.

Impaired Driver – This is the driver that gets behind the wheel when they aren’t fit to be driving. This can be due to obvious reasons such as alcohol or drugs being used or it can be as simple as taking the prescription medications they are supposed to take, but these meds cause reflexes to be slower. Another form of an impaired driver is one that is too tired to drive. If any of these describe you, avoid being the impaired driver in the future and take breaks where you need to.

Egoist Driver – This is that driver that feels the world revolves around them. This person will drive without using turn signals, spend time cutting people off in traffic and double parking. This driver tends to think the rules of the road don’t apply to them and their experience with breaking the traffic laws for their own gain and having some type of influence over the law enforcement agents to help fix their tickets does nothing to dissuade them. Please don’t let this be you when you are on the road, you have to share the road and follow the rules just like everyone else.

Over-Emotional Driver – This is the driver we now consider to be experiencing Road Rage. This person tends to lose their temper and drive recklessly when something happens they don’t agree with or appreciate. You can see them in their cars waving their hands, blowing their horn and being completely distracted from the act of driving. This type of driving is extremely dangerous as their attention is not on driving but on how to retaliate against the person who did them wrong, at least in their mind. In order to avoid suffering from massive Road Rage and being this type of driver, give yourself more time than you normally would to get where you are going.

Thwarted Driver – This is a dangerous person behind the wheel and if you feel you have been thwarted in some way in your life you need to avoid driving for a few minutes while you gather yourself. This person can feel permanently defeated by a job or life situation they don’t want to be in, or they can feel temporarily minimized after the boss or spouse demeans them in some way. These folks tend to try and show off on the road and should be avoided.

It’s important to only drive when you know you are in the right mindset to do so. Too often we take it for granted we are ok to drive but we really shouldn’t be behind the wheel at all. Add the emotional part of driving to the technology of today and we have a recipe for disaster. Toss in food that we tend to consume from behind the wheel as well and you have a driver that is angry, eating, using their cell phone and is hardly paying attention to the road at all. If you fall into any of these categories, try and think before you drive next time you go out in your vehicle, you could save a life and it might be your own.