Causes of road rage - Research Paper Example

Causes of Road Rage Causes of Road Rage Road rage is a new phenomenon that started gaining attention fromthe media around the 1990s. It is explained as the aggressive behavior of drivers on the road that may lead to verbal or physical abuse. Earlier, road rage was only considered as an outcome of anti-social and aggressive behavior but it has been recently found as an outcome of a medical condition. Associated Press (2006) reported that researchers have introduced a new term in the field of medicine- intermittent explosive disorder.

This disorder involves multiple explosive outbursts that are not suitable or expected for any ongoing scenario. Road rage, aggressive behavior with the spouse etc are considered to be common instances related to this disorder. Standing (2007) also discussed the relation of this order with road rage. Road rage is one of the most common types of abusive behaviors that are experienced by people in their daily lives. Standing (2007) quoted a research in which the results concluded alarming figures; road rage causes hundreds of thousands of deaths every year and causes damage worth billions of dollars around the world.

Leger Marketing (2001) also provided useful figures and stated that almost 20.4 % of the entire adult population in Canada has been known to be affected by different types of road rage incidents in the year 2001. This research also highlighted an interesting comparison regarding the number of males that are engaged in road rage incidents as compared to the female population; 23.2% men are known to be involved in road rage incidents as compared to 17.7% women. Road rage is said to be caused by different factors; some of the common ones have been discussed by Business & Legal Reports, Inc. (2009):Tailgating: Driving very close to the rear end of another vehicle.

Being cut-off by someone.Driving lower than the required or expected speed limitBlocking other vehicle’s wayTaking parking space from someone who was already parking in the same spot. These are some of the common instances that are faced by individuals on the road and causes road rage. James and Nahl (2000) explained that even calm individuals tend to experience road rage since driving usually proves to become a stressful endeavor in the presence of various disturbing aspects. They enlisted around 15 factors that cause stress while driving, for example, traffic jam, noise pollution, changing temperatures, immobility etc.

These factors cause stress among drivers and leads to lack of patience and tolerance when some unreasonable incident takes place on the road. Road rage is often taken as an excuse for a happening in someone’s life, for example, family trauma, running late for an appointment, alcoholism etc. Aggression and abusive behavior on the road should never be justified by any circumstances in one’s life since it is considered unethical under all conditions. Traffic rules should be followed religiously while driving since many of the causes of road rage point to the possibility of drivers not following traffic rules.

ReferencesAssociated Press, (2006, May 6), Road rage’ gets a medical diagnosis, MSNBC, Retrieved from: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13152708/ns/health-mental_health/t/road-rage-gets- medical-diagnosis/ Business & Legal Reports, Inc, (2009), What Causes Road Rage? Retrieved from http://safetybydesignllc.com/Meeting%20Handouts/ROADRAGE.PDFJames, L. & Nahl, D. (2000). Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering Clear of Highway Warfare, Amherst, New York, Prometheus BooksLeger Marketing, (2001), A study on Road Rage, Retrieved from http://www.

legermarketing.com/documents/spclm/010903eng.pdfStanding, G. (2007), The Psychology of Road Rage: A discussion of psychological explanations of road rage and policy implications, Retrieved from http://cranepsych.edublogs.org/files/2010/08/Roadrage.pdf