Road rage and aggression

• TYPE OF PSYCHOLOGY: Personality; sensation and perception; social psychology; stress

Road rage is a phrase indicating impulsive aggression by enraged operators of motor vehicles who lose emotional control and intentionally intimidate other drivers.

Introduction

A global problem, road rage became a concern for social psychologists in the late 1980s, when the term first began to be used. Although incidents of driver violence occurred in previous decades, they were considered isolated events based on factors unrelated to driving. By the 1980s, cases became more frequent and were directly tied to stimuli surrounding motorists. Violence intensified because more people carried weapons and used them impulsively in traffic incidents. As aggressive drivers compromised public transportation safety, researchers sought to understand why some drivers become enraged, lose control, and commit hostile actions against strangers over disputed traffic behavior.

The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR, 2022) does not include a specific diagnosis for road rage. However, some psychologists describe road rage as a pathological condition related to intermittent explosive disorder. Intermittent explosive disorder is characterized by repeated episodes of impulsive, aggressive, angry, or violent behavior that is disproportional to the situation that triggered the reaction; in addition to road rage, domestic abuse and temper tantrums may be signs of an intermittent explosive disorder. Some authorities have argued that the media exaggerates road casualty statistics to sensationalize coverage of driving behavior and that politicians, the US Department of Transportation, and other groups rely on scientifically unsound studies, particularly an American Automobile Association (AAA) report cited as evidence of an overwhelming threat, to seek funding and publicity.

Nevertheless, surveys report that up to one-third of drivers admit to being perpetrators of road rage, indicating that experiencing road rage is not uncommon. The majority of road-rage perpetrators report shouting or gesturing at other drivers, speeding, and tailgating, while a smaller number of incidents involve direct contact, such as verbal threats or acts of violence. However, research has shown that the number of road rage-related shootings has increased dramatically during the twenty-first century. From 2014 to 2023, road rage shootings rose by over 400 percent, according to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive.

Psychologists note that road rage is not confined to individuals suffering mental illnesses such as intermittent explosive disorder, antisocial personality disorder, or narcissistic personality disorder, but road rage may also be triggered by substance use, exhaustion, and physiological ailments.

Diagnosing Road Rage

Degrees of road rage range from name-calling and obscene gesturing to threats, physical confrontations, and murder. Feeling empowered by the strength, anonymity, and speed of their cars, angry drivers committing road rage challenge other drivers for such perceived slights as driving too slowly, cutting them off, or taking a parking space. Drivers often feel compelled to punish other motorists. Many drivers consider their cars as personal territory and can become temperamental and vengeful if they believe that their space has been violated.

Some out-of-control drivers cut others off in traffic, stare menacingly, throw things, honk, flash headlights, brake unexpectedly, or bump from behind to express anger. Other furious drivers chase their victims, forcing them to stop or crash, and then engage in screaming, punching, breaking windows, and even assaulting other drivers. Road rage assailants mostly become angry with people they do not know.

Road Rage Profiles

E. Scott Gellar, a Virginia Tech psychology professor, examined why drivers succumb to road rage. Gellar differentiated between aggressive driving, which constitutes risky behavior such as speeding, tailgating, and passing dangerously, and road rage, which is the lack of emotional control while driving and the development of aggression that can escalate into violence.

Arnold Nerenberg, a Los Angeles traffic psychologist, explained that the human psyche seeks to release its aggression on anonymous people whom it feels have purposefully interfered with it. While people may become equally frustrated when someone cuts them in line at the grocery store, it is easier to ignore the humanity of the other person when in a car. Yale University psychiatrist John Larson ranked degrees of road rage, emphasizing that vigilante driving is the most extreme. He attributed some road rage cases to assumptions based on automobile types that drivers often associate with certain personalities.

Specific conditions often exacerbate road rage because of physiological or psychological arousal. Rush-hour traffic and construction zones frustrate people already prone to emotional outbursts, who misdirect their anger at others. Societal pressures for speed push hurried drivers to reach destinations quickly and to become overwhelmed by delays. Some impatient drivers consider sitting in traffic because of road repairs or holiday congestion as a personal threat to their time and plans. Personal stress related to work and family security can cause feelings of powerlessness and intensify drivers’ sense of entitlement to roads.

