As a recent Asheville import, I notice the elevated amount of road rage in these environs. Why would that be? This is Asheville, the home of the “cool and enlightened”?
The WWNC afternoon radio show noted the rampant road anger stems from the vast influx of tourists. My friend Erika said it was the different road philosophies of all the people from other areas. I don’t care why, I just think it is beneath us.
We need to change the mindset! A campaign is in order. A “kind driver Asheville” sticker needs to be on every car. A license plate about love on the streets!
Something needs to be started, a groundswell if you will.
Where else but city government?
— Barbara Walker Black Mountain
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22 thoughts on “Letter: Kind driver campaign needed”
Enlightened Enigma
Yes Barbara, an edict forced upon us by the clown council is a MUST! Did you contact them from Black Mounting? Is there any road rage there ?
Jason
Please no more stupid stickers on cars. My favorite are the “in memory of” stickers. Why is a car in memory of a dead person?
Enlightened Enigma
yes, the ‘in memory of’ stickers are the absolute height of tackiness…only the ignorant do that…
bsummers
Where else but city government?
Uh-oh. You are new here, aren’t you?
NFB
The letter writer describes herself as an “Asheville import” yet her address is Black Mountain. Would not a more accurate description be a “Black Mountain import?”
Johnny to the A
Yes, Barbara. Please tell your BFF Erika she is correct to blaming it on the tourists. We can’t blame the Anthropology major who made my coffee this morning. Or the newly minted Shaman who recently arrived here from Indianapolis previously employed at Best Buy in the appliance section. (Reinvention is easy when no one knows you!)
Instead of a kind driver campaign, what Asheville needs is economic diversity achieved through industry. With industry comes workers from a vast cross section of society and not the self-important Subaru/Prius/Kia Soul driving genre (why do they always have gray hair and a cute bob haircut – even in their 50’s and 60’s? And don’t they realize contacts are a legitimate alternative to their chunky glasses?).
With industry comes workers with desirable professional skills. Those skills generally equate to a reasonable level of success dealing with and accepting the opinions of others. At minimum you learn to ignore those you know are odd.
Just imagine how great this city could be with chlorine in the resident pool?
But alas topography, logistics and an artisanal workforce will never entice any employer of note to this cow town. What potential employer really wants to witness the dysfunction of a broken human pushing their dog in a baby stroller?
Things are different, including driving, in Asheville. Maybe the sticker campaign is a great idea after all! Let’s do it! T-shirts, yoga mats and growler jackets!
bsummers
Hmm. It seems you have something against people of a certain cultural, or dare-I-say-it, political viewpoint, rather than whether they drive properly or not. Not very helpful.
Peter Robbins
According to the good-hands people at Allstate, the American city with the best driving record is a mountain tourist-trap called Fort Collins, which boasts of being the Craft Beer Capital of Colorado. https://www.visitftcollins.com. Why can’t Asheville be more like that?
Enlightened Enigma
Big difference in native populations between AVL/WNC and Ft. Collins CO. Also, WNC has a much larger proportion of ignorance. So much ignorance due to failed government screwls since the 70s…
hauntedheadnc
Oh…kay…
So, are you saying that Colorado doesn’t have public schools?
Enlightened Enigma
no gordo I was not ‘sayin’ that Colorada has no government screwls … duh.
hauntedheadnc
Then what are you saying? You’ve long held the position that Asheville is the fount from which all miseries of the earth spring, and that this is due to the government having the audacity — the unmitigated gall — to operate public schools. You are further implying that Colorado is an earthly paradise free of the ignorance which plagues Asheville. If the ignorance of Asheville is due to the presence of public schools, and Colorado does not labor beneath such burden, why would that be?
Enlightened Enigma
Just a smarter more modern population without all the ignorance out there…smarter people in general than here….but yes, in general, now since the 70s, government screwls have dumbed down our population with intent. Locally we have the exclusive racists running the city screwls in a very costly, mean spirited manner. SHAME on AVL City screwls!
hauntedheadnc
Okay, so again… If our problems are due to public schools, and Colorado is a state of Mary Poppins wannabes (practically perfect in every way), why is that? Do they not have public schools out there or something?
What’s the deal, Mr. Caudle? This is not a situation that’s appropriate for that style of debate already perfected by pigeons, in which one flutters in, flitters out a dribble of dubious wisdom, and then flutters off. Back up your argument. Why are Coloradoans so much better than North Carolinians, especially when, as you have asserted, our problems here are due to local governments, with malice aforethought, funding and operating public schools?
