What’s wrong with drivers? Frustrated mammal instincts while physical venting is impossible.

• The feeling of wearing big heavy armour (the car) and being separated from others not perceived quite as human in their armour intuitively calls for extreme force in all interactions, but the instinct is frustrated by knowing any collision is expensive and must be avoided, the opposite of folkrace. (Imagine the stress and frustration if rugby armour was expensive and easily dinged and scratched, so the players would have to avoid getting rough, and if someone hit your expensive armour, it would suddenly become your job to extract insurance info or money from them while the game went on.)

• Being agitated by imperfect humans in traffic while not being able to vent the anger out through muscle action is frustrating - you have to sit stiff in place and keep the controls steady. On a bike you can direct the anger to your muscles and get rid of it. A stimulant crash (often anger) while driving in heavy traffic is extra bad and common after a day of stimulants at work. (When the power steering belt broke on a Volvo V70 I was driving as a taxi, it was nice, healthier and more fun to use force to make the car turn. Why don’t car makers allow me to adjust the powering ratio when it’s all programmable now? Why are cars and computers designed to deprive the driver and user of all exercise?)

I worked in a university traffic research unit (psychology and cognitive science angle) after being a taxi driver.

(This text editor is shitty and frustrating, and my Lemmy feed is poison, but luckily I can fidget and pace a bit here by the computer.)