How to deal with road rage

Incidents of violent driving have been on the rise for several years. Malta has started to bear the brunt with some incidents hitting our media recently. According to the American Automobile Association, violent driving incidents have been increasing by seven per cent each year since 1990.

An Australian study estimates that about half of all traffic accidents in Australia may be due to road rage. Some UK studies indicate that of Britain's 2.8 million company car drivers, about 83 per cent have been victims of some form of road rage during their working life. About 21 per cent of those reported have been run off the road and 18 per cent have been physically threatened by another driver. In the USA in 1996, there were some 1,800 cases of reported violent road incidents. Of these around 300 cases a year produce serious injuries or fatalities.

Aggressive driving is a traffic offence or combination of offences usually associated with driving too closely to another car, speeding, unsafe lane changes, failing to signal intent to change lanes, and other forms of negligent or inconsiderate driving. Road rage, on the other hand, is considered a criminal offence in many countries. It occurs after a traffic incident escalates into a far more serious situation. A person expresses excessive anger over an aggressive driving incident where he or she overreacts and retaliates with some type of violence, from making a gesture (giving the finger) to physical confrontation to outright assault, sometimes using the motor vehicle itself or some other weapon. Shouting verbal abuse, including threats also falls into this category.

More often than not, the precipitating factor could be something quite trivial. As early as 1997, therapists in the US were working to medicalise road rage by certifying it as an official mental disorder, the behaviours typically associated with it commonly falling in the diagnostic criteria for intermittent explosive disorder.

However, it is not as simple as that. Actual causes can be traced back, more often than not, to any form of daily stress, from being called into the boss's office, to having just been dumped by your girlfriend, to a typical argument with your partner. Drivers tend to put themselves in a stress bind by constantly trying to beat the clock on their road trips. Anything that gets in their way becomes an object of frustration and potentially rage. Traffic is in fact a collaborative (cooperative) activity. If one is aggressive, this triggers in others a natural instinct to retaliate.

What should one do when confronted by aggressive drivers? First and foremost one should make every effort to get out of their way. Swallowing one's pride is essential in these circumstances. Challenging aggressive drivers by standing in his or her way or by speeding never helps. Diplomacy should reign supreme. Eye contact should be always avoided with aggressive drivers. Notwithstanding, a gut reaction to return rude gestures, one should overcome this temptation by not reacting.

There are a number of web sites that are available to help with this problem. These include http://www.roadragers.com; http:// www.aboveaveragedriver.com; http:// www.platewire.com; http://faceofroadrage.com and http://www.peoplespointsystem.com/index.php.

This article is intended to start raising awareness of this problem in this country. I am certain that during the stressful daily early morning driving, many of us have, at one point or another, met with aggressive drivers or perhaps have been tempted to react aggressively ourselves.

More often than not, it takes me about 45 minutes to go from Attard to St Luke's Hospital during the morning rush hour. Notwithstanding trying to while the time away by saying the rosary during this trip, when there is a huge traffic jam and I run against time, it is not the first time that my natural instinct of aggression emerges. I can, therefore, empathise with those drivers who would be on the verge of losing it. However I can never concur with any aggressive behaviour.

We have to be more aware that the island is fast becoming a commercialised country and whereas two decades ago, rush hours were non existent, today it's a totally different story. Giving ourselves enough time to arrive at our destination is something we have to start making time for. Arriving eight miles away in 10 minutes is no longer possible in 2007 Malta.

Dr Cassar is a member of Parliament (PN) and a consultant psychiatrist.