Hoot Guide to road rage

Much like drive-by-shooting, road rage is one of a handful of sensationalist car crimes that few of us can imagine taking place in on British roads.

We tend to assume that only a country as highly strung as America could produce drivers capable of 'losing it' so spectacularly at the wheel just because a fellow motorist tailgated or cut them up once or twice.

By all accounts, the term is supposed to have originated there. It was way back in the 80's when stories of the first 'road ragers' - generally Wall Street yuppies driven mad by the morning commuter jams - started to circulate in the US media. Since then, we've thought of road rage more as a byword for America's violent eccentricities than something to watch out for on the M25, and it's become something of a standard joke.

But ask any driver who's used the M25 recently, and you'll know that British roads can themselves be pretty frustrating places. Sure, the sight of a golf club-wielding yuppie on the hard shoulder is still a rare one, but incidences of more minor road rage in this country (often referred to with more British austerity as 'aggressive driving') are on the increase.

As far back as 1995, a study by the AA found that 60 percent of us had lost our temper whist at the wheel, and as many as 90 percent felt they'd been on the receiving end from another angry driver.

Aggressive tailgating, headlight flashing and gesturing were three of the most common forms of abuse identified by the AA survey - nothing serious enough to cause an accident or warrant reporting to your motor insurance firm, but pretty unpleasant, nevertheless.

This guide, from the cheap car insurance specialists at Hoot Car Insurance Services, is all about identifying and handling the onset of road rage in yourself, and avoiding situations where you become the victim of another driver's frustration.

Causes of road rage
A great deal of research has been done regarding the causes of road rage, largely because the type of behaviour exhibited by affected drivers seems so bafflingly extreme and irrational.

It is generally accepted that while instances of road rage are triggered by what's happening immediately around the motorist in question, the frustration he or she is giving vent to can be attributed to many different sources.

A difficult day at work, troubles with family and every irritation in between can in many cases have been building up towards this one gigantic outburst of feeling, which as a result seems wildly excessive. But why should a minor frustration at the wheel so often be the straw the breaks the camel's back, leading to accidents, injuries and countless lost cheap car insurance rates?

The answer, so far as anyone can tell, relates to some very basic - primeval, even - urges we all experience with relation to so-called 'personal space'. Like any other animal, human beings tend to get very defensive when others crowd into the couple of square feet we call our own, and when we're driving, we expand our notion of personal space to cover the car and the area immediately surrounding it.

Now when pedestrians push close up against each other (on a tube train for instance), we often feel like lashing out - but social conditioning stops us. In the car, however, these niceties are done away with. When another vehicle cuts you up or brakes suddenly, forcing itself into your space, the natural response is to try and chase it away, either with a rude signal or flash of the lights, or by driving so close behind (aggressive tailgating) that it's forced to accelerate away.

It's this descent into primitive irrationality that drivers need to overcome if they're to avoid experiencing road rage.

Coping with road rage
The best way of dealing with road rage is simply to avoid stress in your everyday life. As we've said, relatively minor frustrations on the road can open the floodgates to others that started building up weeks ago. Thus if you can avoid high levels of 'background' frustration, these minor problems will remain just that: minor.

However, most of us experience stress in one form or another outside of our cars (try hunting down a cheap car insurance quote over the phone), and there's very little we can do about it. There will probably be times when all of us motorists feel like 'chasing' another vehicle out of our personal space - but with foreknowledge and a little willpower, rationality should still prevail.

Experts refer to the psychological state of road ragers as a 'red mist' clouding their judgement. When the mist descends, it becomes very hard to concentrate on anything but the offending vehicle. Thoughts of driver etiquette, road safety and even your destination pretty much go out the window.

If you feel the mists coming down, therefore, it's vitally important to get a grip on yourself. Describe the situation that's making you so angry (out loud if necessary) and ask if your response can possibly be the right one. Try to be objective rather than emotional, and you should soon see that you're making a mistake.

There's no reason why you can't cope on your own, but dealing with the red mists is made a whole lot easier if the driver in front makes his or her own effort to diffuse the situation.

Avoid becoming a victim
If there's a golf club-wielding yuppie running toward your car, it's probably too late to avoid a confrontation. But in most other cases, quick action on your part can prevent a small driving mistake from triggering-off a blood bath.

The secret is to apologise. Reportedly, 85 percent of drivers who have experienced road rage in the US said they would feel satisfied (i.e. put the clubs back in the boot) if the offending driver merely acknowledged his mistake.

All it takes to convey your apology is putting a hand up in your rear view mirror. However, for the super-organised (or paranoid), make yourself up a clearly-lettered 'SORRY' sign for display on these occasions, and keep it handy in your driver's door pocket.

Detailed instructions for making such a sign are available at http://www.awesomelibrary.org/road-rage.html.

Try cheap car insurance from Hoot
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