On The Road Accountability

Job 4:8

Just because America has "labeled" deliberate violence on the road, it doesn't make it okay to engage in "road rage".  Sometimes labeling things as a condition or even an illness is used to excuse the inappropriate behaviors involved, but it should not be so.

People who choose to engage in road rage violence need to be held accountable just the same as an individual who hurts someone in a restaurant or a church.  The more severe the injuries they cause, the more serious the punishment that should be meted out.

As best the police reports can be interpreted, a recent incident in Manhattan was caused by a group of bikers intent on performing tricks on a  major highway.  Police had received complaints from the driver of the SUV and were already monitoring the progress of the cyclists because of their behavior last year. 

A lot of us have considerable sympathy for the vulnerability of bikers both on bicycles and motorized vehicles.  But folks, when you deliberately plan to interrupt traffic and cause a major slowdown, you are more or less asking for accidents.  And when you succeed in getting the asking fulfilled, you are owed no apology and no recourse.  In fact, you should get a trip to court followed by a sentence and a fine.

Roads are built for traveling to work, church, events, such.  They are not built so a circus can be held in their midst.  If you choose to hold a circus there, it is not only a bad choice for yourselves, but for all drivers in America.  At the very least you increase everybody's insurance premiums with the accidents you cause.

Apparently a biker cut in front of the SUV and began a slowdown.  He was rear ended by the SUV.  He and his friends are shown converging on the SUV, trying to open the car door.  In his panic and fear, the SUV driver fled from the scene.  It is regrettable, but he ran down three cyclists in his escape.  What would you have done in the same situation?  My response would probably have been to save my family and myself if possible.  I don't think anyone would have done differently if a gang of hoodlums were expressing road rage and trying to get into their cars.

But said bikers are all in a snit because some of their own were hurt.  So, they converged on the SUV again and broke out the windows.  They accessed the driver and beat him seriously.  And they still feel they are in the right throughout it all -- from slowing traffic for fun to beating up a man over an accident and a self-protective escape.   

Immediately I thought of the efforts of those bikers who are annually working together to help afflicted children.  How embarrassed they must be of their fellow riders who work so hard at giving bikers a bad name.  Which group of individuals would you want to be around?  The answer is a no-brainer, isn't it?

Remember always that you reap what you sow.  So be careful in selecting your companions and your methods.  And by all means know that if you deliberately break laws and injure others, you deserve to be held accountable.  And just accept that your own injuries may become a tragic byproduct of your bad choices.