what is most likely to cause road rage

The fast and the furious

Psychologists effigy out who gets road rage and notice ways to calm them downwards.


young man shaking his fist in traffic

Findings

Aggressive driving has become a topic of business organization over the last few decades, and for good reason. In an analysis of 10,037 police reports and newspaper stories about traffic accidents that led to violence, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safe found "road rage" contributed to 218 deaths and 12,610 injuries between 1990 and 1996. Worse, AAA found that road rage incidents increased nigh seven% each year inside that period.

Psychologists are studying what makes some people more prone to route rage and how to keep them from condign a danger on the road. Research suggests that immature males are the most likely to perpetrate route rage. Environmental factors such equally crowded roads tin can boost anger behind the bike. Certain psychological factors, including displaced acrimony and high life stress, are also linked to road rage. In addition, studies accept found that people who experience road rage are more than likely to misuse alcohol and drugs.

Understanding what fuels this dangerous behavior may help psychologists curb it. In studies of anger and aggressive driving, counseling psychologist Jerry Deffenbacher, PhD, of Colorado Country University, institute that people who identified themselves as high-anger drivers differ from low-anger drivers in v primal ways.

  • They engage in hostile, aggressive thinking. They're more likely to insult other drivers or limited disbelief about the mode others drive. Their thoughts also turn more often to revenge, which sometimes means physical harm.
  • They take more risks on the road. High-acrimony drivers are more than likely to go 10 to xx mph over the speed limit, rapidly switch lanes, tailgate, and enter an intersection when the light turns red.
  • High anger drivers become angry faster and comport more than aggressively. They're more than likely to swear or proper noun-phone call, to yell at other drivers, to honk in anger. And they're more likely to be angry not just backside the bicycle, just throughout the day.
  • High-anger drivers had twice every bit many automobile accidents in driving simulations. They also report more near-accidents and get more tickets for speeding.
  • Short-fused drivers feel more trait anger, anxiety, and impulsiveness. Perhaps from work or home stress, high-anger drivers are more probable to arrive the car angry; they also tend to limited their anger outward and act impulsively.

Significance

Is road rage out of command? Not necessarily. While some studies have found that equally many every bit one-tertiary of drivers accept experienced road rage, less than 2% report engaging in serious threats or violent beliefs. Deffenbacher found that even people with the consequent cluster of loftier-acrimony driving traits stayed at-home under certain road conditions—for example, when they drove down a fake wide-open country road. Congestion and slowdowns seem to increase anger, but just for some drivers. There are large individual differences, then it appears to exist the mix of temperament and surroundings that lights the fuse.

Practical awarding

A combination of cognitive and relaxation techniques has shown promise for reducing road rage among loftier-anger drivers. Deffenbacher has taught practical relaxation coping skills and used cerebral restructuring, or reframing of negative events, to help high-acrimony drivers stay cool.

In a series of studies, loftier-anger drivers who wanted aid attended eight therapy sessions involving either relaxation or cerebral-relaxation therapy. In the relaxation-only condition, the drivers learned deep animate and other basic relaxation techniques. In the cognitive-relaxation therapy condition, drivers learned relaxation techniques equally well every bit cerebral modify strategies. Both groups expert skills to meliorate control their anger while visualizing frustrating driving situations, such as someone cut them off in traffic. Then they practiced these skills when they were really driving.

Deffenbacher found that both interventions were as effective in curbing route rage. They couldn't completely douse a driver's anger, but they did reduce its frequency and intensity. What's more, some studies establish that a year after therapy, people continued to command their anger roughly as well equally they had immediately after treatment and at a 1-month follow-upwardly.

In New York land in 1999, the University at Albany'south Center for Stress and Feet Disorders treated xx ambitious drivers referred by the local district chaser'south function as well as ten volunteers who described themselves as aggressive drivers. Tara Galovski, PhD, designed treatment sessions that included deep relaxation, stress-direction coping skills, cognitive restructuring, and learning different ways to think about roadway events and stressors. These strategies accept proven to help reduce anger and aggression, both backside the wheel and in general. The treatment group averaged a 64% drop in ambitious driving behaviors, and showed marked reductions on measures of psychological distress, a standardized Driving Anger Scale, and a Driver Stress Profile. At a follow-up three months later, the participants had maintained those improvements.

Cited research and additional sources

Butters, J.E., Smart, R.K., Isle of mann, R.E., & Asbridge, Chiliad. (2005). Illicit drug use, booze utilize and problem drinking amidst infrequent and frequent route ragers. Drug and Booze Dependence 80(2), 169–175.

Deffenbacher, J.L., Deffenbacher, D.M., Lynch, R.Southward., & Richards, T.50. (2003). Anger, assailment and risky behavior: A comparing of high and low anger drivers. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 41(6), 701–718.

Deffenbacher, J.50., Filetti, L.B., Richards, T.L., Lynch, R.Due south., & Oetting, E.R. (2003). Characteristics of two groups of angry drivers. Periodical of Counseling Psychology, 50 (2), 123–132.

Galovski, T.Eastward.; Blanchard, E.B. (2002). The effectiveness of a brief psychological intervention on court-referred and self-referred ambitious drivers. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 40(12), 1385–1403.

Galovski, T.Due east.; Blanchard, Eastward.B.; Republic of malta, Fifty.S.; Freidenberg, B.One thousand. (2003). The psychophysiology of aggressive drivers: comparison to non-aggressive drivers and pre- to postal service-handling alter post-obit a cognitive-behavioral handling. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 41(9), 1055.

Galovski, T. East. & Blanchard, E. B. (2004). Road rage: A domain for psychological intervention? Aggression and Tearing Behavior: A Review Journal, 9, 105–127.

Galovski, T. E. & Blanchard, Eastward. B. (in press). Psychological treatments of angry and ambitious drivers. In D. A. Hennessy and D. L. Wiesenthal (Eds.), Contemporary bug in traffic enquiry and Road User Safety. Hauppauge, North.Y.: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Galovski, T. E., Malta, L. S., & Blanchard, E. B. (2006). Route rage: Assessment and treatment of the angry, aggressive driver. Washington, DC: APA Books.

Lajunen, T. & Parker, D. (2001). Are aggressive people ambitious drivers? A report of the relationship between self-reported full general aggressiveness, driver anger and ambitious driving. Accident Assay & Prevention, 33, 243–255.

Novaco, R.W. (1991). Aggression on roadways. In R. Baenninger (Ed.), Targets of violence and aggression. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publications.

Road Rage: How to Avert Aggressive Driving (2013). AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. Retrieved from https://www.aaafoundation.org/sites/default/files/RoadRageBrochure.pdf (PDF, 459KB)

Sansone, R.A., & Sansone, L.A. (2010). Road rage: What's driving information technology? Psychiatry, 7(7), 14–18.

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Source: https://www.apa.org/topics/anger/road-rage

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