What’s the first thing that happens to you when you hear that noise?  At a light?  Walking across the street?  On the sidewalk?  In your apartment a few floors above the street?

Universally, your brain thinks:  “Are they beeping at me?”  Then your pulse quickens, fight or flight takes over and you become tense and angry.

Why could they be beeping?  Maybe they saw a friend going the other way, maybe they were trying to warn someone that their trunk was open or to be careful about something else.  Also, maybe they were preventing an accident because others were not paying attention to the road.  Maybe you were not paying attention either and they were beeping to tell you the light had changed.

Now, I get mad too when the light changes and Richard Petty behind me can’t wait to get off the line in anticipation of a career setting win at Daytona.  But, just maybe I am overreacting too.