Managing Road Rage

Everyday, people who are known to be easy going get into their vehicles and see their personality take 180 degree turn. Often, once in our cars and on our way to a destination we can become selfish, conceited and lose empathy for the people sharing the road with us. We find ourselves doing whatever it takes to get ahead and growing enraged by interactions with other drivers or by anyone and anything that might slow us down.

The Causes of Road Rage

Dr. Leon James has dedicated his research to the subjects of driving and road rage, appearing before congress to give testimony about the serious nature of road rage. Along with colleague Dr. Diane Nahl he published this article about the stress related causes of road rage. Dealing with stress and pressure in the vehicle. Taxonomy of Driving Behavior: Affective, Cognitive, Sensorimotor. According to the doctor what causes road rage? Stress. In summary to his article, the moment we get into the car we are subject to a number of physical and psychological stress factors. These include:

• The body's immobility
• Danger involved, from potential accidents
• A lack of control, we are subject to traffic flow, laws and events
• Multi-tasking. In spite of what our bosses want us to believe, doing multiple things at one time is stressful
• Traffic regulation, we are constantly either concerned about remaining within the traffic laws, or not getting caught breaking them and getting a ticket

How You Can Manage Road Rage

If road rage is primarily caused by stress and our own attitudes there should be some simple stress management and personal practices that can be applied in order to manage it. Here are some suggestions summarized from experts on road rage.

Accept that Driving is Fluid

Keeping ourselves open to events while driving can go a long way, this means understanding from the moment you get into the car that any number of events beyond your control may occur. If you are driving to an appointment or other time sensitive destination, leave early, remind yourself that traffic incidents, flow and conditions may cause you to be delayed or have to change routes at any time. Accept these things as fact before you leave and you will build less stress along the way.

Empathize with Your Fellow Drivers

When we are driving we get cut off, passed by and honked at and our immediate reaction is to judge the other vehicle's driver very harshly. Maintain empathy for your fellow drivers, they too are trying to get somewhere and are simply reacting to the stress and poor personal management that so many of us with road rage suffers from.

Breathe!

If you start to feel stress and anger building while you are in traffic, breathe slowly and deliberately to calm yourself and your heart rate down. If necessary pull over to the side of the road. Dangerous and costly mistakes can be made driving while stressed and angry.

Obey Traffic Laws

Obeying speed limits and other traffic safety laws will diminish stress by eliminating fear of penalty and the dangers of improper driving. At the same time keep in mind that other drivers may not be doing the same, but rather than rage against them understand that they may simply be feeling the same kind of vehicle stresses you are subject to.

Minimize Multi-tasking

Dividing your attention divided between traffic, instrumentation and thoughts about your route can be difficult enough. Some of us like to add, music, conversation, cell phone calls and even text messaging or reading to further divide our attention.