Anger Management Training Institute

Stress on Wheels - Curbing Road Rage

Driving under stress can be a serious health risk.

If you drive, you likely know the feeling. You get cut off, someone honks or dangerously switches lanes, forcing you to brake and miss the light, leaving you seething. Driving is a stressful activity in itself; combined with work or personal problems and feelings of anger or frustration, it can be downright dangerous.

"Road rage" is the term applied by psychologists to denote feelings of extreme anger and hostility while driving coupled with the desire for retaliation against other drivers. With road rage, people who successfully control their feelings and emotions the entire day experience out-of-control feelings of hostility when offended by another driver. It's likely that these feelings and reactions have been around since the days of horse-drawn carriages, but the attention given to road rage and its consequences has steadily increased over the past decade.

A study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that incidents of road rage went up by 51% in the first half of the 90s. While the numbers of drivers, cars, and miles driven have increased consistently over the past years, a proportional increase in the number of roads and highways has not occurred, resulting in increasingly more crowded roadways and increased driver stress.

Psychologists have studied aggressive drivers and found that those who consider themselves aggressive behind the wheel have stronger physiological responses to stress than less-aggressive drivers. In a study published in the June 2001 issue of Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, self-reported aggressive and calm drivers were asked to perform stressful tasks and listened to fear-inducing scenarios while bodily stress responses were measured. The authors of the study, from the Center for Stress and Anxiety Disorders at the University at Albany, reported that the aggressive drivers responded to stress with greater increases in muscle tension and blood pressure than did their calmer peers. This work suggests that individual differences in how we respond to challenging or emotionally difficult situations may exist that at least partially determine whether we will react with anger or defensiveness while driving.

Tips for Reducing Road Rage

1. Don't see an aggressive driver's behavior as a personal assault. Bad or dangerous drivers aren't targeting you personally; they're unleashing their frustration or bad mood on the rest of the world at random.

2. Refuse to allow your mood to be dictated by the acts of an unpleasant and discourteous stranger. Save your emotional energy for persons and activities who deserve it.

3. Work on being able to just "let go" of angry feelings in traffic with the goal of maintaining inner peace and serenity. After all, your mood and the quality of your day are more important than a brief moment of revenge.

4. Recognize that mistakes occur. You've likely made driving mistakes at some time, and the other driver who acts aggressively may have just made a mistake.

5. Imagine that the aggressive driver has had a horrible day - perhaps just gotten fired or left by his/her significant other. It just might be true and might be the cause of erratic behavior.

6. Put on some soothing music or stop and take a break if your emotions get out of control. A stressed-out driver is potentially an unsafe driver. Give yourself time to cool down and preserve everyone's safety.

7. Realize that you are not the police - it is not your job or responsibility to penalize those who break traffic rules. Set a positive example for others.

Melissa Stoppler