Rabinder Shekher
I was driving on a road when suddenly the traffic halted. I waited for sometimes and when saw people running towards front, enquired about the incident. Someone told me that two bikers have heated exchange of words with private car driver who has applied brakes immediately and the biker collided on back of car. I too joined to pacify the travellers but after longtime and involvement of many people, the bikers and car driver separated and proceeded to their destinations. For rest of my journey, I was tempted to ponder what has happened to the society and people these days. Nobody is ready to listen and have patience. Even normal people are found quarrelling on roads on one matter or the other and sometimes the rage culminates into big fight or even fight or even murder. Anger can be very quick, powerful, reactive, and can make us do things we typically wouldn’t do. There is nothing inherently wrong with anger as an emotion, but nowhere is anger less helpful, more common, and potentially more dangerous than when we are behind the wheel of a car.
“Road Rage” is not new. We know and are familiar with the words and even have seen it. There are, of course, extreme examples of violence and assaults on the roads that end up in the courts, hospitals, and the media. But every day, drivers get angry and aggressive, and the evidence is mounting that this can put themselves and others at great risk.
Science behind Road Rage: Usually Road rage is triggered by a specific event. These events will often involve the actions of another driver, such as a slow driver, a driver changing lanes without indicating, or other behaviours that we interpret as a threat or an obstacle.
Our response to these specific triggers is influenced by a range of factors, including:
* Person-related factors such as age, gender, beliefs, or mood
* Contextual stressors such as heavy traffic, time pressures, road works, or hot temperatures
*Our interpretations of the incident: for example, personalising (“they cut me off on purpose!”), catastrophising (“you could have killed me!”), overgeneralising (“people are hopeless drivers!”), and standard violations (“people should watch where they’re going”)
* Other factors such as the anonymity we feel in the car, or the inability to communicate in another way..
In fact, a range of behaviours stem from driving when angry, including everything from honking the horn, yelling abuse and demonstrating hostile gestures, throughto tailgating or dangerous manoeuvres on the road, and ultimately getting out of the car to carry out verbal attacks or physical violence.A recent study confirmed the link between “driving anger” and certain aggressive and risky behaviours when it found anger while driving significantly predicted aggressive driving, risky driving, driving errors, as well as number of accidents.
I am a good driver and what’s wrong with others else, this is illusion and worrying along with driving anger, the driver’s bias towards their own illusion of control predicted aggressive behaviour. Drivers who believed (perhaps falsely) they were in greater control of their situation, due to superior driving ability or skill, were more likely to drive in risky and aggressive ways.
Driving anger and the illusion of control are a dangerous combination. On the one hand, a person who is angry and holds the belief they are in control of the situation is more likely to drive in a risky and aggressive fashion. On the other, research has demonstrated our various cognitive functions, such as attention, reasoning, judgement and decision-making, can be impaired by anger. The result is a perception of lower risk, a greater willingness to take risks, and cognitive effects that actually increase the risks.
Road rage impacts everybody on the road. So, there is a strong public health rationale for the development and promotion of interventions to reduce driving anger and incidents of road rage.
Fortunately, there is emerging evidence that psychological interventions hold hope for angry drivers. A recent review found evidence supporting cognitive and behavioural interventions to reduce and manage driving anger.
This includes changing anger-evoking cognitive patterns or faulty thinking (such as those interpretations listed above), learning relaxation coping skills for when anger is aroused, and finding strategies to solve difficult situations on the road and de-escalating anger so our choices are less aggressive and safer.
How can we be swept away from Road rage:
* Watch out for the illusion of control. Remember the old saying, 80% of drivers believe their driving skills are above average – a statistical impossibility
*Remember our common humanity – everyone on the road, ourselves included, are merely human beings with good bits and not so good bits trying to do the best they can. We are all in this traffic together and it can be frustrating for us all
* Consider other drivers might not be malicious – we often jump to conclusions about other drivers and assume they do things on the road to affect us personally. Usually, the person’s actions are caused by benign motivations
*Avoid blame and punishment, and be forgiving – we can accept that negative events happen and that as human beings we all make mistakes. Maybe they were distracted in that moment, maybe they are in a hurry, maybe it was just a case of human error, which we’re all guilty of
*Let go of the struggle – red lights, traffic, delays, inconsiderate drivers – struggling with any of it will only make matters worse for you. We can accept and tolerate the inevitable frustration and provocation
*Breathe – slow it down, find a way to breathe that soothes you such as finding a slow, controlled rhythm, and reduce the physiological arousal associated with anger
* Speak to yourself in a friendly voice, with reassurance and validation. “Oh, that was a close call. You’re safe and all is OK. That person made a mistake, and we all make mistakes.”
*Focus your attention on safe, calm driving, ensuring you get yourself to your destination safely and without incident.
* Practice polite driving habits, such as avoiding tailgating, cutting off other vehicles, speeding, weaving, leaving high beam headlights on, and erratic braking.
* Give yourself time to get where you’re going.
* Don’t drive while experiencing intense emotion.
* Drive predictably and considerately.
* Honk only if you have to.
* Avoid angry motorists when you see them.
* Ignore obscene gestures.
* Don’t be afraid to report road rage to the authorities.
Keep in mind that every one who is on the road has full rights to drive peacefully and reach the destination. Drivers if follow the driving rules and drive with ethics will never be in road rage. Let’s make journeys romantic and joyful. Next time when you find yourself falling prey to your own road rage, try deep breathing exercises, find positive distractions like a podcast, and explore anger management strategies to help you deal with your emotions. And if someone is raging at or near you, steer clear and don’t engage.
(The author is Superintending Engineer (Retired) Structural Wing DIQC PWD J&K)
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