Could word power save us from road rage?
Who knew that a Walt Disney cartoon made years before there even was an Interstate Highway System could provide profound insights into road rage?聽
鈥淢otor Mania,鈥� from 1950, stars the irrepressible Goofy (and is widely available on ). The cartoon tells a Jekyll-and-Hyde story of the transformation of a mild-mannered suburban gentleman, 鈥淢r. Walker.鈥� As a pedestrian, he wouldn鈥檛 hurt a fly. But once he gets into his car, he becomes the all-but-fire-breathing 鈥淢r. Wheeler,鈥� a 鈥渄emon driver.鈥澛�
鈥淢otor Mania鈥� came to my attention when blogger John Lavey, of , an urban design and economic development outfit out west, published a post headlined 鈥�65 year-old Disney cartoon perfectly explains the craziness of driving a car.鈥澛�
鈥淒riving an automobile,鈥� he wrote, 鈥渁sks one to exist in a sort of quantum state where our errors are forgiven but those of other drivers cannot be tolerated. Where, on the one hand, the speediest route between origin and destination is demanded when behind the wheel and, on the other, space, safe harbor and time are needed when acting as a pedestrian.鈥�
But what engaged my attention most in the piece was , ascribed to Dr. Nigel Thrift, an expert in 鈥溾��: 鈥淒rivers cannot ... communicate their concerns as fully as they would want and there is therefore a consistently high level of ambiguity in driver-to-driver interaction.鈥�
鈥淒rivers cannot ... communicate.鈥� This confirms something I鈥檝e long suspected: One of the reasons we have road rage is that just about the only way drivers can communicate is through blasts of the horn or aggressive flashing of lights.聽
Drivers can鈥檛 talk to each other. In particular, they have no way to apologize. Yet 鈥淚鈥檓 sorry鈥� or 鈥減lease excuse me鈥� is one of the first expressions you learn when you start a new foreign language.聽
What if cars had a series of little apology lights around their perimeter? If you realized just before the light changed that you had to scoot over to the left-turn lane, for instance, a discreet tap on a button would set your apology lights briefly a-twinkle, at least until you鈥檇 cleared the intersection.聽
One challenge would be color: Red, green, yellow-orange, blue, and white have all been spoken for. Could a suitably androgynous mauve be found for this?
Better yet, what if cars had little signboards fore and aft, rather like miniature versions of the LED destination signs on buses and trains? Most people would drive around with the 鈥淪orry鈥� message cued up and ready to deploy. But you could presumably have other messages in your (customizable) library: 鈥淐ranky toddler in back seat!鈥� or 鈥淩unning late for soccer practice!鈥�
Mr. Wheeler would be better off if he could communicate better with Mr. Walker, and with his fellow drivers, too 鈥� and verbally, that is, and not just by laying on the horn.
For the time being, though, driving means never being able to say you鈥檙e sorry.
