If you drive, you have experienced road rage. A culture that promotes aggressive driving and risk taking combined with environmental conditions like traffic density and unexpected slowdowns at construction areas can make drivers more prone to anger and hostility. Those conditions can lead to verbal road rage, such as a driver angrily honking their horn or signaling rude hand gestures to another motorist. But some drivers escalate to physical violence. Criminal road rage can involve actions like cutting another vehicle off, tailgating, blocking another car so that it cannot use a traffic lane, ramming into a car or even shooting at another motorist. Resource swindonadvertiser.co.uk
Honking Havens: Exploring the Capitals of Road Rage Around the World
A new survey from the travel website AutoVantage reveals America’s Road Rage Capitals, ranking cities by their discourteous driving. The research looked at 25 of America’s biggest metro areas, taking into account speeding drivers, people who don’t move over to the far left lane for passing and tailgaters.
Utah’s Salt Lake City topped the list, with drivers here being most likely to get in an argument with a neighboring driver. The state with the lowest road rage problems was Oregon’s Portland.
The homicide of Chris Mortensen last year was a tragic reminder that road rage can end in tragedy. His cousin, Brandon Merrill, works with the nonprofit group Utah Homicide Survivors, and says the family has struggled to cope with his loss. But he believes that no matter what laws are passed, it is up to every driver to decide not to act out behind the wheel.