Horns!

Yesterday I was in a traffic jam caused by the temporary lights by South Croydon bus garage.  I stopped just short of the petrol station entrance so there was a gap in the queue for anyone to pull into it.  The man behind started beeping and beeping and beeping and beeping but I didn't want to move forward because I'd be blocking the entrance so I just let him work his way into a seething rage whilst the highway code was observed.  Eventually the lights changed and we moved forward.  He had wanted to pull into the petrol station.  By this time he was shouting "Wanker! Wanker! Wanker!" all over the place... I just let him.  People stared at him.  If I had moved forward he wouldn't have been able to get in there anyway as I'd be blocking the entrance.  So it made no sense.  But the highway code was observed.  Driving the other way earlier I nearly drove into the back of someone by Tesco's as I was distracted by a man in a Chelsea Tractor tooting his horn at the roundabout as he overtook everyone on the inside.  I have to wonder if road rage is getting worse.  It seems to get everywhere.  Even if I pull off immediately from a set of traffic lights there's someone tooting their horn as if I've been sat there for two minutes.  I wonder if I'm only noticing all this now because of the car being off the road for two months whereas previously I'd been inured by it's sheer frequency...  It's so much more peaceful on the bus... I may have to return to public transport before I develop hornophobia like Oliver Hardy in Saps at Sea...  According to Autocar however it seems what I'm experiencing is not a statistical blip : "The number of police reports of crimes caused by road rage or aggressive driving increased by 34% between 2021 and 2025 (the newest data available), and Department for Transport (DfT) data reveals 10% of the 1454 deaths on Britain's roads in 2023 were linked to aggressive behaviour." They go on to blame the phenomenon on an increase in the number of roadworks and an increase in the amount of stress in people's lives... Still it could be worse, I could be a lollipop person.