Your ticket was irrational, right? So don't live like you can control the uncontrollable. That ticket was not about breaking the law, it was about bad luck, so why try to resolve it with lawfulness?

Live, L.W. Don't worry so much. You will never be able to keep the craziness of life from entering your sanctity. Look how your trying to control things is only making things worse.

This is a great lesson for you. A time to mature into a more care-free person.

Welcome it.

Also, why don't you send copies of your letter to the municipalities involved. They should review their policies. But maybe these roads are speed traps and they like them that way. In that case you're lucky to have gotten only one ticket. You say you've seen no one else being pulled over. In that case, the letter might do some rational good.

1. Have you already been convicted? If not, make sure to go to court. Argue that it wasn't you speeding it was the guy that forced you into the other lane and sped off. If the officer has proof, like radar, he can present it then. If if the officer fails to show as a witness, maybe you will get off completely. Or hire an attorney who can talk to the prosecuting attorney and plead it down to a parking violation and fee with no points.

2. If you have already been convicted and have the four points, see about taking a defensive driving class to remove the points. EVEN IF YOU HAVEN'T been convicted, I would suggest a safe driving class for you for your peace of mind-- here is why-- in the defensive driving class, you will receive all the justifications you need for driving the speed limit and obeying traffic rules. Everyone else on the road can be properly seen as the potential threat you are protecting yourself from by driving defensively.

You can also discuss the appartent road rage/harrassment you have perceived with the driving course teacher who may give you some good tips on how to manage your reactions to other people's apparent road rage.

3. It is just a ticket, honestly. The reason why tickets are used isn't just to generate revenue-- research shows that most people do obey the laws more closely after getting a ticket and you are proof in the pudding. So realize driving more carefully is the norm. And be grateful you didn't just get in an accident because your commute would be even less enjoyable. Because you would be a complete freak out case.

4. People don't hate you. I mean, some of them might, but surely all of them don't. Most of them are completely indifferent and are just getting around your car so they won't be late to wherever they are going to.

You are projecting.

5. Geggy Tah released a delightful song a few years back that I would hum whenever I was starting to get stressed out in traffic: "All I wanna do is thank you, even though I don't know who you are, you let me change lanes, when I was driving in my car...". Google it if you don't know it and try to listen to it and lighten up. Nice drivers exist. Strive to notice them and to be one yourself and you will be happier.

Once on a long trip with my late father, we were stuck behind somebody like LW, trying to merge from one highway to another while the LW-like driver puttered slowly on the exit/entrance ramp. Cars were having to fly past her so they'd have enough speed to merge with the traffic. My father yelled to us (my friend and I were in the way-back of the van) "That person will never have an accident in their life, but they'll sure as hell cause a few!"

LW, a SAFE driver goes along with traffic - he doesn't cut people off or tailgate, but he also doesn't act like a frigging rolling-roadblock.

I don't mean to be a bad driver. But lots of times people pull over to let me pass and I feel awful! Did I make that person nervous??? I guess so.

I admit I speed a lot. I get an insane amount of pleasure from eating in the car. I try really hard not to do other things while I'm driving but I really believe in multi-tasking! And I swear, too. When I'm driving I say words I would never say in normal life. Yikes. Okay, I've confessed.

But one thing I'm not -- I'm never intentionally rude or angry at people who are slower than I am. That's just not right!!

LW, it's a jungle out there. It's really a very harsh world. If you're feeling pressured by it all you need to fight back with a 1-800EATSHIT bumper sticker or something. But if you're just not up to it, can you commute with someone else for a while?

As for the cop who gave you the ticket -- you should have fought it in court. Sometimes there are unique circumstances and a person really doesn't deserve a ticket. You should have fought it. If nothing else you would feel better about the process.

re: Ticket - pay a lawyer $400 and you can get down to "Improper Equipment" with no points. The court just wants your money.

re: speaking of songs about nasty drivers, an old friend's wife used to like to strip (no not furniture finishing, she worked at a strip club) to "You're an Asshole", about somebody who cut the songwriter off in traffic. One stanza is

'I talked to your mother, just the other night,

I said "you son's an asshole", she said "Yep I guess you're right"

All your friends are assholes, you've got an asshole for a wife,

And the way it looks like, you'll be an asshole the rest of your life'

Seriously LW, there will always be some jackasses on the road (I hear Massachusetts is the worst). It's mostly not personal.