ROAD RAGE!!
A road rage incident recently occurred in Jackson Tennessee that resulted in one driver shooting into another car! Luckily no one was hurt.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), “Aggressive driving occasionally escalates to gesturing in anger or yelling at another motorist, confrontation, physical assault, and even murder. NHTSA describes aggressive driving as, “ The operation of a motor vehicle in a manner that endangers or is likely to endanger persons or property”. “Road Rage” describes angry and violent behaviors at the extreme of the aggressive driving continuum. Aggressive driving is a traffic violation, while extreme road rage may be a criminal offense.
Almost everybody has experienced road rage to some extent and it is usually caused by aggressive driving practices. People who are normally very calm individuals may become terribly upset because of dangerous or discourteous driving by other motorists. Let’s take a look at some things you can do to keep from becoming involved in a road rage incident.
Don’t race through an intersection to try and save a little time. Trying to “beat” the red light is really dumb. Depending on the municipality, most traffic control devices take about 5 seconds to go from yellow to red, but those 5 seconds may be very important to you. If you are 5 seconds late to lunch, they may run out of food! Of course, when you have to wait for the officer to write you a ticket or take the time to give the other driver your insurance information while you are waiting for a wrecker to tow your car because you hit somebody when you blew the light, you may want to change your strategy next time.
Tailgating creates a dangerous risk and doesn’t really accomplish any good. Not only is tailgating infuriating to the person in front of you (really makes me mad because you are endangering my health), it also puts YOU at risk if you are the one who is tailgating. If something happens to the car in front of you that makes them slam on their brakes, you will be very lucky if you can observe them braking and react in time to keep from running into the car ahead of you. That will almost always earn you a ticket for following too closely, not to mention the possible physical harm to yourself and others. I cannot tell you how many times I have been tailgated until I can move over and the car behind can fly by me, only to pull up next to them at the next red light. The driver of that vehicle put everybody at risk for nothing!
Flashing your lights at the car in front of you may infuriate other drivers. It makes you feel like a real hero when you finally get a chance to pass them and the other driver reminds you of your grandmother. She is just trying to get back and forth to the grocery store safely. But that’s OK, if you manage to bully her out of your way, you can probably get to your destination at least 30 seconds quicker!
One thing that infuriates me is when I am in the left lane of a four lane divided highway and there are 3 cars in front of me and the right hand lane is full, when suddenly a car, traveling at a high rate of speed, gets right on my rear bumper and the driver begins flashing his lights at me to get out of his way. Can’t the idiot see there is nowhere I can go?
Lay off the horn unless you are trying to make another driver aware of your presence or need to get a pedestrian or an animal out of the road. It seems that some drivers feel if anyone does anything to offend them while they are on the road, they should be sure and blow their horn as long and as loud as possible. This is a sure fire way to make everybody mad!
Obscene gestures directed at the other driver don’t help to calm the situation either. A friendly wave and a smile may help defuse the atmosphere. It may not feel good to act friendly when you are mad at the other driver, but it is better than having a violent encounter. If you can’t bring yourself to be deferential, the next best thing to do may be to ignore the aggressor. Don’t make eye contact with the other driver.
If you drive while being distracted by such things as your cell phone or an attractive partner in the passenger seat, this may cause you to ease off the road, hit your brakes, drive too slowly, or drift across the center line. This is not only dangerous behavior, but also upsetting to other motorists.
Keeping your headlights on “high beam” all the time is another way to aggravate other drivers. It may allow you to see the road in front of you a little better, but it blinds the car coming in your direction at 70 MPH. This places you in danger of a head – on collision and angers the driver you are meeting in the other lane. If you are behind a vehicle and place your lights on “high” it tends to distract and partially blind the driver in front of you. That is not comfortable and can be very aggravating.
Suddenly changing lanes without signaling can quickly anger drivers behind you and may cause a wreck. Be aware of developing situations such as stopped traffic and merging traffic and prepare to avoid these situations. Use your turn signals and brake lights to let other drivers know you intend to change lanes, turn, or slow down or stop. Not only is this courteous but it also makes everybody safer.
Almost every vehicle that I am familiar with has a “blind spot” in your vision from the rear view mirrors. This means a car passing you or driving in another lane may be invisible to you unless you glance over your shoulder to make sure the lane you wish to move to offers a clear path. Once again, always use your turn signal to alert other motorists of your intentions.
Most of us react to rude behavior with more rude behavior on our part because we tend to mirror one another’s actions. If you retaliate, it will escalate. This is not a movie, don’t be a hero. Remember the statistic on how many aggressive drivers carry a gun. You may be carrying a gun too, but if you really want to shoot another person simply because they irritated you with their driving habits, you probably don’t need to be carrying a firearm.
Stress can be a major factor in producing violent behavior. Some of the things that add to the normal stress of driving include, running late, being blocked by merging lanes, heavy traffic, being “cut off”, and construction delays and detours. Understand, you don’t know what the other driver may be going through emotionally or physically, or what they may have on their mind. Other drivers are not necessarily bad people, they may be having a bad day or going through a bad experience.
Common courtesy and calmness may keep you out of a very dangerous or damaging encounter. Even if you appear to be the “winner” in a situation, you may be the real loser in the long run because of criminal charges, physical injury, legal fees, and embarrassment. Try to be cool!
References for this article include:
National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA)
SafeMotorist.com
Startling Road Rage Facts and Statistics / BrandonGaille.com
My book, “You Can Tell ME, Effective Interviewing Made Simple”, by Jim Leach, is available in paperback or Kindle version from Amazon.com.