Tourist
Taking the time to read yet ANOTHER bumper sticker is going to make for even more poor driving. The texts/tweets/snaps are already enough to read.
Enlightened Enigma
Saw a great bumpersticker today on I26… ‘ Heavily Armed, Easily Pissed ‘ rofl!
I want one that sez ‘ Litter indicates TRASHY people’ … We need that sign all over AVL right now! Billboards would be good too!
So many great bumperstickers available online…just google your sentiment or topic, bumpersticker shop and you will get zillions!
NFB
One of my favorite bumpersticker is the one with Abraham Lincoln on it. The caption reads “It’s My Party And I’ll Cry If I Want To.”
Enlightened Enigma
good one!
Jay Reese
Not sure if you are just being facetious but signage clutter overwhelms drivers and thus is not an effective way to communicate.
Jay Reese
A “I am Kind” bumper sticker in this town might get you pulled over. But seriously, City Council has adopted policies to eliminate the need for an automobile , so hopefully the future will bring us fewer cars and kinder streets.
Isolated in a steel and glass box drivers feel secure in being aggressive towards others. Studies show drivers in convertible cars are less likely to honk or yell at another driver. Unfortunately too many people have been swayed by car commercials and movies into believing the myth that getting to their intended destination fast and without interruption is the sole purpose of the roadways. They don’t want to be deterred by cyclists, pedestrians, red lights, speed limits, slow moving cars, ect. Road ragers don’t see the offender as a person but more as a “thing”. They don’t think about the consequences or even about other people on the road as real people with real families.” One of the root cause of road rage is congestion and so removing as many cars from the road as possible through providing active transportation options would help drivers relax.
Thanks for your letter, this is an important conversation and needs to be expanded. We can’t sit by and watch the automobile decimate our communities any longer.
clayton moore
Every sat at a stop light behind a police car?
The lite turns green and 2 or 3 hooligan drivers still zoom thru the red light.
Then..awaiting some police action from the not busy police person in front of you…and zip…nada…no tickets.
People drive like idiots because the cops DDS (yep) and idiots see movies like fast and foolish where no one dies in the movie crashes…
The worst is the stop sign runners at exit 53 A of I 40….lots of crashes and NCDOT says..No Prob…phooey!
DE Morgan
In response/agreement with Barbara Walker’s “Opinion Letter”. I constantly comment to myself in my car “we don’t honk here”, when I hear someone honk in impatience. I also comment to myself “we don’t tailgate here” when I see someone on the bumper of another persons car…or my own. I have lived here 11 years and have noticed in the past 3-5 years driving in Asheville has become more like when I lived in Southern California, very rude and inconsiderate. I don’t want that here and I doubt many people do. Please, new “imports” to Asheville, we are kind, patient drivers here…leave your rushed, rude driving where you moved from…please! Thank you.
Yes Barbara, an edict forced upon us by the clown council is a MUST! Did you contact them from Black Mounting? Is there any road rage there ?
Please no more stupid stickers on cars. My favorite are the “in memory of” stickers. Why is a car in memory of a dead person?
yes, the ‘in memory of’ stickers are the absolute height of tackiness…only the ignorant do that…
Where else but city government?
Uh-oh. You are new here, aren’t you?
The letter writer describes herself as an “Asheville import” yet her address is Black Mountain. Would not a more accurate description be a “Black Mountain import?”
Yes, Barbara. Please tell your BFF Erika she is correct to blaming it on the tourists. We can’t blame the Anthropology major who made my coffee this morning. Or the newly minted Shaman who recently arrived here from Indianapolis previously employed at Best Buy in the appliance section. (Reinvention is easy when no one knows you!)
Instead of a kind driver campaign, what Asheville needs is economic diversity achieved through industry. With industry comes workers from a vast cross section of society and not the self-important Subaru/Prius/Kia Soul driving genre (why do they always have gray hair and a cute bob haircut – even in their 50’s and 60’s? And don’t they realize contacts are a legitimate alternative to their chunky glasses?).
With industry comes workers with desirable professional skills. Those skills generally equate to a reasonable level of success dealing with and accepting the opinions of others. At minimum you learn to ignore those you know are odd.
Just imagine how great this city could be with chlorine in the resident pool?
But alas topography, logistics and an artisanal workforce will never entice any employer of note to this cow town. What potential employer really wants to witness the dysfunction of a broken human pushing their dog in a baby stroller?
Things are different, including driving, in Asheville. Maybe the sticker campaign is a great idea after all! Let’s do it! T-shirts, yoga mats and growler jackets!
