Road Rage : Driving out the Devil within

By Andrew S., GHS Minister - Posted 13/05/2008

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Picture this : It's the Saturday before the Superbowl and time to do the grocery shopping. All you can think about is the party you are going to have, the chili you’re going to make, and your favorite team coming out on top. The ride to the supermarket was quite uneventful, but the parking lot is another story. Wait! There’s a car backing out - right near the door! It can’t get much better than this. Your indicator is on, and you are waiting patiently while the exiting driver carefully backs their vehicle out of the spot. With a neighborly salute the spot has become yours and you’re just about to pull in. Your foot is moving from the brake to the gas when suddenly someone else pulls in to YOUR spot. Blood begins to boil, your horn begins to honk, and before you know it you are out of your car and threatening the other driver with your ice scraper.

Although it is almost laughable, scenes like this are becoming commonplace across the country. Road Rage has the ability to bring out the Neanderthal tendencies of even the most cosmopolitan people. But is it just inconsiderate or pushy behavior that causes drivers behind the wheel to react aggressively ?

The psychology of Road Rage has been the subject of much study for over a decade. In 1997, the House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee heard testimony from Dr. Leon James, Professor of Traffic Psychology at the University of Honolulu, Hawaii. In his testimony, Dr. James observed that “the pace of life has increased for the majority of the population. Many have commented on the general feeling of loss of control in their lives. And yet it is human and natural to seek a sense of control in our lives, we want to feel we're getting somewhere, that we're not wasting time, that we're doing the right and just thing, that we're free to pursue our own interest- unfettered.” Couple our lost feelings of control with stress from jobs, relationships, and increasing financial pressures, and the result can be an edgy psyche ready to erupt at the thought of being cut off by another driver.

Due to the violent nature of Road Rage, incidents commonly end in injury and even death. During the same 1997 House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing, testimony was also heard from Ricardo Martinez M.D, the then head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Dr. Martinez testified that road rage was a factor in two-thirds of the 41,907 car crash fatalities in 1996, and was present in one-third of the nonfatal crashes in that same year which resulted in approximately three million injuries. Dr. Martinez also remarked that “the more serious the crash, the more likely that aggressive driving was involved.”

Learning of these statistics only confirms what I often feel inside me when I encounter inconsiderate drivers on the road. But that still leaves me with the question, “So what am I supposed to do when some nasty driver cuts me off---no signal, nothing, just zooms into my lane right in front of me with no warning, just inches from hitting my car----and I want to catch up to him and take my steering wheel lock and knock his head off?”

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