I inflamed the road rage situation by pretending to rub my eyes in a ‘boo hoo poor me’ taunt

The catalyst for the plot of Beef, one of the recent bingeworthy shows to appear on Netflix, is a beeping car horn. A character backs out of a parking space, unaware of an approaching vehicle. The driver of said vehicle leans on the blower – a long and aggressive sound – and launches an episode of road rage that evolves into all-out war. The creator of Beef, Lee Sung Jin, says the incident was sparked by his own experience on a highway in LA. He didn’t react immediately when a light turned green and the driver behind him leaned on his horn, pulling up alongside him, effing and blinding. Lee says his immediate blood-boiling instinct was to follow the man home. He didn’t, but found the interaction intriguing – that both drivers thought they were in the right, or at the very least thought that the other was in the wrong or deliberately causing harm and hindrance.

Beef feels extremely post pandemic. The simmering, often irrational ire begins between two characters furious at each other from within their sealed metal boxes. It might read a little obvious but just as the driver inside the car is a metaphor for the individual sequestered in their home because of Covid, the roads feel like a symbol for the release of pent-up energy when the pandemic “ended”. I’ve remarked to friends that since Covid everyone is in more of a race than ever to get where they’re going. Drivers seem more aggressive, more likely to tailgate and bully you out of the way, quicker to give up in traffic and three-point turn their way to a less congested route. Attempting to give cyclists the required wide berth – one metre when passing cyclists on roads with a speed limit under 50km/h and 1.5 metres on roads of 50km/h or above – can result in a puce face in your rear-view mirror, fuming that you’re adding 15 seconds on to their journey.

Initially, the ‘all in this together’ mantra fostered hopes for a future of greater understanding and harmony. But as Covid dragged on and any novelty wore off, anger set in

I first thought the increased aggression was down to frustration over the return to gridlock after months and months of near-empty streets. I know I felt irritation about sitting in traffic after the freedom of sailing around deserted roads. Commuters were also returning to the office after often preferable working from home set ups, and nothing breeds resentment like a long and tail-backed commute. Literal changes to the driving environment aside though, it’s important to acknowledge that the pandemic brought with it loss, disruption and huge emotions. Initially, the “all in this together” mantra fostered hopes for a future of greater understanding and harmony. But as Covid dragged on and any novelty wore off, anger set in. Masks, vaccines and restrictions caused rifts in society and the mental health impact is probably still immeasurable. Online spaces like Twitter have become battle grounds for ideological and political wars. And on the roads, people are gunning for a fight.

A friend recently had an experience in Dublin where a driver, after a very minor interaction, followed behind her for so long and so aggressively that she had to call the gardaí who advised her to drive to the closest station. I recently beeped my horn – bipped, in fairness, rather than a full beep – at a car that lazily rolled into the yellow box at a busy junction, blocking the only chance me and the vehicle behind me had to cross during rush hour traffic. The two men in the car were instantly furious at my cheek. I inflamed the situation even more by doing my go-to move for instances such as this: pretending to rub my eyes in a “boo hoo poor me” taunt. The passenger flew into such a rage that he opened his door to get out. My hand flew to double-check that my own doors were locked and I cursed myself for beeping in the first place. Luckily traffic began to move and soon there was a chorus of horns bleating at the car to move. I worried that they were going to follow me, especially after they stalled again to perform a few obscene hand gestures in my direction. My legs were still shaking when I reached my destination not a victim, but a participant. The beep, the taunt, the whole incident was unnecessary and unproductive. Can I curb my own road rage? Maybe. Can I curb anyone else’s? Not a hope.