Road Rage Prevention: Keeping the Roads Safe

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Road Rage Prevention: Keeping the Roads Safe

Have you ever been the recipient of an obscene gesture or been tailgated while driving? What was your reaction? Did you ignore the other driver or retaliate in a similar fashion? Every day Americans put themselves at risk when getting behind the wheel. Whether driving down the block to the grocery store or embarking on a cross country road trip, every driver is a potential victim of road rage.

Road rage consists of a wide variety of aggressive acts committed by one driver aimed at another. Road rage is an act of violence. Road rage incidents are often minor, but in recent years the number of deaths related to road rage have steadily increased. Road rage is often a result of aggressive driving. Aggressive driving includes: cutting off other vehicles, tailgating, excessive speeding, careless lane changes, and running of red lights.

In the recent years, the reported rate of "aggressive driving" incidents have increased dramatically.

The American Automobile Association (AAA) defines "aggressive driving" incidents as "events in which an angry or impatient driver tries to kill or injure another driver after a traffic dispute". According to a study done by AAA in 1997, the number of reported "aggressive driving" incident have increased 51 percent since 1990. What is even more shocking, 37 percent of perpetrators used firearms against the other driver, 28 percent used some sort of weapon, and 35 percent used their vehicles. As evident by the statistics, Road rage is becoming a serious problem on American roads and highways.

What causes road rage? Why the increase in the number of "aggressive driving" incidents? According to various studies, the reason for the increase is result of several factors including: traffic congestion, longer commutes to and from work, as well as an over...