How can a normally patient person turn impatient behind the wheel? This is called road rage and it may not sound like much but it actually is deadly. According to RoadRagers.com road rage is “the informal name for deliberately dangerous and/or violent behavior under the influence of heightened, violent emotion such as anger and frustration, involving an automobile in use.” Throughout this paper I will be discussing road rage through the perspective of sociologists, psychologists, the causes of road rage, and signs of road rage so you can avoid them, avoidance of road rage and legal actions against road rage.
Road rage does not discriminate; it happens to new drivers and veteran drivers. Before I discuss the first perspective; I am going to discuss a few causes of road rage. The first cause of road rage is someone driving slowly; this slow driving usually happens within the inside line. The right lane is safer for people that know that they are “slow” drivers because the inside line is generally used for fast drivers and passing. Second cause is road construction; people that are normally patient cannot tolerate being slowed down by construction. With some people road construction makes them completely lose it; so they start riding the driver in front of them bumper. Next cause of road rage is being cut off; when a driver has to suddenly apply their brakes because of something that another driver has done; it pisses them off. Lastly, bad management of time causes road rage; drivers are in such a hurry to get to their destination that they become enraged and there is an enormous amount pressure for them to get to their destination on time.
Though this wasn't listed above; alcohol is the biggest cause of road rage, it is al...
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Stuster, Jack. "The Programs." Aggressive Driving Enforcement: Evaluations of Two Demonstration Programs. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2004. 14+. Print.
"What Is Road Rage?" Road Rage @ RoadRagers.com - Report Road Rage and Bad Drivers. Research with Videos, Statistics, and Articles. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. .
Dave Barry’s “Road Warrior” is a humorous essay that discusses different types of “rages” that exists on a daily basis in American life. Barry begins by discussing road rage then goes into parking lot rage, and shopping cart rage. He explains that these rages are unnecessary, and how they just create violence in the world today. While Barry was writing this article he was living in Miami, Florida discussing the problems of road rage in the city. If anyone has ever felt road rage, or any kind of rage this is for you.
The first point I chose for the article is the four types of rage people have. The four types of rage, is Road rage or ‘’Mad driver disease”, Sky rage, Sideline rage, Line rage. In this essay I will explain just one of them and that is Road rage. Dianne Hales wrote in the article that American Automobile Association’s Foundation for Traffic Safety says that road rage or what they call “Mad diver disease” is getting more and more examples, as in the 1990’s the percentage increase 7 percent each year in that decade. Dianne Hales did not explain road rage in detail, so I wrote out the definition of it. This rage is a hostile or crazy action by a driver of a car or truck or other automobile on the road. This is when the driver does oral malign, intentionally driving dangerously and making warnings to hurt other drivers. Road rage can lead to assaults, and collisions that can guide to trauma to other divers and even death to those drivers. I agree with Dianne Hales that this case of rage is getting more common in drivers as I see it happen more often lately. I sometimes see people driving recklessly, like hooting the horn and diving people off the road. For example, I was with my family in
In this essay I will explain only one of them and that is Road rage. This rage is a hostile or crazy action by a driver of a car or truck or other automobile on the road and this includes oral malign, intentionally driving in a dangerous way, or making warnings to hurt other drivers. Road rage can lead to fights, assaults, and collisions that result in trauma to other divers and even death to those drivers. It can be conceived of as an extreme instance of aggressive driving. I agree with Dianne Hales that this case of rage can be called “mad driver disease” and that this type of rage do increase per year because I see it happen. For an example, I was with my family in our car and my dad was driving. It was a rainy day and people were driving really slow compared to sunny days. We were driving along the turnpike and out of know where there was traffic. There was a motor vehicle collision ahead of us and that caused the traffic. The car behind us started to honk the horn after minutes, sitting there waiting for the traffic to move. Then out of know where the driver got out the car and started to scream to move the car. It was a scary moment. Lucky for us a state police trooper seen him and told
What prompts him to write this essay, is from constantly having to deal with the same types of drivers that cause him to get angry, or rage. He was living in Miami whilst writing this, which is a city of a large population, with lots of traffic. The immediate audience targeted would be other drivers, as reading this would get his points out and maybe they’d stop doing certain things he mentioned. The secondary audience would be future drivers, as they would now know what they should maybe sometimes avoid doing. Like when he mentions “-the aggressive young male whose car has a sound system so powerful and the driver must go faster than the speed of sound at all times-”. Future drivers may read this and think twice about doing it.
Aggressive driving can also result from drunk or drug driving and distracted driving. It is hence densely woven into multiple road dangers.
