By Jessica Feagin, Intern and UAB Community Health and Human Services Student

Road rage can be defined as uncontrolled or violent anger in response to a driving-related behavior, which is a factor in many fatal motor vehicle accidents (Progressive, 2022). Some examples of road rage could be yelling at each other, honking your horn, making rude gestures, tailgating, or weaving through traffic. More extreme examples of road rage could be a physical confrontation or intentional ramming into other cars. Most people experiencing road rage are usually deal with a stressful situation or some emotional crisis. Most people have probably dealt with road rage, even if they were calm. It is vital to handle the situation appropriately, not to make things worse and put yourself in danger.

According to AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety’s 2019 data, nearly 80 percent of drivers expressed significant anger, aggression, or road rage behind the wheel at least once in the previous 30 days (AAA, 2019.). In addition, an AAA Foundation study looked at over 10,000 road rage incidents over seven years, which resulted in at least 218 murders and 12,610 injuries.

If you are prone to road rage and think this has become a problem, some steps to take could be to get adequate rest, limit alcohol, leave earlier for your destination, play soothing music, be aware of your driving, and put pictures of your loved ones on the dashboard to remind you that you want to come home to them. If you are a victim or target of road rage, don’t make eye contact, pull off the road or take the next exit if necessary, calm yourself, don’t return gestures, change lanes if being tailgated, stay behind the angry person, and if someone wants to pass you, slow down and let them (Lawrence, 2003). If the road rager is following you, do not hesitate to call the authorities. Do not take a chance. That can be a very dangerous and serious situation. Protect yourself and others, and say no to road rage! Have you ever been a victim of road rage? If so, let us know about your experience and how you handled the situation.

References

Aggressive driving. (n.d.). AAA Exchange – Advocacy. Communication. Education. https://exchange.aaa.com/safety/driving-advice/aggressive-driving/

How to deal with aggressive drivers. (n.d.). An Insurance Company You Can Rely On | Progressive. https://www.progressive.com/answers/how-to-deal-with-aggressive-drivers/

Lawrence, J. (2003, February 3). Road rage root cause. WebMD. https://www.webmd.com/women/features/root-cause-of-road-rage