How To Get Rid of Road Rage

Road rage is bad news. It causes aggressive driving, which leads to extra wear and tear on your car, violence, stress that can carry over to work and home and worst of all, accidents. When driving you are in charge of a dangerous weapon, so therefore it is important that emotions remain under control to prevent any injury.

What Is It? Where Does It Come From?

Road rage is driving in an angry or extremely aggressive manner. This can lead to angry gestures, threats, violence or driving in a threatening manner. The rage can come from a number of sources, both before and during driving. Rage can be added to the driver from arguments prior to driving or being late and the pressure to be at the destination on time, for example, dropping the children of at school or getting to work. It can also be the result of other driver’s mistakes or the frustration of traffic jams.

This pressure and rage builds until eventually it becomes too much resulting in you forgetting everything you have been taught whilst driving and you result to instinct. When this happens you put yourself at risk of accidents and altercations.

Coping With and Dealing With Road Rage

No matter what the source of the rage is, road rage is a result of the anger inside of you. Therefore it is important to focus on your emotions when thinking of the remedies of road rage. Since every person is different in terms of biology and personality not all of the techniques below will work for everyone. Try each of them and find which ones work for you!

Instructions (Steps):

Music. Countless studies have found that music has a huge effect on mood. Listening to fast, rock or metal music at a high volume will make you drive faster and in an aggressive manner, making you prone to dangerous mistakes. Listen to soft, gentle music at a lower volume to help you remain calm and help you pass of the accident and stop you from engaging in road rage or aggressive behaviour.

Understand the driver. Understanding why the driver is acting like they do can help you deal with the situation. Although you aren’t justifying their actions, tell yourself of the possible reasons why they are driving like they are. Maybe they are off to propose to their partner at the train station before they move away, or on the way to hospital to see their child being born. Of course you may be wrong but it will help you to calm down and could stop you from a crash yourself.

Humour. Just laugh to yourself. Similarly to above, just invent a situation as to why the driver has behaved like he has. He might have soiled his pants and need to get home to change before work or something equally as funny or disgusting. Whatever your style of humour is, use it. The thing to remember is that you must keep it to yourself, don’t go and shout it out to the driver and cause further aggravation!

Let them through. Some people are bad drivers, some people are aggressive drivers. The last thing you want is a bad, aggressive driver closely behind you for a long period of time. The best thing to do would be to pull aside and let them through, only do this when it is safe for you to do so though, remember what you’ve learnt whilst driving!

Be wary. Understand and acknowledge the possible consequences of road rage. A crash could result in serious injury to you, your loved family and friends in the vehicle and massive bill to repair or replace the car when the insurance company won’t pay out because it’s all your fault. Understanding the possible outcomes of rage will make you a good, defensive driver from the start of your journey.

Focus on your destination. Remind yourself of what awaits you when you arrive at your destination. It could be work that pays for your amazing family, getting home to your children, partner and pets, or travelling to see your favourite sports team win. Keeping this in mind will help you remain focussed on the main aim of your journey, to get where you’re going and to enjoy being there!

As mentioned previously not all of these methods will work for everyone to try each one out and see which one works best for you. You could adapt any of the techniques to suit your own personality. The main thing to remember is to not lose yourself to the rage, you’re a far bigger person than that.

Tips & Warnings:

• If you suffer from road rage regularly or suffer from anger or stress problems consult your doctor. They will be able to offer expert advice and additional solutions.

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