Road rage

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For other uses, see Road Rage (disambiguation).

Road rage is a term used to refer to violent behavior by a driver of an automobile, which thus causes accidents or incidents on roadways. It can be thought of as an extreme case of aggressive driving.

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[edit] Manifestation

From the perspective of law enforcement and transportation safety officials, because cars give people a sense of anonymous power that explain such confrontations, road rage and aggressive driving manifest themselves in actions such as:

  • speeding and aggressive acceleration
  • tailgating
  • cutting others off in a lane
  • weaving in and out of traffic
  • forming a "convoy" to block access to a traffic lane
  • sounding the vehicle's horn or flashing lights excessively
  • rude gestures (such as the finger)
  • shouting verbal abuse, including threats
  • deliberately hitting another person, vehicle or object with one's own vehicle
  • hitting a person or vehicle with a weapon other than a vehicle (e.g. a tire iron, golf club, baseball bat or a cup of ice) in response to a [perceived] wrongdoing involving a vehicle
  • threatening to use or using a firearm or other deadly weapon
  • pursuing for retaliation or revenge of a real or perceived slight
  • triggering or exaggerating traffic waves
  • driving in the passing lane and keeping pace with the car next to them to enforce the speed limit themselves
  • driving excessively slow on a high-speed road
  • throwing objects from a moving vehicle with the intent of hitting the car behind it

In the USA, more than 300 cases of road rage annually have ended with serious injuries or even fatalities[citation needed]-- 1200 incidents per year, according to the AAA Foundation study (see References), and rising yearly throughout the six years of the study that examined police records nationally.[citation needed]

[edit] Legal status

In some jurisdictions there may be a legal difference between "road rage" and "aggressive driving." In the USA, only a few states have enacted special aggressive driving laws, where road rage cases -- about 1200 a year -- are normally processed as assault and battery (with or without a vehicle), or "vehicular homicide" (in the event someone is killed).

[edit] Medicalization

As early as 1997, therapists in the United States were working to medicalize road rage by certifying it as an official mental disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.[citation needed] According to an article published by the Associated Press in June of 2006, the behaviors typically associated with road rage are, in fact, the result of intermittent explosive disorder.[citation needed] This conclusion was drawn from surveys of some 9,200 adults in the United States between 2001 and 2003, and was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. The cause of intermittent explosive disorder has not been described to date. There are many different views on whether "road rage" is a mental issue or not.

[edit] Penalties

Road rage is a relatively serious act: it may be seen as an endangerment of public safety. It is, however, not possible to judge intent by external observation, so "road ragers" who are stopped by police may be charged only with relatively minor offences such as careless or reckless driving.[citation needed]

It is, however, likely that those causing serious injury or death during "road rage" incidents will suffer more serious penalties than those applicable to similar outcomes from simple negligence.

A few U.S. states have passed laws against aggressive driving. However, only one state, California, has turned "road rage" into a legal term of art by giving it a particular meaning.[1]

[edit] Road rage on the Web

Various websites cater to road ragers by letting them report their stories including details of the offenders. Thus, there are those who believe that road rage is covertly facilitated, if not fostered, by society at large through a lack of serious police, court and general social response to its increasing levels of occurrence and severity.[citation needed]

In 2000, http://www.aboveaveragedriver.com was started to cater toward road ragers as a place to vent online. Today, it is a free growing online community that hosts a large number of unbiased reporters from around the world, and contains well over 30,000 reported incidents, both good and bad.

In 2006, http://www.PlateWire.com was launched. This site offers a communication system for drivers to communicate using their license plate as an identifier. Users can "Flag" bad drivers, "Award" good ones, warn drivers of vehicle hazards, or send a flirtatious "Wink".

In 2007, http://faceofroadrage.com was launched. This site dynamically creates the face of a "traffic monster" based on statistics generated by the complaints entered by visitors to the site. Offenders can apologize to neutralize the face of the monster and conceal their license plate. This site is a work of art by Theresa Devine http://theresadevine.com and her artist statement regarding this piece can be found here http://theresadevine.com/efforts.html

[edit] References

    [edit] See also

    [edit] External links

    • Extensive data regarding road rage and driving behavior can be found at the (U.S.) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) website.
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