Road Rage- Allison Warren

Road Rage

Imagine yourself driving in a car on the way to the movie theater with your best friends. You are all jamming to music and laughing with huge smiles across your faces. You grab your phone to change the song. As you’re looking down at the music app, you accidentally swerve into the lane next to yours. You quickly turn the steering wheel back to stay on course. You set your phone down to focus better. You and your friends are shaken up from this careless mistake. The car next to you honks it horn and pulls up next to your car and starts yelling explicit words. You hold up your hand to relay an “I’m sorry” gesture, but he is still yelling at you and your friends. You exit the freeway to pull into the movie theater. That’s when the same guy pulls up next to you pointing a gun in your direction. That gun is the last thing you see before the world turns black.

            Road rage is “any unsafe driving behavior, performed deliberately and with ill intention or disregard for safety, can constitute aggressive driving” (AAA Exchange). Road rage is becoming more relevant in today’s society. “Recent reports indicate incidents of aggressive driving have risen 51% since 1990 (“Measuring Road Rage: Development of the Propensity for Angry Driving Scale”). Not only do simple mistakes, like the example mentioned, elicit road rage, but also many other reasons do as well. Other reasons might be, texting and driving, driving under the influence, failure to pay attention to road signs, and the congestion of traffic.  Road rage is a growing problem that risks the safety of everyone on the road. “Road rage incidents are increasing both as a rate per 100,000 residents and per 100,000 registered vehicles” (Faulks). Victims of road rage have gotten their cars damaged, their lives threatened, and some have even died. With road rage incidents escalating, solutions to these situations are crucial, not only to better the roads, but to make them safer for all.

Road rage is a relatively new rising problem. Road rage started becoming an eye-opener during the 1990’s. “Back in 1990, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety conducted a study of over 10,000 traffic accidents linked to driver violence” (“Road Rage Statistics Filled With Surprising Facts”). Road rage has steadily increased since the 1990’s and will continue to grow with more people learning how to drive. “Previous research by the AAA Foundation found that from 2003 to 2007, over half of fatal crashes involved at least one driver who performed a potentially aggressive action” (“AAA Exchange”). More people are getting their license and are becoming an active driver on the road. From 1990, “the number of people with a driver’s license in the United States grew from around 167 million to about 218 million in 2015 (Laporte). With more drivers on the road, the opportunity for road rage to cause an accident is higher than ever.

Recently, more drivers are purposefully engaging in road rage activities to entice other drivers, like poking a bear. According to the AAA, “Over 104 million drivers purposefully tailgate” (“Nearly 80 Percent of Drivers Express Significant Anger, Aggression or Road Rage”). Road rage is a very dangerous action a driver can have towards another driver. Not only does a person put others at risk for an accident or death to occur, but they expose themselves to those risks as well: “male drivers were more than three times as likely… to have gotten out of a vehicle to confront another driver or rammed another vehicle on purpose” (1). 

Although the history of road rage is comparatively new, the actions of those experiencing road rage are reasonably the same as today as they were in the 1990’s. There are many reasons why people get road rage: “many common behaviors, including racing, tailgating, failing to observe signs and regulations, and seeking confrontations with other drivers” are examples of what evokes road rage (“Aggressive Driving”). Road rage should be taken very seriously because it has taken many lives and injured many more over the years.

            Road rage affects everyone affiliated within the incident. The two drivers are not the only people involved in a road rage event. The families and communities of the drivers are just as involved as the drivers are. If a person dies in an accident, the family of the deceased is devastated and the community grieves for them. Road rage affects a person in a way where they might not ever be the same.

