When someone whizzes past me on the freeway, changing lanes and slipping between cars without slowing anyone down I think, "good driver." Riding in the same car with a person like this has always revealed that the person is frustrated and angry with everyone else. You may be different.

When a grandma is doing 45 in the fast lane and is afraid to either speed up or move over, I can get frustrated. I am not impelled to ride her bumper, assume she must be an idiot, honk and shout curses though. It's a simple thing to just go around her. Flipping her the bird? Why?

Getting even 'cause they're an idiot. Getting you just due. Scaring others. Punishing people. Teaching lessons. Getting tickets, being sent to anger management class...

Can an excellent driver not just enjoy his/her skill? If not, why not?

I think it's the whole... "being young + reckless"...

I have to confess.. I am one of those "fast" drivers. Although, I don't think I've ever flipped anyone off... or even yelled... I'm usually too busy weaving in and out of the roads.

Who is to say that just because you are in a hurry that you are pissed off? Maybe you are just running a little late or you need to get somewhere fast because of an emergency. Some people are just born with a lead foot. I wouldn't necessarily say that all people who drive fast are angry. I have a tendency to drive fast, but that is because I always overbook myself and I am in a hurry. If I get behind someone who is going the speed limit and this slows me down, I can't be angry at anyone else but myself for putting this undue pressure on me.

However, if I get behind someone (like the grandma) who does not know how to drive, is going too slow, has their turn signal on for 10 miles without turning anywhere and is totally out of it, I just try to get around them them. I am too scared to honk or do anything towards them because I am fearful that they will hit the brakes, swerve or have a heart attack!! Yeah, I may shake my head and call them an idiot, but it certainly does not raise my blood pressure. An angry person will be an angry person, no matter what situation they are put in.

I don't know if I answered your question, but that it what came to my mind.

Not necessarily a good guy... just young, reckless, and very impatient.

Fast isn't necessarily dangerous... as long as you can handle yourself. And a lot of older people will say, "You THINK you can handle yourself...but you can't..." which may be true... I have a little bit of that invincible feeling in me, but I don't ever pull stupid moves while driving... I never go past a certain speed... and I know to indicate and such.

I just feel that it's a bit unreasonable that I'm forced to go 55 mph... on an interstate highway... at 3am... when there are about 5 - 6 cars around.

When you get older and have more sense you will discover that driving fast and weaving in and out of traffic is juvenile. I don't consider them good drivers. Sorry. I consider them dangerous egomaniacs. If you do the speed limit you will arrive at your destination maybe 2 minutes behind the guy who keeps passing everyone and just having to get ahead of everybody. Is your life worth 2 minutes? Guess not. Also, my mother was granny leadfoot and could not drive slow if you paid her a fortune. So much for the slow granny myth.

I once was on a Texas highway when it was extremely windy. A car zoomed around me to the right and I said to myself - gee there goes an accident waiting to happen. Sure enough less than a mile up the road there was the fancy car in a one car wreck. He had totally lost control on a curve and was blown off the road. I guess he was a good driver, too? Huh? Nope.

P.S. I hear that those kind of drivers make good organ donors also.

Perhaps. I don't consider myself a "good" driver because I can weave in and out of traffic while going 90+ mph. I consider myself a "good" driver because I have neither gotten a ticket in the past 6 years of driving, nor have I ever been in an accident, nor have I had any close calls to being in an accident. I just drive fast.

Like Isneeze, I drive fast and somewhat aggressive but I never do the rude things like cutting people off, tailgating, cussing etc...
I think the people that are like that are pure idiots. Like they cut you off and cuss you out and race down the road like an accident waiting to happen and then you are right next to them at the red light anyway so what is the point!

I still remember a few years back I was going 99 mph down the back stretch of the island near where I live on the Ohio River. And I was use to keeping pace with all the other cars but this one day we were going around 100 to 105 and a little old beat up 4 cylinder Ford Escort passed us all up!
LOL

Yeah, 3am, 5-6 cars on the road and the speed limit is 55. Once, I was doing around 85 and a cop whizzed by. He just waved and flashed his lights. Maybe there should be express lanes (in the USA) that allow fast, "safe" driving, like the Autobahn. It gets dangerous when there is a mix of traffic that demands extreme caution. Fast drivers, I know a lot of old ones, maybe they should grow up but if I'm in a hurry, they're the most quick ride in town.

My favorite was when I was pulled over at 2am... in Tennessee.

I was doing 90 on a 55... on a straight road... with NO cars on the road. When I mean NO cars, I meant NONE. I could see a good 3 miles ahead of me, and NO ONE was on the road.

I get pulled over.

Officer: License and registration

I hand it to him without arguing.

Officer: You have any idea how fast you were going?
Me: 92?
Officer: You know the speed limit?
Me: 55?
Officer: You know how fast you were going over?
Me: 37?
Officer: You did that in your head?
Me: Yes... I'm a math major.
Officer: You got a reason for going that fast?
Me: Sir, with all due respect... it's 2am and I don't see a single car on this entire straight road.
Officer: OK.

He goes back to his cruiser... looks up my info... finds that I have had no tickets, no warrants, etc... comes back,

Officer: You drive safe now, all right?
Me: Yes sir. Thanks.

Isneeze - You are certainly lucky. The last time that I got pulled over for going way over the speed limit I was not able to get out of it. And they say that women get out of tickets more than men.

Being able to see the cop car a mile away is a plus!

In my state the yellow light stays yellow long enough for a car or two to get through.
I would always watch in my rear view mirror and watch 3 to 5 MORE cars going through AFTER I KNEW the light had to have been red. So me not wanting to get wrecked into would never stop for yellow. SO I was in Ohio one time and going through the yellow which I had no idea the light went green, yellow, red just that fast. The po-po pull me over and say "you
realize you just went through a red light?" I told him that in da Burgh if you stop for a yellow light you are going to have 5 cars rammed into your tail end. So he checked my info and told me "....when in Ohio......"