Free Essays on Road Rage

Road Rage: Causes and Solutions Almost all drivers have experienced some occurrence of road rage. Most of these occurrences are as innocent as a rude gesture, but some drivers have lost their lives because of them. â€Å"Traffic is a cooperative activity†, when a driver decides to take control of the road, the consequences can again be fatal. Almost every driver on the road has been involved in one incident or another, no one is immune from road rage, and therefore it affects us all. Road rage is an act of aggression that can destroy the life of an innocent driver, but current research is helping drivers cope with the stress of everyday life on the road. Many cases of road rage are by simple misunderstandings. Whether it is that, a driver was not looking before he turned, or a he forgot that he forgot turn signal the signal on, people tend to take things the wrong way. Because of this, the term â€Å"road rage† was born. There are thousands of recorded accidents every year as a result from a simple mi sunderstanding on the road. For example, â€Å"an average of at least 1,500 men, women, and children are injured or killed each year in the United States as a result of aggressive driving† .The number 1,500 may seem like a lot, but that statistic taken from a report back in the mid 1990’s. Today, studies estimates that there were about 84,000 road rage incidents last year alone. That is exactly 56 times greater than what it was a few years ago. Not all of these incidents involved physical injuries, but they recorded all as aggressive incidents. Anyone can be at fault in a road rage situation. Race, sex, religion, age, or any other human characteristics, play no role in determining a common offender. Frequently, accidents of aggressive driving have tended to involve more than a simple rude gesture or a vile word. On many occurrences, drivers used weapons to vent their frustration on the road, â€Å"Without exaggeration, millions of... Free Essays on Road Rage Free Essays on Road Rage Road Rage What is causing people to act out in violence towards one another when poor judgment is used on the nation’s highways? Drivers of today experience a daily lesson in defensive driving while trying to maintain a polite reserved attitude. When careless drivers cut someone off, the â€Å"normal† reaction is to honk the horn, flash the lights, and in some cases, flip the old faithful finger. Nowadays, there are an alarming number of violent retort towards tailgaters and otherwise reckless drivers. The major cause of road rage stems from traffic congestion, and the lack of people’s patience. With the population growing at a faster rate than our roadways, major traffic jams are more frequent. This in itself is a big stressor. When this is accompanying a driver with the typical overstressed day, patience begins to fade rapidly and tensions may rise beyond control. This is the birth of road rage. Cases of road rage are reported not only nationwide, but also worldwide. Dominic Connell, a psychologist with the Automobile Association (AA) in Britain and author of a 1995 study titled â€Å"Road Rage,† states, â€Å"It is very difficult to communicate with someone in another car.† Occasionally it is difficult to determine the intentions of reckless drivers. Whether the driver’s recklessness is derived from poor driving skills, traffic induced stress or just plain rudeness, the retributions of victims are steadily becoming more violent. (38-41) On today’s busy highways, road rage has become a serious epidemic. A report recently published by the AAA foundation for traffic safety in Washington D.C., shows evidence of the serious incidents that occurred in the East Bay of California. It says, â€Å"A good Samaritan stops to help a stranded motorist during the morning commute, then tries to get back on the freeway in front of a creeping truck. The pickup driver would not let him in. The good Samaritan becomes violent and p... Free Essays on Road Rage Road Rage: Causes and Solutions Almost all drivers have experienced some occurrence of road rage. Most of these occurrences are as innocent as a rude gesture, but some drivers have lost their lives because of them. â€Å"Traffic is a cooperative activity†, when a driver decides to take control of the road, the consequences can again be fatal. Almost every driver on the road has been involved in one incident or another, no one is immune from road rage, and therefore it affects us all. Road rage is an act of aggression that can destroy the life of an innocent driver, but current research is helping drivers cope with the stress of everyday life on the road. Many cases of road rage are by simple misunderstandings. Whether it is that, a driver was not looking before he turned, or a he forgot that he forgot turn signal the signal on, people tend to take things the wrong way. Because of this, the term â€Å"road rage† was born. There are thousands of recorded accidents every year as a result from a simple mi sunderstanding on the road. For example, â€Å"an average of at least 1,500 men, women, and children are injured or killed each year in the United States as a result of aggressive driving† .The number 1,500 may seem like a lot, but that statistic taken from a report back in the mid 1990’s. Today, studies estimates that there were about 84,000 road rage incidents last year alone. That is exactly 56 times greater than what it was a few years ago. Not all of these incidents involved physical injuries, but they recorded all as aggressive incidents. Anyone can be at fault in a road rage situation. Race, sex, religion, age, or any other human characteristics, play no role in determining a common offender. Frequently, accidents of aggressive driving have tended to involve more than a simple rude gesture or a vile word. On many occurrences, drivers used weapons to vent their frustration on the road, â€Å"Without exaggeration, millions of...