I DON’T HAVE ROAD RAGE DAMN IT! PEOPLE ARE JUST BAD DRIVERS!
Peter Andrew Sacco, Ph.D.
February 13, 2007
You are driving on the highway and it seems everyone is doing at least ten miles an hour over the speed limit. The highway is three lanes wide and you keep pace with the flow. You are on your way to work which normally takes a half hour but you think you can shave ten minutes off your arrival time. A sports car flies past you as do two others. You decide to keep pace with them and begin following behind. Easily, they are twenty miles an hour over the speed limit. There are at least five cars now in front of you as you trail behind. Suddenly, out of nowhere you see sirens flashing behind you. You pull into the right hand lane expecting the cop to drive past you and ticket one of the sports cars. As you move into the right lane, so does the cop. It is you who gets ticketed! You angrily start yelling at the cop for pulling you over. You plead, “How come those cars going a lot faster weren’t caught first?” The cop says nothing other than you were going well over the speed limit and breaking the law and you are the one getting the ticket. After all is said and done, you get back into your car and onto the highway, purposely driving the speed limit in the fast lane and forcing traffic to pass you.
Does this sound familiar? If so, you have just participated in an event called road rage! Do you think you have road rage? Perhaps I should re-phrase that and ask, “Do you ever do anything to break the law when you are driving?” I am guessing 99% of all drivers at some point break the law. If you drive one mile an hour over the prescribed speed limit then you have broken the law. Breaking driving laws and violating speed limits doesn’t mean you have road rage. On the other hand, it could become the gateway for developing road rage.
What does road rage look like? In my book, “What’s Your Anger Type?” I discuss some of the most salient signs and symptoms of road rage. I interviewed police officers and traffic enforcement officers involved in traffic control and compiled a list of culpable events which make you a potential “road rager” or a cause of other’s road rage. Fasten your seatbelts folks, sit back and relax. How many of these habits do you possess while driving?
Do you:
1) Follow too closely vehicles in front of you?
2) Fail to signal when changing lanes?
3) Drive too fast, way above the speed limit?
4) Flash your high beams at other drivers who go too slow in front of you?
5) Cut people off intentionally?
6) Purposely go too slow or keep braking to annoy drivers behind you?
7) Purposely speed up to prevent other drivers from passing you?
8) Run amber and red lights?
9) Ignore the flashing lights/stop signs of school buses?
10) Fail to pull over when an EMS vehicle has it’s lights flashing?
11) Drive too slow in the fast lane/passing lane on the highway?
12) Make obscene gestures or yell at other drivers?
13) Throw your trash/litter out the window?
14) Multi-task instead of paying attention to the road when driving?
15) Drive an unsafe vehicle, or vehicle which pollutes the air?
16) Drive without a seat belt?
17) Drive recklessly on purpose to impress passengers?
18) Engage in races with other drivers while putting others at risk?
19) Drive while intoxicated or too tried?
20) Follow drivers who have wronged you to try and even the score, or confront them by arguing or fighting?
21) Throw objects or spit at other vehicles?
22) Chase after someone while calling the police to report them?
23) Threaten other drivers with a weapon?
24) Follow the other driver home or to a parking lot and cause damage to their vehicle while they are way from it?
25) Purchase a larger vehicle with the sole purpose of intimidating other drivers?
How did you do? Think you might have a little bit of road rage? Perhaps you are feeling like you have a lot of rage when driving? Unless you are planning to drive for NASCAR, your road rage will eventually get you into trouble. I am guessing you don’t want another speeding ticket or a charge for an unsafe lane change. What about being charged and losing your license? Can you afford that? Can you afford not being insured? Can you afford going to jail?
Road rage is a growing concern which keeps festering and making people do crazy things. As spring and summer are approaching, not fast enough, ladies and gentleman are revving their engines. Do you need help with your road rage before it gets worse or someone gets hurt or killed? If fixing this problem or another anger management problem is your concern, I strongly encourage you to visit my website: www.petersacco.com and take the What’s Your Anger Type? test and see what types of anger you possess and fix them before your life gets out of control.
Road rage indicators are from What’s Your Anger Type? by Dr. Peter Andrew Sacco. You can find it at Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and booklocker.com
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