Road rage is a given when driving on our city roads. There is little regard for traffic rules, roads are poorly maintained, often broken or inundated and very noisy. Traffic snarls are tediously common and just tedious. Driving can be frustrating, angry-making and exhausting. Is it any wonder that the situation is always like a powder keg waiting for a match? The slightest road altercation can turn into a full-fledged brawl. So what can we do about road rage?
It may seem like it, but everyone around is not an idiot. If we don’t judge others so much, maybe they won’t judge us so much? Maybe there’ll be more peace on the roads.
As a woman driver I find that men take it personally if I overtake them. Gentlemen, don’t let that male ego get in the way of abiding by traffic rules and try not to presume what you do about women drivers. It is a well-established fact that women are safer drivers than men.
When another vehicle is trying to turn or merge into traffic, this is not an offence and we don’t need to speed up to cut them off. Imagine if everyone tried to prevent others from merging into traffic, we wouldn’t be able to merge into traffic either.
Yes we all have someplace to, but honking won’t make the lights turn green or improve the pickup speed of the car in front.
Maybe don’t get angry at other road users for doing things that you do? A little bit of self-awareness goes a long way.
Yes a road blockage is annoying and ongoing work causing snarls can be very frustrating, but don’t get angry at the people who are at work – they are just following instructions.
…Like a dog in the car next to you, a cute kid or a nice song on the radio.
Road rage often stems from impulse control and anger issues in other areas of life. Resolving those issues may make for a less stressful driving experience.
The reason we feel such aggression and hostility towards other road users is that we don’t know them; because they are strangers to us and we feel protected by our own anonymity. Would we swear at people we know or react with as much aggression? Probably not. So maybe let’s not assume that all other road users are idiots? Maybe we can try to see them as human beings with many of the same exigencies as you and me? That would be a good start to curbing road rage.
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