Road rage is now considered a psychological mental condition. Road rage can  be described as:

Intermittent explosive disorder… Intermittent explosive disorder involves multiple outbursts that are way out of proportion to the situation. These angry outbursts often include threats or aggressive actions and property damage. The disorder typically first appears in adolescence; in the study, the average age of onset was 14. (“‘Road Rage’ Gets a Medical Diagnosis”)

Road rage can affect people to such a severity that it can render their function. “People with IED over-personalize every interaction, and then over-react with immediate aggression” (Kirchner). With people over personalizing events associated with road rage, their judgment tends to become distorted or clouded, and the situation gets even more intense. This may make the risk of injury or death even more prevalent.

            Road rage has affected millions of people in the nation. Road rage is a constant growing issue in the United States, that not only injures millions, but also kills thousands as well. “There were at least 620 gun-involved road rage incidents in 2016; that’s more than double from two years earlier. Florida had the most in the country over a two-year period, with 146 incidents” (“Study: Road Rage Incidents Involving Guns Are Increasing”). Road rage has evolved from “simple” shouting, flicking others off, and bumping cars, to something more alarming- shooting people to purposefully kill. What the most disturbing thing is about an instance like this, is that it can happen any time to anyone- to you, to your mom, or to a random stranger. Either way, shootings during road rage incidents are becoming more frequent. “All told, there were at least 1,319 road rage episodes involving firearms… Nationwide, at least 354 people were wounded and 136 people were killed” (“Road Rage Shootings Surge on America's Highways and Byways”).

            Globally, road rage is a topic of concern. More people are showing signs of aggression towards each other while driving: “worldwide, more than two million fatalities occur yearly” (James). With rising death tolls, road rage is tipping the worldwide scale of safety on the roads. But, road rage is not just confined to cars. Road rage can happen on any type of vehicle such as: boats, bicycles, skateboards, or off-road vehicles. Internationally, road rage is expanding into a force that has affected millions of people. With its many forms, road rage can occur during any situation and claim the lives of many.Road Rage With Biker Video 

Whether road rage is common personally, nationally, or globally, it has a similar outcome in any of these situations. With people developing serious road rage, they are appropriating a mental condition. Intermittent explosive disorder, IED, can blow things out of proportion for agitated drivers. This has caused circumstances to become intensified and increases the risk of injury or death. Nationally, millions are affected and thousands of people have died from road rage events. The nation’s safety is declining, while the danger of road rage is growing substantially. Worldwide, road rage has developed into a major concern for most countries. Road rage has developed into a phenomenon that can happen with any vehicle, and can result in any serious outcome. People have even used weapons to demonstrate just how indignant they are towards the driver that caused them to get road rage.

            Road rage happens on almost every road in America. There have been horrible wrecks and injuries because of such incidents. Recently, an innocent three-year-old child was shot and killed by a man who had road rage. “The man started honking his horn. The grandmother honked her horn. Then, police said, the man got out of his black Chevrolet Impala and fired into her car” (Ansari). He got angry from the grandmother “not moving quickly enough at a stop sign,” and so he got out and shot a gun into the car (1). Not only was there a grandmother and a toddler in the vehicle, but also a one-year-old baby. It is such a tragedy that a toddler’s life was taken from such rash actions. He will not get a chance to experience life because of the road rage that caused the man to pull a gun on the family in the car. The police have not found the suspect yet, but they have an investigation opened. Hopefully justice will be served.

            Road rage also claimed the life of an eighteen-year-old girl, who just graduated high school. The girl allegedly “jockeyed for position on a two-lane West Goshen road that merges into one lane,” and the killer, David Desper, became overwhelmed with road rage (“Pennsylvania Road Rage Killing: Man, 28, Charged with Murder in Teen's Death”). He pulled out a “.40-caliber Smith & Wesson semi-automatic,” and brutally shot and killed the young girl (1). She “was shot in the head

and died instantly. Her car veered off the road and was later found in a ditch. The shooter fled, driving partly along the shoulder of the highway until exiting the road” (1). He took her life because he got angry with the way she merged into his lane. Road rage is an inexcusable and unacceptable reason to take someone’s life. “She was headed to Jacksonville University in Florida in the fall,” but now she won’t ever get the chance to go to her dream school (1). David Desper “was charged with first degree murder in the death of 18-year-old Bianca Roberson after turning himself in to police” (1).

