It is a nerve-wracking ride to share the road with an aggressive driver. At one point you are listening to your favorite song, and the next moment, you find yourself facing an angry driver, overtaking, abusing, or, worse, engaging in a physical altercation. The rising road rage is the root cause of tension and frustration among all drivers. Hence, what is the root cause of it? And how to deal with it?
It has been reported recently that some serious psychological issues are happening across Indian roads. Well, don’t worry; there are ways to prevent you from such rising road rage situations and valuable lessons we can learn from how other countries are combating road rage.
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What is Road Rage?
This term was coined to articulate aggressive or violent behavior by road users, such as speeding, tailgating, dangerous overtaking, giving hostile looks hurling abuses, or worst of all, engaging in a physical fight.
Causes of Road Rage
The culmination of several factors, such as frustration and anger while driving, often leads to road rage. Most road rage boils down to two principal points: bad decision/mistake and poor reaction. For instance, perhaps somebody does something silly and you lose your cool, or vice versa.
People suffering from depression and anxiety can also be more exposed to a road rage incident in which they try to let loose their frustration on others.
Then there are power trippers who want to behave like characters from a Bollywood movie, threatening others with the famous dialogue, ‘Tu Janta nahi hai, main kaun hu!’ or ‘Don’t you know who I am?’
How to Deal with Road Rage
Whatever may be the case for road rage, you can keep out of that or prevent things from getting worse by keeping these tips in your mind:
And for goodness’ sake, do not ever play ‘tit for tat’ in a road rage incident. You are the one who should always keep your head – at least one of you should. Just back away from the place and get out of there. You do not know what someone might be stimulated by to become more deadly and violent. If you feel that you are in danger, maintain distance and maybe take down the license plate number of the vehicle in case you need to report the incident.
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Plan your trip or travel ahead of time.
If Maps says it will take an hour to get there then you add on another 15 minutes of delay. Do not have the mental frustration and speed trying to catch up that will turn out to be a cost in your lifetime. If the driver behind is very aggressive in his/their speeding or tailgating, swallow your pride and let the angry man pass.
Render respect to other users of the highway.
You do not know why a person is going slowly ahead; perhaps there is an old man behind the wheel, or perhaps this man is driving his pregnant wife to the hospital.
Although he has no valid reason and is merely distracted by his cell phone, you must be the bigger person and try not to argue. Sometimes you have to apologize; it’s always a good thing regardless of who is wrong or right, not to engage in an unnecessary fight.
Pro Tip: Mount a car dashcam on the windshield where it captures everything in front of your car or inside the cabin. That can even serve to protect you later, should someone decide to go after you in court. Always get yourself to a safe location (if the hostile driver is following you), then call the police to continue handling the situation from there.
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