We all must have heard the term “road
rage”. Perhaps most of us have experienced it with some of us not
realizing what we are feeling is road rage.

I will give you an example of road
rage. One that I felt just a few days ago and prompted me to write
this.

I was on my way to Foster's Supermarket
near the Airport and stopped at the small roundabout that is
difficult with all the road works going on there. The golden rule at
roundabouts is to “Give Way”, although the sign doesn't say “give
way” to whom. You are supposed to give way to traffic coming from
the right but some road users don't know this and treat it as a 4-way
stop sign without the need in most cases to stop.

At the incident I telling you about I
stopped and allowed the cars, there were three of them, on my right
to come onto the roundabout ahead of me. There was a white car behind
me and it looked reasonably new, despite the gloom as it was
approaching dusk around 5pm. There already was a lot of traffic.
After the second car had gone through the driver of the white car
started tooting me as I waited for the third car. He repeated this
and immediately I felt very angry. I even turned my head and gave him
one of my cold stares but he probably couldn't see that.

To relieve my anger I decided to really
annoy him and after the third car had passed by I went onto the
roundabout and through it and eventually to Fosters at snail pace.
Very, very naughty of me but it instantly relieved my anger.

Unfortunately, not the driver behind
me. He kept on blasting me with his hooter continually. The more he
did it the more I smiled.

When I got to the turnoff to Fosters I
pulled in and stopped and he shook his fist at me as he went past. At
the same time I smiled and blew him a big kiss.

Now that was wrong of me. I should have
ignored him but.....

If the incident had happened in the USA
I could have been shot.

Why do we get road rage?

The main reason is because driving a
car is stressful. It's a dangerous time because even if you're the
safest driver in the world it's all the other variables that go with
driving a car. The weather. The visibility. The traffic. And, of
course, the other drivers. A good percentage of them engaging in very
risky behavior. It's that behavior, I fear, that will start the road
rage. You get the urge to punish the driver for his stupidity, just
like I did causing him to do the same.

It's strange, but true. The normal
rules of behavior don't apply when driving a car. It annoys me when
so many movies, and even car ads, portray aggressive driving as an
exciting activity. Even to help vent your anger that will most
definitely, but for the grace of God, lead to an accident.

I have to ask this question. When we
get into a car and start to dive, do we immediately become
emotionally impaired?

If I am right, then we must all be
aware of this emotional state and try not to engage any more in 'road
rage'. A very hard thing to do.