It’s time for everyone to stop using the same dead excuses as to why we carelessly practice safe and lawful driving, much less common courtesy toward those with whom we share the road.

Driving is a privilege, a pleasure, and a necessity to practically all of us. I’m sure everyone has heard it said that driving holds responsibility as well. Think about that for a minute. Learning all those rules to ace your driving test when you were 16 will definitely not be the last time you are expected to remember them.

I will admit that I’ve driven recklessly in the past and used the same excuses to justify my actions that most people use. Maybe I was late to an appointment, or I felt like speeding just for the excitement or running a red light because I could see the adjacent traffic lights had not yet turned green.

Now let’s get to the heart of the real road war I speak of. Since when have malice and cowardice become virtues in an effort for some to establish themselves as soldiers for their own conceit?

It’s one thing to be able to control your stupidity and refrain from doing so, and it’s a totally different thing to be on the receiving end and have the daylights scared out of you. I was recently on the receiving end of such recklessness. While backing out of a parking spot with considerable caution, a car comes out of nowhere and zooms behind me, which I could have hit and which would have crashed into an entire row of parked cars. When I later attempted to talk to this person, I was rebuffed with a flick of his middle finger.

Whether or not the rules of the road apply to the average person should not be governed by his ego, social status, vehicle type, impatience, stress level or any other factor, except that of obeying the law. There are those that take pride in having a safe driving record, and there are those that take pride in having a false sense of invincibility and want to show it by acting like Evil Knieval in a tiny sports car.

Courtesy has its place on the road. Driving is not a game to see who can start and end a fight. Don’t be stupid when you know your actions can hurt you and others.