Road Rage – The Facts and How to Handle It
November 29th 2006 10:09
Wikipedia defines road rage as “a term used to refer to criminally violent behavior by a driver of an automobile, which thus causes accidents or incidents on roadways.” Manifestations of road rage include cutting people off, speeding, tailgating other drivers, shouting verbal assault and giving other drivers ‘the finger’. Road rage is all about people not being able to control their temper and lashing out at other drivers or pedestrians.
And this violence doesn’t have to come from the driver aiming at another driver; it can be a passenger against a pedestrian or other motorist as well. A report by the Australian Academy of Science states that researchers at the University of Western Australia surveyed offence reports compiled by police for the years 1991 to 1995 for incidents of road rage, and found that 797 road rage incidents had occurred in WA over the 5 years, and also that there was a generally increasing trend (from 119 incidents in 1991 to 198 in 1995). So the conclusion is: we are getting angrier!
Although, this road rage didn’t seem to materialise into anything fatal. According to the Australian Bureau of Transport Safety, the number of road fatalities actually declined from 30 per 100,000 people in 1970 to under 10 per 100,000 in 1997. The overall number of fatalities declined from 3798 in 1970 to 1764 in 1997, despite the rapid growth in the number of cars on the road (4.8 million in 1970 compared to 11.4 million in 1997).
That said, since 1997 the fatality rate has done the reverse and actually rose to 1818 deaths in 2000. So maybe the failing public transport system (well in Sydney anyway) has finally taken it’s toll and forced even more commuters to switch to driving to work and maybe work has become more stressful with the increased hours and the struggle to balance work and home life that have both amplified over the past few years, leading to more road rage.
How to Manage Road Rage
The Australian Academy of Science report says that some psychologists recommend relaxation therapy for those that succumb to road rage, and driving manuals emphasise that people should use defensive driving techniques to help decrease their chances of becoming a victim of road rage. Ideas like following at a safe distance between your car and the one in front of you, and using your blinkers when changing lanes will mean you will be provoking less road rage by other drivers. Always empathise when driving - try to think about how other drivers would feel (and hence retaliate) if you cut them off or tailgated them.
If you are still really angry but don’t want to cause any motor accidents, maybe you would like to try Road Rage Cards. With these, you can expose the cards to fellow drivers who are driving inconsiderately. Although, by helping you cool down these cards may do more harm than good to the readers, so be careful!
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