As aforementioned, road rage can happen in any type of vehicle, like a bicycle. A seventeen-year-old girl, Nabra, was assaulted many times by a man in car because of a road rage incident. She was riding her bicycle in the street and the driver of the car did not like that she was in his way. Darwin A. Martinez Torres, 22:

Caught Nabra and struck her with the bat…Detectives said he then drove her to another location and assaulted her again. Her body was found in a man-made pond a few miles from the parking lot. An autopsy found that Nabra suffered blunt-force trauma to her upper body. (Wamsley)

She was a Muslim and many believe that her death was a hate crime. Nabra’s father said, following the death of his child, "Why was he running behind the kids wearing Islamic clothes with a baseball stick? Why, when my daughter fell down, why did he hit her?...We don't know this guy…We don't hate anybody because of religion or color” (1). Although police deny any hate caused this horrible situation, people are not backing down from bringing awareness to this story. “Darwin A. Martinez Torres…has been charged with murder” (1).

            Road rage is a growing epidemic in today’s society. With many being killed and many more being injured, attention to this issue needs to be sought. Whether road rage is a precipitous feeling or an existing mental condition, no justification is worthy of killing an innocent life. The government should become more involved, and demand new laws to be followed. As well as, psychologists revoke or invalidate people’s license if they have a severe mental condition of road rage. Too many lives have perished for such a growing issue to not require solutions.

            Road rage urgently needs solutions to help stop or slow down the rate of accidents. The solutions used would be a psychological evaluation before receiving a license and when renewing a license, as well as, making road rage provoked accidents illegal. According to a survey from the AAA, “Nearly 8 of every 10 U.S. drivers admit expressing anger, aggression or road rage at least once in the previous year” (Lowy). With this many people experiencing such a perilous mind set in a driving setting, solutions need to be addressed.

            When receiving your license, you are agreeing to follow all the rules and laws of the road. Although road rage is not officially a law, a driver should not experience road rage strong enough to hurt others. There are “10 million” people with IED (“Intermittent Explosive Disorder”). With IED being recognized as a mental condition, drivers should be evaluated and tested for it. With having a psychological assessment, drivers with an unknown IED condition can be spotted out and revoked from having a license. Also when renewing your license, an evaluation should be conducted as well to reconfirm you are a safe driver or to discover you have developed IED through your years of driving.

DMV’s are already filled with appointments and walk-ins, so having an evaluation for every driver in there will take time they presumably do not have. A psychological “in-depth test…may take 1 to 2 hours” to complete ("Mental Health Assessment"). “The average American will wait 44 minutes before receiving service at the DMV” (“DMV Study: Why Some States Have Longer Wait

Times at the DMV”) (Attachment 1). With adding a longer process for a person to go through, the wait time will increase even more so. Also, the DMV may not have enough funds to add more employees than necessarily needed. “The average salary of a DMV employee is $35,000” ("DMV Worker: Salary"). A DMV worker does not earn much yearly and adding professional psychologists that “make around $74,000” each, will make funding for the DMV more strained (Psychologist Salary). In total, DMV’s “cost $13.8 billion a year” and so saving money is vital for their productivity ("Billions of Dollars Lost Each Year Over Trips to the DMV"). In the state of Texas alone, there are 225 DMV’s which would cost $49,950,000 yearly for just three psychologists in all 225 DMV’s (“Find the Texas DMV Office Closest to You”). But if money was not an issue and enough psychologists were trained and ready to work in a DMV, then the solution would work.

