Editorial: It's time to chill behind wheel

It's  a fair bet that even way back when horse and cart was the normal mode of transport for most people, those on the roads found a way to get annoyed at other travellers.
Even now, in the age of the car, it's difficult to imagine anything which winds motorists up more than the behaviour of their fellow road users.
Certainly, if the results of a recent AA Insurance poll on motorist behaviour is anything to go by, the advent of the car has not put paid to drivers' aggravations with each other.
The poll surveyed 3550 people aged 18 to 65, revealing inattentive drivers as being the biggest source of frustration.
Drivers who were not courteous while changing lanes or merging ranked as the second-biggest frustration, while those who did not indicate or continued to indicate when they did not have to came in at third place.
Other annoyances included people who did not dip their headlights for oncoming traffic at night, failed to pull over to allow others to pass, turned corners from the wrong lanes and followed too closely.
Of course, it's easy to criticise, but there is a certain group of people on our roads who believe they are infinitely superior to their fellow road users when it comes to handling a motor vehicle.
The problem arises when that arrogance, often misconstrued as confidence, leads to risks being taken which can put other people's lives in jeopardy.
My pet hates on the road are people who fail to indicate and people who fail to dip their headlights for oncoming traffic.
Drivers who make those mistakes wind me up immeasurably, and yet, they are mistakes I too have made on occasions, despite being particularly aware of them. The call from road safety organisations is a predictable one, and yet it's one worth repeating.
There are times we will all get on each other's nerves while on the road.
But it's in everyone's interests for all drivers to follow the road rules, and when someone else makes a mistake, to remember - no one's perfect.
Hopefully by doing that, we can all get to our destination safely and continue to help police and other organisations keep the road toll down.
Feedback: editor@wanganuichronicle.co.nz