The kind of traffic in NYC is brutal and very stressful. I know Houston traffic happens bumper to bumper at 80 miles per hour and there are easily more than five major accidents on my commute route a week, sometimes in the same day… often fatal.

When you’re under this kind of enormous stress for hours a day, it’s easy to snap. While I haven’t carried it to this level, you can become incredibly angry with someone who pulls into your lane, bullies you or otherwise threatens your life or does something “stupid” when you’re already up on your nerves trying to avoid an accident with people on phones, people putting on make-up, people trying to race and cut between bumper-bumper traffic. I go home and some nights go straight to bed because of my commute. Some people don’t have the luxury and freedom to pace themselves like I do (I have no kids or other dependents).

I think this speaks to a more general problem in our culture, we live a toxic stressful lifestyle where we’re always expected to be on guard and ready to be hired, run over, poisoned, shot, or tricked. Violence and ill-thought out action seem kind of inevitable when we set people up to fail in our society.

Just my two cents, speaking as some caught in this kind of incredible traffic.