Driving to work this morning and I couldn’t help but notice the amount of people on the road that couldn’t care less for either their safety or the safety of others around them.
I thought when they sign posted the speed limit at 110kmh that meant 110kmh. Apparently some drivers either couldn’t care what the speed limit is, or they have a problem with their eyesight and are unable to see the road signs. In either case they shouldn’t be on the road anyway.
As these people sped past me, weaving in and out of the traffic, angrily gesturing to other divers, it would have been easy to believe that I was still at home playing car racing on the X-Box or Play Station.
But then I started to think, is this just blatant road rage and disregard for the road rules and everyone around them, or are they suffering from a condition that is called ‘Intermittent Explosive Disorder’.
According to a study published in a monthly copy of the “Archives of General Psychiatry”, people with Intermittent Explosive Disorder react with an anger that is grossly out of proportion to the situation that actually triggers the reaction. Typically, people with this disorder have poor impulse control, and use uncontrollable rage, and angry outbursts as a mechanism to react to the stress that they experience in certain situations.
So what can we do to decrease road rage incidents?
There is currently a significant increase in road rage incidents, anger and aggressive driving. Whilst we cannot control the environment or the actions of the other drivers, we as drivers and road users can control our own reactions, emotions and behaviours to ensure that we minimize the chances of being engaged in angry road rage incidents, and also to make driving less stressful on ourselves.
When we’re driving we need to stay calm by rationalizing the situations and focusing on some of the things below that are within our control: –
- Drive in a way that is predictable by others,
- Don’t tailgate or follow the other car too closely,
- Stay in the left hand lane if you are not overtaking,
- Give plenty of warning (indicate) if you are turning or pulling into another lane,
- Allow others to overtake or to merge into the traffic,
- Don’t flash your headlights or honk your horn needlessly,
- Don’t abuse other drivers or show them the “finger”,
- Give yourself plenty of time to get somewhere and don’t have unreasonable expectations about how long it will take you to get there,
- Don’t drive when you are angry or overtired,
- Accept that some situations will be out of your control, and
- Be courteous.
Whilst this is all good in theory it may be difficult to do all of the time. If you encounter an aggressive driver try and think about the emotions that you are going through and what, if anything, you are going to achieve by getting yourself involved. Remembering that the other driver is likely to be aggressive, stressed, impatient, and ready to unleash his anger on you.
By reciprocating, all you are doing is adding fuel to the flames to allow the fire to turn into a raging inferno.
Sometimes the best reaction we can have in these situations is to not react at all and allow the aggressor to continue on his aggressive way, knowing full well that you have averted a potentially dangerous situation.
If however you have difficulties and are unable to control your temper and emotions while driving, you may need to seek professional help.
So is it Road Rage, Anger or IED – hopefully we won’t be placed in a situation where we need to find out!
Remember to arrive at a destiny is better than not arriving at all.
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