Enraged over a disputed parking spot, a Mississauga woman spat on a fellow motorist. On May 4, she and her partner were angry after losing a spot at Humber Bay Shores in Etobicoke and she took out her anger on the man she felt stole her spot. It’s hard to know what’s more shocking – the fact that one driver spat at another driver or that anyone could be so fervently determined to visit Humber Bay Shores.
This is not a new low when it comes to road rage. It’s not even a Toronto-centric anomaly. Last month, in Vernon, British Columbia, a woman was yelled at and spat on for parking in a handicapped spot. This, despite the fact the woman is missing a leg below her knee. In Guelph last year, a driver was incensed by how long it was taking another driver to park, so he yelled at him and then spat on him. That same year in Guelph, two women were arrested for spitting on a woman in a road rage incident. In the British metropolis of Milton Keynes, an argument over parking in a McDonald’s ended in profanity and hurled spit. In North Carolina in July, a man was arrested for spitting on a woman’s car.
Parking and hurling sputum seems to be a universal vice.
For those who are unfamiliar with the act, spitting on someone or in someone’s face is a very hateful thing to do. It’s in the Bible. Job says, “”They abhor me and stand aloof from me, And they do not refrain from spitting at my face.” The Roman soldiers spat on Jesus: Matthew wrote: “Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands.” Job is beset by Satan with God’s permission. The Romans were angry at Jesus because he had founded a monotheistic religion that would overtake their empire.
Neither of these guys stole a parking space.
Spitting on someone is considered assault in the Criminal Code. Rightly so. It’s a truly awful and uniquely human act. Dogs, when they fight, don’t spit on one another. They have too much class.
What possesses people? Well, don’t blame the traffic. It’s the catalyst but not the cause. American psychotherapist Ana Jovanovic told NBC News that road rage is tied to deeper resentments and anger. These get triggered by traffic incidents. “We can be feeling upset over something that happened at work, or with a friend or a partner. The ‘turn’ we make is allowing angry thoughts to occupy our minds … We start perceiving relatively neutral behaviours of other drivers as insulting, disrespectful, upsetting, invalidating, frustrating.”
And then, KABOOM or, if you’re feeling phlegmy, the spit flies.
Road rage isn’t just fist fights and spit. It can manifest itself in less extreme fashion. A profane gesture, a burst of expletives, tailgating, honking, speeding. They all qualify. We’ve all been guilty at one time. I’ve only known a few people who never succumbed. Comedian Harland Williams used to greet road rage from other drivers by replying with weird pleasantries such as, “Hello there my little strawberry prince!” The look on the faces of those who received his cheerful replies was priceless.
My uncle Tom Jamieson was another. He never cracked. I asked him once how he could remain so placid. “If I got angry every time someone did something stupid in traffic,” he said, “I’d be angry all the time.”
As for the “Lady at Humber Bay Shores?” She has been accused of spreading the “Karenavirus.”
She probably feels remorse. She certainly feels stupid. After all, according to the recipient of her saliva, it was a misunderstanding and he was going to vacate the spot for her until she started hurling obscenities and let fly the spittle. Now, she’s humiliated and could be arrested. All because she couldn’t get the parking spot she wanted.
Let her transgression be a lesson to us all. Don’t spit on anyone and try to your keep your fierce, all-consuming longing to visit Humber Bay Shores in perspective.