Hmm. It seems you have something against people of a certain cultural, or dare-I-say-it, political viewpoint, rather than whether they drive properly or not. Not very helpful.
According to the good-hands people at Allstate, the American city with the best driving record is a mountain tourist-trap called Fort Collins, which boasts of being the Craft Beer Capital of Colorado. https://www.visitftcollins.com. Why can’t Asheville be more like that?
Big difference in native populations between AVL/WNC and Ft. Collins CO. Also, WNC has a much larger proportion of ignorance. So much ignorance due to failed government screwls since the 70s…
Oh…kay…
So, are you saying that Colorado doesn’t have public schools?
no gordo I was not ‘sayin’ that Colorada has no government screwls … duh.
Then what are you saying? You’ve long held the position that Asheville is the fount from which all miseries of the earth spring, and that this is due to the government having the audacity — the unmitigated gall — to operate public schools. You are further implying that Colorado is an earthly paradise free of the ignorance which plagues Asheville. If the ignorance of Asheville is due to the presence of public schools, and Colorado does not labor beneath such burden, why would that be?
Just a smarter more modern population without all the ignorance out there…smarter people in general than here….but yes, in general, now since the 70s, government screwls have dumbed down our population with intent. Locally we have the exclusive racists running the city screwls in a very costly, mean spirited manner. SHAME on AVL City screwls!
Okay, so again… If our problems are due to public schools, and Colorado is a state of Mary Poppins wannabes (practically perfect in every way), why is that? Do they not have public schools out there or something?
What’s the deal, Mr. Caudle? This is not a situation that’s appropriate for that style of debate already perfected by pigeons, in which one flutters in, flitters out a dribble of dubious wisdom, and then flutters off. Back up your argument. Why are Coloradoans so much better than North Carolinians, especially when, as you have asserted, our problems here are due to local governments, with malice aforethought, funding and operating public schools?
Taking the time to read yet ANOTHER bumper sticker is going to make for even more poor driving. The texts/tweets/snaps are already enough to read.
Saw a great bumpersticker today on I26… ‘ Heavily Armed, Easily Pissed ‘ rofl!
I want one that sez ‘ Litter indicates TRASHY people’ … We need that sign all over AVL right now! Billboards would be good too!
So many great bumperstickers available online…just google your sentiment or topic, bumpersticker shop and you will get zillions!
One of my favorite bumpersticker is the one with Abraham Lincoln on it. The caption reads “It’s My Party And I’ll Cry If I Want To.”
good one!
Not sure if you are just being facetious but signage clutter overwhelms drivers and thus is not an effective way to communicate.
A “I am Kind” bumper sticker in this town might get you pulled over. But seriously, City Council has adopted policies to eliminate the need for an automobile , so hopefully the future will bring us fewer cars and kinder streets.
Click here to read the Asheville In Motion Plan http://www.ashevillenc.gov/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=22784
Isolated in a steel and glass box drivers feel secure in being aggressive towards others. Studies show drivers in convertible cars are less likely to honk or yell at another driver. Unfortunately too many people have been swayed by car commercials and movies into believing the myth that getting to their intended destination fast and without interruption is the sole purpose of the roadways. They don’t want to be deterred by cyclists, pedestrians, red lights, speed limits, slow moving cars, ect. Road ragers don’t see the offender as a person but more as a “thing”. They don’t think about the consequences or even about other people on the road as real people with real families.” One of the root cause of road rage is congestion and so removing as many cars from the road as possible through providing active transportation options would help drivers relax.
Thanks for your letter, this is an important conversation and needs to be expanded. We can’t sit by and watch the automobile decimate our communities any longer.
Every sat at a stop light behind a police car?
The lite turns green and 2 or 3 hooligan drivers still zoom thru the red light.
Then..awaiting some police action from the not busy police person in front of you…and zip…nada…no tickets.
People drive like idiots because the cops DDS (yep) and idiots see movies like fast and foolish where no one dies in the movie crashes…
The worst is the stop sign runners at exit 53 A of I 40….lots of crashes and NCDOT says..No Prob…phooey!
In response/agreement with Barbara Walker’s “Opinion Letter”. I constantly comment to myself in my car “we don’t honk here”, when I hear someone honk in impatience. I also comment to myself “we don’t tailgate here” when I see someone on the bumper of another persons car…or my own. I have lived here 11 years and have noticed in the past 3-5 years driving in Asheville has become more like when I lived in Southern California, very rude and inconsiderate. I don’t want that here and I doubt many people do. Please, new “imports” to Asheville, we are kind, patient drivers here…leave your rushed, rude driving where you moved from…please! Thank you.