Dangers on roadways is an issue that describes the discrepancy between perception and reality of road rage. The media, for some odd reason, tends to make road rage a huge controversial issue. As seen on talk shows from Oprah Winfrey to CNN, they reveal to people that road rage could happen at any time and to always be looking over your shoulder. These talk shows and news programs also put fear into our minds by explaining that most roadragers often use guns to kill or injure their victims. Glassner contradicts the media's speculations by stating that out of approximately 250,000 people killed on roadways between 1990-1997, AAA attributed that one in one thousand was an act of road rage (pg.5).
People do not realize how much of a problem drinking and driving can cause, not only in the United States but all over the world. In 2009, 1.4 million drivers have been arrested, but the influenced by alcohol or drugs. There is a very high percentage of motorcycle fatalities and about a third of them are alcohol accidents and there levels are above legal
middle of paper ... ..." Driverscom RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2013. "Drinking Driving."
With the introduction of the automobile in the early 1900s, laws have been instituted to protect drivers on the road. With these laws come lawbreakers who put their agenda in front of the well being of others. Tens of thousands of lives have been lost. billions of dollars have been spent, and pollution has grown exponentially because of this. drivers travelling at high speeds on roads (Hartman).
Eppley, George. "Confessing to Road Rage." Human Development 26.3 (2005): 48. Acedemic Search Complete. Muntz Lib., Tyler, TX. 25 Mar. 2009.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) defines aggressive driving as "the operation of a motor vehicle in a manner that endangers or is likely to endanger persons or property"—a traffic and not a criminal offense like road rage. Examples include speeding or driving too fast for conditions, improper lane changing, tailgating and improper passing. Approximately 6,800,000 crashes occur in the United States each year; a substantial number are estimated to be caused by aggressive driving. 1997 statistics compiled by NHTSA and the American Automobile Association show that almost 13,000 people have been injured or killed since 1990 in crashes caused by aggressive driving. According to a NHTSA survey, more than 60 percent of drivers consider unsafe driving by others, including speeding, a major personal threat to themselves and their families. About 30 percent of respondents said they felt their safety was threatened in the last month, while 67 percent felt this threat during the last year. Weaving, tailgating, distracted drivers, and unsafe lane changes were some of the unsafe behaviors identified. Aggressive drivers are more likely to drink and drive or drive unbelted. Aggressive driving can easily escalate into an incident of road rage. Motorists in all 50 states have killed or injured other motorists for seemingly trivial reasons. Motorists should keep their cool in traffic, be patient and courteous to other drivers, and correct unsafe driving habits that are likely to endanger, antagonize or provoke other motorists. More than half of those surveyed by NHTSA admitted to driving aggressively on occasion. Only 14 percent felt it was "extremely dangerous" to drive 10 miles per hour over the speed limit. 62 percent of those who frequently drive in an unsafe and illegal manner said police for traffic reasons had not stopped them in the past year. The majority of those in the NHTSA survey (52 percent) said it was "very important" to do something about speeding. Ninety-eight percent of respondents thought it "important" that something be done to reduce speeding and unsafe driving. Those surveyed ranked the following countermeasures, in order, as most likely to reduce aggressive and unsafe driving behaviors: (1) more police assigned to traffic control, (2) more frequent ticketing of traffic violations, (3) higher fines, and (4) i...
Some say that one of the main causes of aggressive driving which usually leads to road rage is highway congestion. The road construction on the major interstates adds to
Staring at the ocean of brake lights spread out before you, you listen as the morning DJ’s voice drones on about the weather. Fifteen minutes have passed, you realize, since you first stopped at the back of this seemingly never-ending line of cars. The sign to your right warns of a lane closed due to construction in 2,500 feet. You let out a heavy sigh as you wonder how much more time this next half of a mile is going to add to your morning commute. Such is life in our modern day of mass transportation, you think to yourself, but surely there is some way to alleviate this headache. While things like construction may be unavoidable, the way that you and other drivers behave can go a long way towards solving the problem. Beware, however, for although you may think your choices to be the best for the situation at hand, chances are that you, too, have often been part of the problem.
“The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status, or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we all believe that we are above-average drivers” -Dave Barry, comedian. The number of accidents over the last ten years have drastically increased, drivers are paying less attention to the road itself. Many individuals behind the wheel of a car believe that their driving does not affect the road conditions, however it always will. The driving habits of today are catastrophic due to the reasoning that the driving will affect other lives through reckless or distracted driving, and disobeying traffic laws.
III. Connection: Everday we have to deal with these people on our roads. We run a great risk just driving around the corner to go to the store or a quiet trip to church. According to U.S. News and World Report, the U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that two-thirds of fatalities are at least partially caused by aggressive driving. Fortunately, there is something we can do about it.