American Driving Behavior: A Brief Reflection Regarding Humility
I'm reading Of the Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis, and read the following statement (Book 1 Chapter VII): The humble enjoy continued peace, but in the heart of the proud is envy, and frequent indignation.
I was reminded of my practice of obeying speed limit signs. Most decide "to go five over", e.g. 35 mi/hr speed limit, they drive 40 mi/hr. That is, I set my 'cruise control' at the speed limit and remain in the right lane while nearly every car passes me.
I see an operating motive that they can never get to their destination fast enough, can never drive fast enough, that they have to drive as fast as they can, "let's hurry up and get there". Often changing lanes, tailgating, and driving with a certain level of stress; "this guy's driving so slowly", "this guy just cut me off", "good job not using your signal", "I don't want to be late" (therefore I must speed since I estimated the time to get there at this speed).
So, humbling myself and choosing to obey the law, "this speed is perfectly fine", I give myself enough time to get there (a little early if possible), driving in a relaxed state while several cars speed by, frequently changing lanes, tailgating each other -- frequently braking since they follow so closely on the car in front of them until they get a chance to pass him.
It's also poor gas mileage from the frequent accelerations and brake usage. Like they say in car owner's manuals about gas economics, "anticipate stopping" -- so I'll see a light turning yellow/red and I'll start braking early, so that by the time I reach the intersection, the light turns green and I'm already going ~15 mi/hr. Few others do this, preferring to drive five-over and then come to a full-stop at the intersection to wait. Often they'll pass me and then get in the lane in front of me, coming to such a full-stop. Perhaps comically, I sometimes then pass these same people at the intersection: The light turns green, I'm already going ~15 mi/hr while they have to accelerate from rest. Usually, though, I wind up right behind them as they accelerate, so that I've good car conservation: I'm right behind them as the intersection turns green, as if I also had come to a full-stop right behind them, except I've used far less braking and haven't expended fuel starting from rest.
Obeying the speed limit signs, I also don't have to worry about speed cameras or the presence of police officers. There's a strip of road in front of the high school where they've installed two cameras to regulate traffic, assigning speeding tickets to those unfortunate enough to speed. The speed limit's 35 mi/hr well before and after that strip of road. So I've got my cruise control set on the speed limit, as usual, and suddenly my brother (not aware of my speed) asks me as we're entering it, "Are you slowing down?" concerned that I might get a ticket (because I wasn't doing the customary braking like most drivers). The issue of gas economics is again raised (the additional braking/accelerating involved in his habit), as well as this disturbed peace of mind: I gave no thought to the presence of the cameras, etc. I was placidly thinking about other things, not about avoiding speeding tickets.
This is a bit of exposition, and I suppose I wished to vent my frustration at the short-sightedness of so many American drivers. "The humble enjoy continued peace, but in the heart of the proud is envy, and frequent indignation." Ultimately, I want to convey the simple imagery of a car peacably driving along, with the humility necessary to obey traffic authority, while several cars speed by, frequently changing lanes, tailgating each other. Such is my experience. I often ride with others, most of whom speed, and most of those often comment about other drivers -- they don't experience the same peace that I do. Simply going the speed limit, I rarely have problems changing lanes or someone "cutting me off" -- by the way, such language, "to cut someone off", seems usually to refer to someone speeding whose efforts are frustrated by another who is not speeding ...
I haven't really touched on envy with this driving commentary, but perhaps we see it in those reflecting on new or expensive cars, especially when they desire powerful engines or "sleek" designs. A quotation comes to mind from St. Cyril of Jerusalem (died AD 386), "The purpose of clothing is to keep warm in winter and to cover your nakedness, not to serve your vanity." I think the application to automobiles is obvious: Likewise, the purpose of cars is to transport people and goods and shelter them from the elements, not to serve vanity.
Furthermore, given the recent developments of climate change (e.g. glaciers melting, snow disappearing, rivers vanishing, oceanic ecosystems displaying troubled symptoms correlated to the acidification of the water from absorbing CO2 -- the oceans form carbonic acid when absorbing the CO2 that we produce, which changes the pH of the water and irritates certain life) and the ominous levels of greenhouse gases, we have the obligation to consider efficiency, energy conservation, reduction of consumption, not how many cylinders something has, or what it looks like, or how quickly it can accelerate, or how fast it can move. If our governing officials were to mandate electric cars whose max speed were 55 rather than 75 mi/hr (thinking of interstate speed limits), we ought to accept with humility and rejoice in living in greater harmony with God's creation around us. (Of course, we would need various programs to help such a transition, but I hope you understand my point.)