On The Road (Rage) To Karma Town

I’ve been a driving instructor in the Netherlands for many years and have had some interesting encounters with drivers, but there’s one that stands out. 

It’s a very busy intersection with a lot of pedestrians crossing the street, bicyclists not paying attention and not bothered by traffic laws, and cars trying to get out of there as fast as they can. I’m in the middle of this circus with a beginning learner trying to manoeuvre the car without killing someone. I have more than sufficient signs on my car telling people that I’m teaching someone to drive a car. My pupil just needs to cross the intersection without killing pedestrians and bicyclists and without getting into an accident.

While we’re waiting to cross the intersection, there’s a lady in the car behind us blowing the horn because she’s obviously dissatisfied with my pupil not crossing the street. 

After five minutes of annoying honking, I tell my pupil to shut down the car and give me the keys. I get out and walk up to the lady.

Me: “What’s your problem?”

Lady: *Yelling* “I don’t have the f****** time to wait for a f****** beginner who is learning how to drive a f****** car!”

Me: *Politely* “Ma’am, blowing the horn will not help my pupil, and it won’t speed things up.”

She got crazy and started shouting all kinds of expletives. I told her to cool down and walked back to my car and my pupil. 

Next, I saw the lady pulling out and trying to cross the intersection at full speed. She didn’t see a semi-truck coming from the right side with a green light. He couldn’t stop his forty-four-ton vehicle on a dime, so she got T-boned. 

The lady seemed to be okay, and since the intersection was blocked, my pupil could pass without any problems. 

The police later called me because the lady who caused the accident told them it was all my fault. 

I explained what had happened, and they told me not to worry because she had quite a history of misdemeanours and offences. Those would result in a driving ban, an examination of her driving skills, and a test to see if she was actually mentally fit enough to drive a car. Those tests would set her back at least €1,000. If she refused to take those tests, her driving license would be revoked. 

I never got confirmation that she lost her license, but seeing how she acted then and there, I wouldn’t be surprised if authorities decided that she was too much of a danger to allow her to keep driving a killing machine.