Age of all sorts of rage

Road Rage Aggressor Jailed For 18 Years. Stephen Pirotta, 39 of Luqa, was found guilty of the attempted murder of David Azzopardi in a road rage case back in 2005 - The Times, February 25, 2010.

A few days later in another newspaper I read that Tristan Scott Haynes, 41, was jailed for four years in January in connection with another road rage incident after being found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm to two elderly men in a road accident in May 2003.

It resulted that he was a black belt practitioner who used his art in fighting the two elderly men, one significantly smaller than him in stature, using kung fu moves. It also claimed that he tried to hide his knowledge of martial arts from the courts.

Anger has become an increasing part of modern life as much as swearing. On top of road rage we now encounter all kinds of rage and all these situations can harm our health.

A poll carried out recently in the UK shows that three in 10 have a tantrum at least once a day and one in six considers physical violence. Angry people are at a greater risk of heart disease and a fatal heart attack, according to researches at Edinburgh University. They also found that hostile people were most at risk of having clogged arteries. The American Heart Association says that bad-tempered people are three times more likely to have a heart attack.

Brooding is just as bad because it can depress the immune system. So the best way forward is learning how to ignore the source of irritation or vent your anger in a controlled way. But this is easier said than done!

About 80 per cent believe society has become angrier over the past 10 years. A sociologist at Staffordshire University believes the rise in anger is due to frustration at things not happening quickly enough in our modern lives. He says that "we've grown impatient because we are now used to getting what we want instantly in many areas of life. We have also come to expect better service from shops and businesses and are impatient if they don't deliver. We want what we want and want it instantly. Waiting is something we just don't want to do".

The following are some of the types of rage we encounter in our daily lives.

Parking rage: Not so long ago a man (A) shot another one (B) because B parked in a slot that was usually occupied by A. There are fewer spaces so it is not surprising people are wound up. In towns like Sliema and Ħamrun it is impossible to park nowadays due to the enormous number of cars and restricted parking spaces. But out-of-town places can also prove to be trouble spots because drivers have high expectations of finding a parking space and will be angry if they don't.

Air rage: The British Civil Aviation Authority says that over 100 incidents are reported and now staff members are being trained to deal with air-rage. A drunken British tourist hit a stewardess in the face with a bottle and was jailed for four years.

"You have people stuffed in a narrow metal tube with people they don't know, with very little oxygen and no room to move about."

They probably had a two-hour check-in and added to that perhaps a one-hour delay! So it is not surprising that patience is wearing thin.

Alcohol is sometimes a contributory factor!

Road rage: Besides the incident referred to in the opening paragraph one must also take into consideration other factors that contribute to road rage.

Due to the increasing number of cars on the road, frustration creeps in from the stop-start traffic in the rush hours. Motorists seem to spend most of their time stationary. Add other people's bad driving and you are asking for trouble, especially during the hot humid season with soaring temperatures when tempers seem to boil quite easily.

Office rage: Stress can cause staff to rage at the slightest thing like crashed computers and jammed photocopiers. A survey shows that three quarters of people hate it when colleagues hover around their desk while they are on the phone.

Others get angry at people shouting across the office. Others at having to endure another person's conversation when the latter are on the mobile phone shouting as if the other person at the other end is deaf.

A quarter of the people admit attacking the computer and swearing at it. We've come to expect efficiency from equipment like computers and if it fails us in any way we lose our cool. A colleague of mine used to attack his computer like John Cleese of Fawlty Towers in that famous scene when he had a go at his car.

Golf rage: Even in the game of golf, which is considered as a leisure activity/a means of relaxation after a full day's and/or after a week's work, instances of rage have occurred such as after a ball landed close to where another player was playing. It seems people want to improve their game and forget that they are out there to enjoy themselves too.

Getting in a rage can become a habit but it is a habit that can't be sustained for long without you ending up in trouble.

Think about this next time the red mist descends.