Drivers of all ages commit road rage, and women and men can be equally aggressive behind the wheel. Various studies identify a gender, ethnicity, or age group as being more likely to participate in road rage, but a specific profile cannot be compiled. Some people commit a single act of road rage, while others are perpetually hostile motorists. Some personality traits that enraged drivers might share include being emotionally immature, intolerant, impulsive, self-righteous, and competitive.

Treatment Options

Few drivers feel regret after initiating acts of road rage. Most assert they were correct and rationalize their actions. They do not view road rage as problematic and blame other drivers for enraging them. Hostile drivers perceive themselves as more competent drivers than those who offend them, and consider their anger to be an inborn personality trait that cannot be changed. Personalizing driving situations, they seek apologies from drivers who they believe have wronged them and become argumentative when denied such submissive responses.

To defend against road rage, psychologists advise drivers confronted by angry motorists to remain calm and ignore gestures to avoid being drawn into a confrontation. Most psychologists suggest that enraged drivers should admit they have a problem, assume responsibility, and try to alter their behavior and control their anger to avoid being provoked into road rage patterns. Psychotherapist Barry Markell recommends that drivers who are prone to road rage give themselves plenty of time to arrive at their destinations, play soothing music, get sufficient sleep, limit their alcohol intake, and remind themselves of the potential consequences of succumbing to road rage, including traffic tickets, damage to vehicles, and rising insurance rates.

University of Hawaii psychologist Leon James promotes supportive driving by acting courteously, yielding as necessary, and forgiving other drivers’ mistakes. Nerenberg counsels his patients by riding in cars and mimicking their aggressive behavior. His therapy also involves visualization and relaxation techniques to overcome self-defeating and potentially dangerous behavioral patterns.

Bibliography

"Aggressive Driving and Road Rage." Safe Motorist, www.safemotorist.com/articles/road-rage/. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024.

Capps, Kriston. "The Science of Road Rage." Bloomberg, 12 Feb. 2015, www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-12/the-science-of-road-rage. Accessed 10 Feb. 2023.

Carroll, Linda J., and Peter J. Rothe. "Viewing Vehicular Violence through a Wide Angle Lens: Contributing Factors and a Proposed Framework." Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice 56.2 (2014): 1–25.

Fong, G., D. Frost, and S. Stansfeld. “Road Rage: A Psychiatric Phenomenon?” Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 36 (2001): 277–86.

Fumento, Michael. “Road Rage Versus Reality.” Atlantic Monthly 282 (1998): 12–17.

Galovski, Tara E., Loretta S. Malta, and Edward B. Blanchard. Road Rage: Assessment and Treatment of the Angry, Aggressive Driver. American Psychological Assoc., 2006.

James, Leon, and Diane Nahl. Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering Clear of Highway Warfare. Prometheus, 2000.

Larson, John A., and Carol Rodriguez. Road Rage to Road-Wise. Forge, 1999.

Michael, Mike. “The Invisible Car: The Cultural Purification of Road Rage.” Car Cultures. Ed. Daniel Miller. Berg, 2001.

Pal, Meera. "States with the Most Confrontational Drivers 2024." Forbes, 22 July 2024, www.forbes.com/advisor/car-insurance/state-rankings-confrontational-drivers/. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024.

Penrod, Maurice G., and Scott N. Paulk, eds. Psychology of Anger: New Research. Nova, 2014.

Sansone, Randy A., and Lori A. Sansone. "Road Rage: What's Driving It?" Psychiatry 7.7 (2010): 14–18.

"Speeding and Speed Management." National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, US Department of Transportation, www.nhtsa.gov/book/countermeasures-that-work/speeding-and-speed-management. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024.

Vallières, Evelyne F., et al. "Intentionality, Anger, Coping, and Ego Defensiveness in Reactive Aggressive Driving." Journal of Applied Social Psychology 44.5 (2014): 354–63.

Vanderbilt, Tom. Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (And What It Says about Us). Knopf, 2008.