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Dealing
with Road Rage
Just
had a Road Rage encounter?
Do our 30 sec Road Rage Quiz and help us with our research
As
we all hear in the media, we are leading busier lives, working longer
and harder. As a result we are inevitably becoming less patient
on road journeys. This often means taking more risks, driving too
fast and generally failing to behave on the road!
Road Rage
is a term given to a psychological state people encounter whilst
driving. Although it has only been heard of in recent years Road
Rage has been in existence more or less since the car was invented.
How can it start?
Road
Rage can start if one driver does something to irritate another.
The main things that cause Road Rage are:
Tailgating
Cutting
up at islands
Inappropriate
overtaking
Undertaking
on motorways
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What usually happens?
Road Rage
involves drivers acting aggressively, typically tailgating and waving
a few selected hand gestures. That’s thankfully where most
incidents end! However, sometimes things can get nasty and drivers
will try to ram other cars. Occasionally, as we have seen in the
media, Road Rage (although very rare) can have fatal consequences
so beware.
What is red mist?
Red
mist is a psychological state that can arise when a driver
is so determined to achieve some non-driving related objective,
such as following a person who has annoyed them, that they can no
longer assess driving risks realistically. Professional drivers
such as police pursuit drivers and ambulance drivers, as part of
their extensive training, are very aware of red mist. The nature
of their job, whether it is driving to a road traffic accident or
following a 14-year-old who has just stolen a car, could so easily
result in them becoming frustrated and angry or taking dangerous
risks for “a noble cause”.
How to stop the red mist coming down
The best
way professional drivers find to overcome this is to firstly realise
the symptoms. This usually is a feeling of anger and frustration.
Once you have acknowledged how you are feeling it’s easier
to deal with. The best way (although it does vary from driver to
driver) is to try to objectively describe the situation you are
in and not become emotionally involved in the situation. This is
often very effective. Using this technique can help you defuse anger
from a Road Rage incident.
How to defuse Road Rage
Now that
you have an understanding of what red mist is you will be able to
deal with any Road Rage incident more effectively. Follow these
steps should any situation arise:
If you feel you are in the wrong, acknowledge your mistake by putting
your hand up in the rear view mirror in an attempt to say sorry
– this can literally turn a very angry person calm within
a matter of seconds.
If you feel that you are getting angry try to describe the situation
objectively such as “ok the driver in front has pulled
out too soon, failing to judge my speed which means I now have to
brake allowing him time to speed up” – this can
be very hard to do if you have had a stressful
day but trying to remove any kind of emotion linked to the situation
is good.
Don’t take it personally. If someone is driving too close
to you, perhaps forgets to indicate or cuts you up try to not take
it as a personal insult. Remember chances are, they are probably
just lost, or not very confident, perhaps don't know the car or
have just made an honest mistake. Also, you can't be sure that the
driver who just undertook you earlier today was responding to a
personal emergency. A man pulled over by the Police recently for
undertaking on a motorway did so, as his wife had just gone into
labour with their first child and he needed to be with her. This
of course does not justify dangerous driving at all. However, it
just shows there are many reasons why people can drive in a poor
manor on the road.
Remember:
If anyone does anything to annoy you on the road, it is usually
very unlikely that they set out to upset you - chances are, you
would have already done that yourself.
Do
our 30 sec Road Rage Quiz and help us with our research
Want to
be able to deal with Road Rage more effectively? We now offer nationwide
quality Advanced Driving Courses - get more information HERE
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