He cut me off.' 'She wouldn't let me pass.' 'Nobody gives me the finger.' 'I would never had shot him if he hadn't rear-ended me.' 'He practically ran me off the road'what was I supposed to do?' These and many other frightening 'reasons' came from those who were associated with incidents that had resulted in injury or death on our roadways, but what exactly is 'road rage' or aggressive driving? Is it truly a national problem? Is it a phenomenon of congested urban areas, or is it happening elsewhere? Who were the typical aggressors? What was setting them off? What can be done to stop or simply just avoid the problem?
In order to understand the problem, we must know what it is. Aggressive driving or road rage is defined as an incident in which an angry or impatient motorist or passenger intentionally injures or kills another motorist, passenger, or pedestrian in response to a traffic dispute altercation or grievance. Oddly enough, this includes incidents when an angry or vengeful motorist intentionally drives his or her vehicle into a building or other structure or property. What goes through the minds of those who commit these senseless acts on our roadways? What leads up to the final crime and what eventually triggers of these people?
The psychological process leading up to the final and the final triggering of the anger are all part of a somewhat long and complex process by which the committer of the act goes through and eventually commits the crime. As it turns out, aggressive driving is rarely the result of a single incident, such as a stolen parking space or being cut off by traffic by another driver. Rather, they seem to be the result of personal attitudes and the accumulation of stress in the motorist's life. The so-called reasons for disputes mentioned earlier are actually triggers. In most human behavior, there is a stated and unstated, conscious and unconscious, motivation. The motivation for these traffic disputes is no exception. While the event that sparks the incident may be trivial, in every case there exists some reservoir of anger, hostility, or frustration that is released by the triggering incident. Road rage is also not confined to any specific area or types of roadways; it as common on inner-city streets as it is on nation highways. It is also not subject to anyone of a specific profile. Therefore, wherever one may venture in his or her vehicle, there is always the foreboding risk that any fellow motorist right behind you could snap at any moment and that you could be in his or her path of devastation ('Mental Disorder').
By knowing what triggers aggressive diving, it is much easier to avoid highway showdowns with enraged motorists. The best kind of safety in this situation, as in most other of life's dangers, is passive safety. Not triggering a potential road rage candidate is probably the best way to steer clear of the problem. A common practice of avoidance is to follow proper driving procedures. Actions such as changing lanes without signaling or 'cutting off' other drivers, blocking the passing lane, and tailgating are common actions that set someone off the edge ('Mental Disorder'). In addition to plainly avoiding the latter two, if you do inadvertently cut someone off, apologize'immediately. A survey by ...