10.14.08

Road rage explained

Posted in Environment, People at 9:52 am by Anthony

Before Eileen bought her first car she was a normal, happy-go-lucky person. She’s still normal and happy-go-lucky except for the very brief but highly intense moments when she is consumed by road rage.

No ranting or raving, no foul language, no obscene hand gestures, just a brief ice-cold silence before the atmosphere in the car returns to its natural warmth.

Her method of dealing with road rage is controlled and reasonable. Unfortunately, there are many motorists who are unable to control their anger and consequently become aggressors or victims of this modern phenomenon.

But why is road rage such a unique form of anger in the modern world? The answer can be found in the nature of the beast and the radically changed environment he has recently been forced to inhabit.

I say recently because cars as a means of mass travel have only been around for about sixty years. Humans, on the other hand, have been around for about three or four million years during which time they have developed a highly complex system of signals based on the five senses of sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing

The crucial condition for human interaction through the senses is a degree of personal contact. Whether looking for a sexual partner or avoiding someone whom you sense is potentially dangerous, it is the conscious and unconscious signals received and processed in the brain that are your guide.

Take a simple example – You’re walking down a crowded street and accidentally bump into a total stranger. On the surface, the following exchange usually occurs. “Oops, sorry!” “That’s ok”, incident over, both move on.

Subconsciously, however, there is much more to this encounter. When you bumped into the person, you immediately knew you were to blame and instantly began to put things right by apologising. The ‘victim’, startled and perhaps, fleetingly angry, instantly assessed the situation and concluded that it was unintentional.

Such instant assessment and understanding is only possible because each individual has the subconscious ability to immediately use some or all of the senses that have evolved over millions of years. This natural ability to interact with our fellow humans is a crucial element in our evolutionary make-up necessary for the interpretation and resolution of potential conflict.

Now take this human animal, who has been evolving and interacting in this way for millions of years and suddenly strap him into a one-ton metal and glass machine capable of travelling at great speed.

In addition, severely restrict his freedom of movement by imposing thousands of strict rules and regulations which, if broken, can have serious consequences for him and other road users. Add to this controlled and stressful environment the usual human life stresses such as money, work and relationship worries and it is easy to see how an innocent mistake or an aggressive action by another motorist can quickly develop into an explosive road rage incident.

Isolated inside this mobile machine, the natural human communications system is dramatically curtailed. Sight, and to a much lesser degree, sound are the only senses utilised and even these are principally employed in the safe manoeuvring of the vehicle rather that any natural interaction with fellow humans.

Neither is this phenomenon unique to any particular section of society such as testosterone-filled young men. All drivers, male and female, young and old, are equally open to getting caught up in a spiral of anger.

Women, for example, who would instinctively react with caution in a one to one confrontation with a man, can, when deprived of the full use of the natural senses, find themselves in a potentially dangerous situation.

Similarly, when two males confront each other face to face, there is a constant and urgent exchange of sense signals utilised to decide on fight or flight. Invariably, this natural assessment system results in a non-violent resolution.

If, however, because of machine isolation these men are unable to assess and resolve their dispute naturally, by the time they come face to face outside their vehicles, it may be too late. It is this situation, where the various stages of anger and frustration are built up without resolution that can sometimes lead to violence and even murder.

Road rage is a global problem that has reached epidemic proportions in many countries and while law enforcement can do a lot to control the phenomenon there is also an urgent need for an educational programme.

The central focus of any such programme would have to be the reconciliation of the primeval instincts of the human animal with 21^st century technology.

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