It has been said that no one can understand the mind of the
medieval knight, and the implication is that his blend of
arrogance, quick temper, risk-taking and irrationality is a
thing of the past. Curiously enough, the automobile has created
its own species of knights. Lulled into a false sense of
security by the armour around him, flattered by the speed which
he controls with the touch of the foot, arrogant towards those
with inferior mounts or with no mounts at all, the modern
motorist will display chivalry towards an attractive woman, pay
grudging deference to the owner of a vehicle which is clearly
superior, but otherwise behave with stupid over-competitive
hostility to every other road-user. The clearest conviction of
the modern motorist is that every other driver is in the wrong;
he is driving too fast, too slowly, too timidly or too
aggressively. Even the carnage of the multiple accident leaves
him relatively unmoved; the massacre of a few peasants had much
the same effect on a feudal baron’s emotions.