A red rag to a bull

I have a confession to make. I am a lead foot, or that should be, I was one. I was the kind of driver who would curse others for obeying the speed limit despite an open road in front of them. I couldn’t understand their patience and resolve to mosey along with absolutely no regard for the insane woman behind them... I would scream (in the safety of my own car of course), “Come on people, move!”

In my defence the angel on my shoulder usually reigned supreme when I was in heavy traffic or I had passengers, but when I was in the right lane on a highway, the little devil inside whispered, “Punch it Chewie.”

Don’t mistake my admission of guilt as advocating speeding. I understand the devastation it causes and how serious an issue it is, but I would still dart around town faster than I should.

That was until a little over two months ago when my partner and I welcomed our son to the world. Literally overnight my desire to drive fast stopped. Just the thought of driving the short 4kms home from the hospital with our precious baby boy had me sitting next to him in the back seat in a vein attempt to protect him from... well, people like me I guess.

I decided to take charge and do what any new mother would do. I put a ‘Baby on Board’ sign on the back window to forewarn others. I slowed down and I gained more confidence in the knowledge that others would be careful around us too. Or so I thought...

As the weeks went by, I noticed more and more cars speeding past me. Several times I’d encounter drivers who would deliberately speed up so I couldn’t merge in front of them and be forced to wait for them to pass. In one incident I had to pull off the road before a 4WD drove over me. What the hell was going on? This never happened before. Surely it was just a few random idiots?

I mentioned it to a girlfriend over breakfast and waited for her to support me and my disgust.

“I hate Baby on Board signs,” she declared. “It’s like a red rag to a bull.” I went into a mild shock. 

She said that any time she sees a ‘Baby on Board’ sign, she would purposefully speed up to get away from it. “A ‘Baby on Board’ sign is a short way to say I-have-a-baby-I’ll-be-travelling-slowly-and-will-stop-at-orange-traffic-lights. It’s bloody annoying.”

After coming too I started to think about what she said. Was my seemingly innocent sign actually the cause for the increase of stupid driving I’d experienced? Do others see it and deliberately go faster to avoid getting stuck behind me?  

After a week of paranoia and coming up with excuses for why I couldn’t drive anymore, my partner asked me what was going on. I told him about the conversation with my mate and the recent bout of scary situations when he laughed. “Baby, it’s just their impatience. You have nothing to worry about, but if you’re that concerned, why don’t you just take it off?”  Oh... I hadn’t thought of that!

Needless to say the sign is now gone and I've learnt my lesson. I drive cautiously and stick to the speed limit whether I have an open road ahead of me or not. I'm fully aware of my actions on the road and how it affects others around me. I’m being allowed to merge again too.