Proving a point at the expense of the safety of one's child

When my nieces are in the car with me, my driving automatically becomes ten times better than what it is in their absence. This is mostly because I care for and adore them immensely and would be angered if they were to be put in harms way - especially by me. It is also partly because children often learn from what they see their elders do. Although driving can be quite an aggressive exercise, as the adult in the car, I am the example. The way I carry myself will become indelible in their young easily impressionable minds and, thus, needs to be relatively  appropriately executed. Of course, we're all human beings and are all susceptible to flaws and mistakes. However, what I saw on Monday night on my way to work was a gross disregard for child safety and an example set by the adults which would teach the child that road rage excuses reckless driving.

The mother of three, all of whom were in the car, was driving a black Toyota Corolla. She had pulled out of a 7-11 into the inner lane of two lanes. The Rav4 in the other lane was a Green P plater and must have been given a fright by the sudden appearance of her car. The Rav4, who I shall to refer to as car B, honked at her furiously. The mother of three, whose care I shall refer to as car A, did nothing about it and continued to drive. One might think that this would be the end of the whole saga, but sadly it wasn't.

Car B then proceeded to swerve into car A's path. Shocked by this flippant driving, car A honked at car B several times. In response to this, car B swerved into car A's path another two to three times. Stressful lives and busy schedules exacerbate this issue of road rage, however, with kids in the car, getting even, surely, is not a priority. The ensuing actions of this mother was, in my view, inexcusable. She slowed the car down, moved behind Car B and tried to overtake Car B from the right hand side - she was originally on the left hand lane of two lanes, this means that by overtaking from the right, she would have to be driving against oncoming traffic for some time. As this proved to be ineffective, she then slowed her car down, returned to her original lane, slowed down at the traffic lights then swerved in front of Car B as it was coming to a stop. However, Car B, having seen Car A's manic attempts to "prove a point" decided against breaking and instead ran straight into the front wheel of Car A.

This was an easily avoidable, absolutely inexcusable reckless accident which caused a traffic jam and rendered me late for work. The only person who seemed to be utterly amused by the events was the guy in the car next to mine. He was laughing and clapping at the spectacle he had just witnessed. I tried desperately to hide a grin that was forming because of this when I eventually drove past the accident. When I saw the three young children in the car, my grin immediately turned to concern and then disappointment. How could a mother show such little concern for the well being of her own children?