What Are the Causes of Road Rage?

"Road rage" is the term used to describe an unusually angry emotional response to conditions on the road while driving. Speeding, tailgating, flashing lights, weaving in and out of traffic, "cutting up" other drivers, sounding the horn, making obscene gestures and swearing at other drivers, if overtly habitual and aggressive, are all symptoms of this particularly anti-social and dangerous affliction. The causes, however, may not always arise purely from the road.

Stress

• If your job is stressing you out, take a break before you hit the road.

  The major cause of many problems in modern society is stress. If a driver is unusually stressed in his life it can manifest itself as anger and frustration in situations where concentration and attention to detail are required, like driving. Driving requires patience and a calm approach to adapting actions made by other drivers in order to maintain safety on the road. A person under extreme stress cannot cope when excess traffic means he is late for an appointment, or when he finds other erratic drivers on the road, or when pedestrians or cyclists seem to make bad decisions.

The Weather

• Weather can motivate rage on the road with distinctly unpleasant results.

  Those drivers susceptible to rage on the road must be exceptionally careful when extreme weather causes major changes in traffic flow and other driver's behavior. On an extremely hot day, humidity and heat can feel oppressive and uncomfortable. It can cause drivers to make mistakes which can anger someone prone to rage. Equally, when the weather is wet, cold, windy, and even snowy, the pressure upon a sufferer of rage is exascerbated beyond situations with which he can cope. These pressures can easily lead to frustration and awful consequences should the resulting anger not be controlled.

Bad Driving

• Rage can easily turn into a roadside confrontation with unhappy consequences.

  Experienced drivers may well suffer "road rage" due to an elevated impatience caused by other drivers who may not be as skilled. If a person's job requires her to be on the road a lot of the time she will encounter many more mistakes made by other drivers. Rage is appropriate if someone else causes a near life-threatening accident; it is understandable if you feel like you were almost killed. However, drivers with road rage are prone to punishing these mistakes made by other drivers by driving dangerously themselves, doing things like riding the rear bumper of a car in front, braking suddenly in front of a car behind, or stopping altogether and violently confronting the other driver. These reactions are excessive and dangerous and should be treated before any more driving takes place.

Activity in the Car

• Do not bring the argument into the car.

  As well as being vitally important for the driver to remain calm while driving, it is equally important that any passengers in the car remain calm as well. A domestic argument between two people in a relationship taking place in a car speeding down the highway or through a city center is a heavy distraction for the driver and compromises road safety in a serious way. Likewise, children screaming or crying, although more difficult to control, are equally triggers for rage that if unchecked could result in a driving mistake and a fight with another driver. These scenarios must be recognized and avoided by those with a propensity for rage.