road rage
Uploaded by carla1982 on Feb 05, 2006
Extremism: Road Rage
According to Cambridge Dictionary, extremism is defined as the furthest point; to the greatest degree. According to Microsoft Encarta road rage is defined as uncontrolled anger that is usually incited by an irritating act of another motorist and is expressed in aggressive or violent behavior. Road rage has no standard definition, although it has been defined as a situation where "a driver or passenger attempts to kill, injure or intimidate a pedestrian or another driver or passenger or to damage their car in a traffic incident" (Smart and Mann, 2002a) Both definitions have something in common and I will described that for you in this paper.
A recent Gallup poll reported that motorists were more worried about road rage (42%) than about drunken driving (35%). - NY Times. Road rage usually starts with a honk of the horn, then a gesture. Drivers may exchange words and that's all, but far too often, road rage leads to something much more serious. First your adrenaline goes through your system, your heart rate speeds up and your muscles tense up. All of this is part of the fight-and-flight response of psychology. In this case, it's fight."
Here is a story from abcnews.com, “A Driver was apparently enraged over something... started yelling out of his window. When I did not respond he acted as if he was going to get out of his car. Then the light turned green. He slammed on his brakes several times in an attempt to make me crash into him. When I tried to leave him on the highway he almost caused a crash with several other drivers because of riding fast and cutting them off. I took the next exit to avoid further actions from him. Then called 911 to report him.’
People certainly fed up with the "idiots" they see on roads every day. Many develop road rage by giving in to their own frustration. The only problem with giving in to road rage is that it can often get you into a lot of trouble. Others can be just as enraged as you are, and their response to you may be down right dangerous. You should always steer clear of road rage. Instead of flipping a finger, back off and...