Road rage and anger management behind the wheel
This article is about road rage and how to avoid it
Road rage. Personally I have never seen a road get angry with anyone
but I am willing to accept that
there is always a first time
At its simplest level road rage is an excuse that morons use for their own bad driving behaviour. They are arrogant, short tempered morons. In my opinion, that is the fact of the matter.
As you have probably worked out I do not sit on the fence on this subject. There are a few simple techniques to help avoid confrontation with these people. I will try to answer a few questions and give some advice on this apparently contentious subject.
I have posed below a few thoughts on this phenomenon and my own responses to them. Some of the titles below will appear to be ridiculous to you whilst others may seem quite reasonable. What is acceptable to one person can be totally unacceptable to others so I should point out here that my opinions are in no way an official policy or backed up by law or anything like that.
Personally I have strong convictions on the subject of the so called 'road rage' phenomenon. After tackling a couple of misconceptions as I choose to call them I will try to help you with some survival tips.
The person suffering from road rage is a victim!
Bullshit! The people who they are trying to bully are the victims. This is something that I have heard used as an excuse occasionally. I have asked why people think this and the most sensible answer that I have heard is that, 'no one would possibly choose to be as wound up as that would they?' This is of course correct for people who care about others, a diminishing group sadly, and on the surface I would agree but usually the people driving badly do so for one of the following reasons.
- They think that they will get somewhere quicker.
- Other people are too slow and should get out of the way.
- They believe that they are quite simply better drivers than the rest of us.
- They just cannot be bothered to drive properly.
- They disagree with the laws of the road for whatever reason and therefore refuse to obey them.
If any of these are correct then their stress, if you believe that they are suffering from any, is self induced based on either arrogance or bad planning and they are entirely responsible for both.
For the person performing the road rage to be a victim, even to the smallest extent, they would need to be able to demonstrate that they are under extreme pressure from external sources. Even if you are under some pressure from others the responsibility lies with you for the standard of driving that you maintain on the public roads. Never think that being short of time is an excuse.
Why do they do it?
Because they can get away with it.
In its simplest form this is the true answer. Nobody is officially going to do anything about this problem because they do not have the resources or the political will.
There is no money to be raised from this issue and public safety is something which is only paid lip service to because it is only on rare occasions that it is a big enough issue for the powers that are in charge of the police authorities to want to do anything about it.
The police do not have the time, because of other 'priorities', to take on deliberately bad drivers even when they plainly see them.
I have not asked anyone official for their opinion on this, it is purely based upon the evidence that I see infront of me out there on the road every day. I see some diabolical driving happen right infront of police cars and they do nothing. Anyone who is tempted to drive in such a manner sees that they can get away with it, so they do.
Peer pressure is the excuse most often offered on behalf of groups of youngsters in cars who drive in this manner. Personally I am not having any of it. The need to treat other people so badly to get something that you want is nothing to do either with age, sex or how many people are in the car.
If you are being victimised by one of these bullies keep calm
Responding to them either by actions that you take with your vehicle, words of mouth or the old favourite gesticulation can only possibly have one effect. It will make things worse.
Confrontation seems to be part of the reason for existence of this particular group of drivers. It is not necessarily sought but it is definately a challenge that has got to be risen to. Your voice or gesture must be exceeded by their own and, more dangerously, so must the actions that you take with your vehicle.
The ability to keep calm when presented with such a situation on the road is the mark of a driver who is better prepared for the stresses of modern driving. Let the idiots have their preconditioned mental breakdowns, the remainder of us should continue to go about our business unaffected by them.
I have been asked if I really practice what I preach here. The honest answer is yes. The sub-normal morons who seek, through their own arrogance and lack of concern for others safety, to pass me or force me to stop so that they can make a gap are welcome to the road ahead of me.
If they come from the rear then I want them infront of me where I can see them rather than behind me where I have less control and they are more likely to hit me if I have to stop quickly. If they are in an oncoming vehicle then I want to get them through the gap so that they can be gone.
My day as a driving instructor contains enough problems without seeking to contain another one.
You are neither the symptom of their bad driving nor the cure
In summary I would remind you that their bad driving practises are not your fault no matter what they shout or which ever gesture they use. You must not try to correct them or respond in any way. Response is often seen as a challenge.
These idiots would do exactly the same whether you were there or not. It is nothing personal that they have against you. There is no particular type of vehicle or driver that they particularly like to prey upon. They are arrogant enough to believe that everyone should be out of their way. They simply seem to believe through whatever deluded reasoning process that either they are better than the rest of us or that they are in more of a rush to get where they are going.
What is the cure for road rage?
The cure for this problem as I see it lies in two directions.
Firstly pressure from the families and friends of the idiot behind the wheel. Answer the following question honestly. Do you drive with anyone who you consider to fit into the group that I am talking about? If the answer is yes then answer another question. Do you give them grief about endangering your safety by driving so badly or on the basis that they are an absolute disgrace and an embarassment to be seen with? I already know the answer to that one so answer for yourself the question, "Why not?"
By objecting to their behaviour personally when you are in the car you may contribute to the safety of everyone else. Unless you are afraid of them that is. If not then the rest of us must assume that you are of the same calibre as they are, which let's face it, is what we all do when we see a car full of people behaving like this.
The second part of the cure has got to be the police. For as long as it remains so that the police turn a blind eye to bad driving then it will continue to increase.
You know as well as I do that the roads are getting worse. This state of affairs will only continue to get worse while the prats know that they will not be punished even if they are caught.
Personally I think that a few 'dangerous driving' convictions given plenty of publicity in the local press would do more good than any other measure.
Aah well. Time for me to climb down from my high horse, for a while...
