The Psychology of Road Rage: How Cars Transform Others Into Obstacles

What is it about being behind the wheel that can transform the most genial soccer mom into a seething mass of rage?

Photo: ##http://www.womenshealthmag.com/yoga/yoga-for-reducing-road-rage##Women's Health##

We can peek inside the head of an aggressive driver thanks to some timeless research from psychologist Leon James. In the late 1990s, James analyzed thousands of messages between drivers posted on internet discussion groups. He found that good-natured people often became intolerant and anti-social the moment they pull into traffic. Congressional testimony given by James, posted on Network blog Baltimore Spokes, explains the psychology of road rage and how automobiles serve to depersonalize others.

The car is not only an object of convenience, beauty, and status. It is also a cultural and psychological object, associated with the driver’s internal mental and emotional dynamics, our ego. Cars are an extension of the self, they are ego-laden objects that can be used both positively and negatively to get our own way on the road. The automobile offers us a means to exercise direct control over our environment. When we enter the car we use it as an outlet for regaining a sense of control. Automobiles are powerful, and obedient. They respond instantly and gratifyingly to our command, giving us a sense of well being that comes with achieving control over one’s environment.

What happens when someone thwarts our sense of freedom? For example, while driving along in a pack of vehicles, a car in the left lane suddenly darts into your lane just ahead of you. Your foot automatically lifts from the gas pedal and taps the brakes, just enough to maintain distance. At this point, aggressive drivers feel thwarted because they were forced to alter what they were doing. That driver forced you to lift your foot two inches. “What a moron. What an idiot.”

This research is no longer cutting edge (James gave the testimony in 1997), but has it been absorbed and applied? How many first-time drivers hit the road prepared to deal with the psychology of road rage?

Also on the Network today: Transbay Blogger marks the introduction of the Bay Area’s first high occupancy toll lane, which will charge SOVs to use HOV lanes. And Greater Greater Washington celebrates the launch of metro DC’s new bikesharing program.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Today’s Headlines

By Katie Pearce |
To Understand the Rage in Charlotte, Look to the History of Its Roads (ThinkProgress) G-7 Welcomes U.S. Driverless Car Guidelines (Seattle Times) Voters in NJ, Illinois Could Opt to Protect Transportation Funds (Governing) BRT Posed as Answer to Miami’s Traffic Congestion (Miami Herald) If DC Metro Cancels Late-Night Service, Can Uber and Lyft Fill the Gap? (WaPo) […]

In DC, the Danger of Enraged Driving Is on the Rise

By Tanya Snyder |
Road rage is boiling over. Twelve percent of people surveyed in the Washington, DC, metro area said they often feel “uncontrollable anger toward another driver.” The number of people reporting such feelings has doubled since 2005, according to the Washington Post, which conducted the survey. Rage can be an impairment like intoxication or distraction, according to Leon […]

The Stranger: If Safer Streets Mean War, We’re Ready for Combat

By Tanya Snyder |
Under the headline, “Okay, Fine, It’s War,” Seattle’s weekly newspaper, The Stranger, this week published a manifesto “of and by the nondrivers themselves.” They’re sick of being called “militants” for caring about pedestrian safety, and they’re tired of the specter of a “war on cars.” We heartily recommend that you read the whole thing, but […]

The Problem With “Share the Road” Safety Campaigns

By Angie Schmitt |
Appeals for courtesy between drivers and cyclists and pedestrians are pretty standard fare for traffic safety campaigns. In London, it’s “Share the Road.” In Utah, they have “Respect is a Two-Way Street.” Is this the best we can do? Robert Wright at the Invisible Visible Man was thinking this over after a taxi driver nearly struck […]