Road Rage

Have you ever sat behind someone stopped at a green light and been tempted to ram them? That's road-rage. Road-rage is becoming an ever-increasing problem in our society. There are several factors that attribute to the growth of road rage. Road construction has increased the daily stress of driving. Rude and inconsiderate drivers don't think before they act. Another cause of the increase in road rage is the incompetence of drivers. Finally those who speed excessively create a dangerous environment to drive in.

The daily stress of driving in traffic has increased due to more road construction projects. The drivers must slow down to merge into one lane or come to a complete stop due to heavy traffic. Aggressive drivers add to the trouble by using excessive speeds to merge at the last minute. More rear-end collisions occur because drivers don't like people cutting in front of them, so they follow too closely behind the vehicle ahead of them. Also, traffic jams cost the average city $900 million in lost work time and wasted fuel every year according to a Newswise article. In 2002, the urban traveler was stuck in traffic 46 hours a year. In large cities, 61-73 hours per year were lost to snarled traffic jams. In 54 urban areas, traffic jams increased 30 percent faster than roads could be built to alleviate them. The problem has worsened over the past decade in small, medium, and large cities according to the annual Urban Mobility Report.

Therefore, road construction seems to have the phenomenal power to attract the most inconsiderate drivers. Inconsiderate drivers often do not allow people to merge into traffic when it is necessary, causing another unnecessary line of traffic. This new line of traffic usually encourages hot-hea...

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... such speeds, drivers will weave in and out of traffic outraging, intimidating, and endangering other drivers on the highway. Too often in the news we hear of road rage ending in a violent stand off between drivers. In a time when the "Too fast, Too Furious" lifestyle seems to be so popular, men and women are ignoring the potential dangers of speeding. Everyday drivers are losing their patience with racers who are putting the lives of their families in jeopardy.

Obviously, road-rage is becoming a more prevalent problem in our society. Road construction, traffic jams, rude and incompetent drivers all contribute to the growth of this problem. The most dangerous drivers who contribute to road-rage are the excessive speeders. A car driven by someone with road-rage is a 2000 pound weapon. Unfortunately as traffic rises, so will stress, so road rage can only increase.