Could there be a rational explanation of scientific phenomenon behind the transformation of normal individuals, sometimes societal role models, into violent, impatient and rude characters while driving? On the 1st day of December, 2016 at Terry town Louisiana, Ronald Gasser, a 54 year old respectable member of the community fatally shot Joseph Nathan McKnight, a 28 year old Football superstar after a traffic related altercation (Augustine, Schapiro, & Hensley, 2016). A very calm Gasser soon after handed the gun to the police and was arrested without a fuss. The shooting and the arrest clearly define two exponentially different people. Indeed, it is almost as if the shooter was another persona of the normally calm and collected Gasser which took over during the road rage incident and did the shooting (Augustine, Schapiro, & Hensley, 2016). As with the incident referred to herein above, even rational people have been found to act with extreme aggression during incidences of road rage, sometimes leading to serious damage to vehicles, physical harm or even fatalities. Road rage is a psychological phenomenon instigated by the current overworked and stressed up form of living, which has transformed individuals into ticking time bombs waiting to explode.
Definition of Road Rage
Road rage is defined as aggressive behavior of a road user, in most cases a driver, against other road users (Kendrick, 2016). It involves rude language, obscene or abusive gestures, threats of physical harm, reckless or aggressive driving and in extreme instances, actual physical violence with or without weapons. Road rage is uncommon in the rural areas where there is little if any congestion and traffic is generally smooth. However, in urban areas where the number of vehicles are more than the capacity of the roads, there is a tendency for competition between drivers most of whom are in a hurry to get to their destination (Kendrick, 2016).
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Any competition for which there are no defined and superintended rules will almost always result to chaos. As drivers change lanes, they will cut into each other’s paths. In some instances, a slow driver will block a fast lane, instead of moving to the slow lane. In extreme instances, an impatient driver will turn aggressive and perform maneuvers with a high propensity to cause accident (Kendrick, 2016). Road rage is usually the reaction to these situations. A driver will shout to another, make obscene gesture or in extreme cases intentionally cause a vehicle to bump into another. In some extreme cases, the altercation will go beyond driving where drivers will face one another outside their vehicle and verbally or physically abuse one another (Kendrick, 2016).
The Psychology of Road Rage
The American psychology association (APA) has taken a keen interest in the issue of road rage with intensive research having been conducted over the same (FakhrHosseini, Jeon, & Bose, 2015). Among the findings of the research is that road rage is not an automatic phenomenon caused by a problem endemic to people. This is premised on the fact that even repeat offenders who have been proven to have a high propensity for road rage have been found to be very well behaved drivers when in rural areas (FakhrHosseini, Jeon, & Bose, 2015). Therefore, incidences of road rage combine internal and external factors. The internal factors revolve around the individual drivers themselves. The US economy has gradually mutated into a 24 hour 365 day economy, and this has placed exponential pressure on individuals operating in different parts of the economy. Therefore, at any given day, most working Americans are under some form of pressure.
Over and above this pressure is the element of urgency as the American economy is extremely capitalistic in nature. In most professional affiliation, the amount of success achievable is infinite as long as an individual is willing to put in extra effort. Therefore, most Americans are both overworked and in a hurry (FakhrHosseini, Jeon, & Bose, 2015). The internal factors in totality include individuals who are under pressure, overworked and in a continuous sense of urgency. Normally however, it will be hard to tell this when relating with this individuals in their places of work, their homes or in social places (FakhrHosseini, Jeon, & Bose, 2015). They will be civil, and reasonable even in ordinary altercations. The trigger is however the external factors relating to American roads.
The American road networks have not improved in proportion to the increase in the number of vehicles using them (Nguyen-Hoang, 2015). Therefore, there will be congestion mostly in the urban areas yet there is an extreme sense of urgency by overworked drivers who are also under great pressure. It is this combination that leads to negative conduct on the roads which is the essence of road rage. Every now and then however, things will get out of touch leading to the aggressive behavior that has been witnessed in American roads, some even leading to deaths. The upshot of the foregoing is that many of the perpetrators in road rage are ordinary rational and reasonable people who have been pushed by different factors listed to the point of a psychological breakdown. This will trigger aggressive and sometimes violent action. It is only after the fact, that the individuals will realize what they have done with great remorse.
Road Rage and Drug Abuse
Despite all laws, rules, regulations, and oversight measures, drunk driving as well as driving under the influence of narcotics is common problems in the USA, (Whitlock, 2016). This creates a secondary trigger to road rage over and above the nature of American roads. When an individual is intoxicated, the propensity to drive aggressively is normally higher than normal. Further, the capacity to react in an aggressive manner in the case of a normal traffic mishap is also highly enhanced (Whitlock, 2016). Indeed, in many instances where a normal instance of road rage becomes exacerbated, one or more of the participating parties are usually intoxicated. This results into scenarios where either vehicles will be used as battering rams, fist fights and sometimes even gunfights. Intoxication has a way of transforming even the most reasonable members of the society into rude and abusive individuals thus making it another rational explanation why reasonable people participate in road rage (Whitlock, 2016).
Probable Solution and Conclusion
The totality of the foregoing clearly proves that there are basic ingredients of road rage. These are the internal and external factors. Intoxication also plays a role as an exacerbating factor. This creates three main problems that require a three pronged solution. The first solution and the most effective is the improvement of infrastructure. The internal factors prevalent in the urban areas are also prevalent in the rural areas, yet road rage is minimal to the point of being negligible in the rural areas. If better roads are created in the urban areas, this would exponentially reduce incidents of road rage (Nguyen-Hoang, 2015).
The second solution is psychological. The pressure and fatigue on the working community in the public and private sector can be reduced through compulsory periodic leaves for all employees. Major campaigns should also be conducted to sensitize the working community that is not under employment to take time of work for recreation and rejuvenation periodically. Further, effective steps should be taken to ensure that driving under the influence of alcohol and/or hard drugs. These steps will help prevent ordinarily rational and reasonable people into periodic maniacs through incidents of road rage.
References
Augustine, B., Schapiro, R., & Hensley, N. (2016). Joe McKnight’s killer walks free, but he’s not in the clear yet. Retrieved from http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/joe-mcknight-shooter-released-charged-article-1.2895977
FakhrHosseini, M., Jeon, M., & Bose, R. (2015). Estimation of drivers' emotional states based on neuroergonmic equipment: an exploratory study using fNIRS. In Adjunct Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications (pp. 38-43). ACM.
Kendrick, M. (2016). Road Rage Unleashed. Angelo State University Social Sciences Research Journal , 2 (2), 1-13.
Nguyen-Hoang, P. (2015). Volatile earmarked revenues and state highway expenditures in the United States. Transportation , 42 (2), 237-256.
Whitlock, T. (2016). The Influence of Weapon and Alcohol cues on Road-Rage in a Driving Simulator (Doctoral dissertation, The Ohio State University).
