Everyone at one time or another has experienced that tightening feeling in your chest, the red tint in your vision, or the feeling of your face on fire. Some bozo just cut you off, is on the phone, doesn’t signal, is driving too slow, keeps you from making a light; all of a sudden the famous words “lets get ready to rumble” come to mind. Sound familiar? It makes you tense just reading about it, doesn’t it?
It is pretty clear there are a lot of idiots driving on the road. The good drivers quickly get tried of the morons’ driving on the roads everyday. By giving into the temptation of acknowledging the road rager, you have sunk to the lowest level.
Road rage is defined as violent behavior exhibited by drivers in traffic, often as a manifestation of stress”. Road rage is often associated with aggressive behavior. People do some bizarre things when they are angry. They run you off the road, brandish a weapon, yell, make obscene gestures, and even follow you to your destination.
To avoid the threat of a road rager, the victim must control the situation. Here are some tips to try next time you are a victim of road rage:
Ø If being tailgated, change lanes.
Ø Don’t make eye contact. By making eye contact, you acknowledge them.
Ø Stay behind the person that is angry. They are less likely to do damage to you or your vehicle if you are behind them.
Ø Don’t return gestures.
Road ragers are very angry, self centered, power hungry and vindictive people. They could careless about others and often are not thinking of themselves.
Our roadways are very overcrowded so it is normal for some to play chicken with others. The rager could be unhappy in his or her life, for example at home, professional, or upset with a family member.
Secondly, the road rager can become upset at the absent minded or stupid driving of the person talking on the cell phone. However, the absent minded or the person talking on the cell phone can become a road rage themselves. Verbal confrontations on the phone while driving can often lead to confrontations on the road.
Another cause of road rage could simply be a misunderstanding between drivers. A driver may make an error of judgment but the perception of the other driver is that he or she is driving aggressively, which ultimately leads into road rage.
Human beings are very territorial. As individuals we have personal space or territory, which is essentially our defense mechanism. Anyone who invades this territory is potentially an aggressor. The time it takes the aggressor to cross this territory gives the defender time to prepare to avoid the attack. On the flip side, if in a tight space such as a subway train or a crowed bus, the space can be reduced dramatically. This can cause tension. In most cases if territory is “invaded”, if someone stands too close, our social education tends to result in defensive body language rather than physical aggression.
The car is just an extension of territory. If a vehicle threatens this territory by cutting in, for example, the driver will most likely carry out a defensive maneuver. This could be backed up by carrying out an attempt to re-establish territory by honking the horn or flashing lights, which are probably the most common.
In some circumstances, the defending driver may wish to take it one step further to satisfy his true feelings of the incident. I spoke to 3 friends, 3 family members and 3 co-workers and found 9 out of 9 of them admitted to having chased after a driver. These results were quite shocking but not unrealistic. With several different levels of stress such as nutritional stress (poor diet or inadequate nutrients), emotional stress (negative emotions or increased stress in daily life), physical stress (illness or headache) and environmental stress (too much traffic or inadequate highways), it’s no wonder everyone is so angry all the time.
On a more positive note, there are ways to handle road rage. Here are just some examples:
1. Think positive thoughts.
2. Don’t challenge a driver that is angry.
3. Eat properly and get plenty of rest
4. Practice safe driving.
5. Remember people make mistakes.
6. Avoid angry drivers. Report them to authorities or simply make a turn to get away from them, even if it’s out of your way.
7. Reduce stress levels by eating healthy and staying fit.
Although these positive suggestions are easier said than done, if everyone takes a deep breath before preparing to drive and learn to let things slide off your shoulder perhaps it would make a stress free environment.