Road rage involved accidents becoming illegal will not only help reduce them, but also reinforce that road rage will not stand. If police got more involved in road rage accidents, less people will interact with such actions. For example, if a police officer pulled over a driver for yelling at another car and showing inappropriate gestures when they were cut off, then the driver will know it is unacceptable to partake in road rage situations. But if a driver purposefully rams another car or gets

out of their car to beat the other driver up, then the police should arrest the individual eliciting the road rage incident. It should become a law if a person exhibits any road rage and endangers others while driving. The road rage angered driver should be held accountable and arrested for risking the safety of others. A bill was recently introduced in Hawaii to help aid in road rage situations. But “the bill doesn’t specify penalties” for breaking it (Zannes). They need to turn this bill nationwide and create a law from it with repercussions added to help minimize road rage activities.

            Although a new law would help road rage be recognizable, people will still break it despite it being a law. “Millions of people who declare themselves innocent law abiding citizens actually commit around seven crimes a week” ("How We All Break the Law Every Day"). An example of that would be common traffic laws like speeding. Many people break simple laws daily and so how can the police enforce a law when most people break them every day? There needs to be more police patrolling the roads and holding drivers responsible for their actions. “There are more than 900,000 sworn law enforcement officers now serving in the United States,” but the number should increase by 25 % to get 1,125,000 active police officers on the road (Law Enforcement Facts). If the US amped up its police involvement on the road, then road rage would happen less and more laws would be followed. 

            Evaluating drivers when receiving their license and when renewing their license for any indication of IED will help reduce accidents caused by road rage. But the better option would be if a law was set in place and police activity increased on the roads. Road rage needs to be slowed down if not stopped and increasing police patrolling and implementing a new law regarding consequences for road rage will help the roads become safer.

           Road rage can be considered absurd. To be absurd is to be “ridiculously unreasonable, unsound” ("Absurd"). Absurdities are found everywhere. But in literature, absurd fiction is a prominent area of study. Camus, an absurd fiction author, “believed life lacked purpose, yet human life was valuable” (Hammett). Camus’ beliefs lacked the passion for life and meaning. He did not care about the actions of people, but rather the value and truth of an individual. Camus relates to road rage because of his belief of life being valuable. Road rage results in a lot of injuries and death and Camus would feel dismayed about the people involved.  Road rage would confuse Camus because of the meaningful actions a road rage driver would purposefully do. Not only would Camus be shocked by the way people drive today, but how they are not being stopped when committing acts of violence. Road rage would seemingly go against his beliefs because of the drivers not valuing the lives of the drivers around them when expressing their road rage. Which in return, would make Camus want to change the effects of road rage or to bring awareness to the matter.

            Road rage is an epidemic that affects millions of drivers all over the world. “Over 104 million drivers purposefully” exhibit acts of road rage (“Nearly 80 Percent of Drivers Express Significant Anger, Aggression or Road Rage”). Road rage elicits abhorrent behavior that puts everyone on the road at risk for injuries or death. Road rage might cause a driver to overreact in a situation, or have

the driver develop IED. A psychological condition such as IED, is a serious complication regarding the safety of those on the road. If a person displays IED, a concern grows for the drivers around them. Road rage should be stopped or at least slowed down until a perpetual plan can be set in place to rid the roads of this epidemic. Too many accidents occur each day for a strategy to not be required. This being said, the solutions to optimize on are increasing police activity by 25% and establishing a new law to cut down on the number of road rage incidents that happen daily. The United States can save thousands of lives if they devise a plan of action. Road rage can and will be stopped.

            Now imagine this, you are driving in a car with your best friends. Jamming to music and rocking out, you sing at the top of your lungs. Laughter fills the car as you reach down and grab your phone to change the song. As you touch the screen, you accidentally swerve into the lane adjacent to yours. Quickly, you turn the steering wheel back into its proper position, fixing the careless mistake you just made. As you look over to the car driving beside you, they give you a small frown. You hold up your hand and say “I’m sorry,” to the frowning driver. He holds up his hand and mouths the words “It’s fine,” and then drives off. You and your friends go back to singing and laughing as you continue to drive.

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