Thousands of road rage accidents occur each year across the United States. While it is not a fully-understood reaction to driving problems or situations, professionals are studying the phenomenon and working with insurance companies to help find ways to prevent the incidents. Until a consensus can be reached on what causes road rage incidents and how to prevent them, here are some tips to help you alleviate potential road rage while you are driving.
The term “road rage” includes a wide spectrum of emotions including aggression, stress, anger, and confrontation. With anger centered as a foundation of each of these powerful emotions, analysts have discovered that almost 60 percent of fatal crashes included a highly emotional driver or situation. So, what can you do to prevent aggressive or disturbing conditions?
- Give yourself ample time to get where you are going.
Weaving in and out of traffic in an effort to get somewhere two or three minutes earlier than you would otherwise may mean you need to cut someone off, and that could result in taking unnecessary risks as you cause someone else to become frustrated.
- Do not get visibly angry at other drivers.
Yelling at another driver or making negative hand signals as you drive may seem like a great idea when you are frustrated with another driver’s antics, but it can set an already frustrated driver off and goad them into a dangerous situation. Besides, the only person that can hear your tirade is you and anyone else in your car – and they don’t need that.
- Do not retaliate.
If someone drives recklessly around you, don’t reciprocate the action to get back at the driver and teach them a lesson. You could cause a serious accident with a deadly outcome.
- Do not confront another driver.
Don’t follow a driver into a parking lot and stop to confront them for some perceived bad driving action. You never know how they or their passengers will react to being threatened about something they may not even be aware that occurred.
- Protect yourself if someone approaches your car while you are stopped.
Keep your doors closed and your windows up enough to prevent a personal attack. If the other vehicle follows you, drive to a nearby police station for help or contact 911 and give them the license plate and your location.
Instead of allowing an emotional issue to alter the way you treat the other drivers on the road, keep yourself safe by understanding that everyone can have a bad day. Take a few deep breaths, turn on your favorite song, and thank your lucky stars that you are not a victim of road rage. Speak with a car accident lawyer, like a car accident lawyer in Milwaukee, WI, if you were the victim in an accident caused by road rage.
Thanks to Hickey & Turim Attorneys at Law for their insight into tips to prevent road rage.
