Earlier this morning I had to run an errand in San Francisco. On my way back to Oakland, right after merging on to the Bay Brdige, a Red Jeep Laredo started frantically honking at me, then hastily switched lanes, drove up right next to me, and gave me this stare down/point. I was actually kind of terrified. I thought this man was sending me some kind of death threat. I hadn't done anything wrong. I didn't cut him off. I wasn't being the asshole driver I am sometimes known to be. But I was scared. Maybe this guy was having an awfully terrible day?
In desperate need of a lane switchage (the car in front of me was driving painfully slow), I relocated myself to behind the RJL, making sure to keep my distance so as not to further piss him off. Once I was behind the RJL I saw a big old Yankees bumper sticker. This made me giggle and goofily smile. I had mistaken this man's seemingly angry eye contact and point move he made earlier for road rage, when it was actually his way of saying "Go New York!" (I still have my NY license plates).
I gave the the man in RJL a big thumbs up and a smile as I continued to weave through the rest of the slowly moving California drivers.
And, so, New Yorkers are aggressive. Whether they're driving or just trying to share in their New York pride with another, there's nothing passive about any of it.
