History of Road Rage
While the term “road rage” is a relatively new one,
the phenomenon of road rage is actually decades
old. With media coverage, road rage incidents have
become better known, but for years, law
enforcement has been dealing with this problem.
Driving is the most dangerous activity for the majority
of people in an industrialized society. Driving
accidents have killed millions of people since 1900
and the number of deaths and injuries increase in
proportion to the number of drivers and the total
number of miles driven in an area or region.
Deaths and serious accidents were reduced over the
years due to better roads, safer vehicles, more
advanced medical technologies, upgraded law
enforcement, and economic incentives for people
who are safe drivers. However, despite these
factors, when viewed over a long term perspective,
traffic deaths have still remained relatively
constant.
Driving can be a dangerous activity. For instance, in
the 1950s, the annual fatality rate due to driving
accidents was around 50,000 while in the 1990s it
was around 40,000. Yes, there was a reduction, but
the curve has quickly leveled off and remains above
40,000 deaths and over 5 million injuries annually in
the U.S.
Scientists and safety officials attribute this resistance
to accident reduction to the attitude and behavior of
drivers who tend to respond to safety improvements
by driving more dangerously. It has been noted that
a critical aspect of driving is the driver’s competence
in balancing risk with safety.
The risk in driving is largely under the control of the
driver. The driver decides at every moment what
risks to take and what to inhibit or avoid. Risk taking
is a tendency that varies greatly between drivers as
well as for the same driver at different times. Thus, if
a road is made safer by straightening it, or by
moving objects that interfere with visibility, drivers will
compensate for the greater safety by driving faster
on it—the so-called "risk homeostasis"
phenomenon.
The result is the maintenance of a constant
subjective feeling of risk that is the normal habitual
threshold for a particular driver. In such a driving
environment, the rate of deaths or injuries tends to
remain high, despite the safety improvements that
are introduced.
The institutional or societal response to this
stalemate between safety and risk tolerance has
been to increase enforcement activities by
monitoring, ticketing, and jailing hundreds of
thousands of drivers.
Nevertheless, the number of deaths and injuries has
remained nearly steady, year after year. Besides law
enforcement, there has been an increase in litigation
due to aggressive driving disputes between drivers,
as well as more psychotherapy and counseling
services, including anger management clinics and
workshops, and community initiatives.
Still, these remain scattered attempts, and have
been unable to alter basic driving patterns.
Sociocultural methods need to be used to change
the driving norms of an entire generation.
To learn more about road rage, simply click on the
links below:
What Is Road Rage?
Road Rage and Aggressive Driving
Avoiding Road Rage
Driving with Emotional Intelligence
the phenomenon of road rage is actually decades
old. With media coverage, road rage incidents have
become better known, but for years, law
enforcement has been dealing with this problem.
Driving is the most dangerous activity for the majority
of people in an industrialized society. Driving
accidents have killed millions of people since 1900
and the number of deaths and injuries increase in
proportion to the number of drivers and the total
number of miles driven in an area or region.
Deaths and serious accidents were reduced over the
years due to better roads, safer vehicles, more
advanced medical technologies, upgraded law
enforcement, and economic incentives for people
who are safe drivers. However, despite these
factors, when viewed over a long term perspective,
traffic deaths have still remained relatively
constant.
Driving can be a dangerous activity. For instance, in
the 1950s, the annual fatality rate due to driving
accidents was around 50,000 while in the 1990s it
was around 40,000. Yes, there was a reduction, but
the curve has quickly leveled off and remains above
40,000 deaths and over 5 million injuries annually in
the U.S.
Scientists and safety officials attribute this resistance
to accident reduction to the attitude and behavior of
drivers who tend to respond to safety improvements
by driving more dangerously. It has been noted that
a critical aspect of driving is the driver’s competence
in balancing risk with safety.
The risk in driving is largely under the control of the
driver. The driver decides at every moment what
risks to take and what to inhibit or avoid. Risk taking
is a tendency that varies greatly between drivers as
well as for the same driver at different times. Thus, if
a road is made safer by straightening it, or by
moving objects that interfere with visibility, drivers will
compensate for the greater safety by driving faster
on it—the so-called "risk homeostasis"
phenomenon.
The result is the maintenance of a constant
subjective feeling of risk that is the normal habitual
threshold for a particular driver. In such a driving
environment, the rate of deaths or injuries tends to
remain high, despite the safety improvements that
are introduced.
The institutional or societal response to this
stalemate between safety and risk tolerance has
been to increase enforcement activities by
monitoring, ticketing, and jailing hundreds of
thousands of drivers.
Nevertheless, the number of deaths and injuries has
remained nearly steady, year after year. Besides law
enforcement, there has been an increase in litigation
due to aggressive driving disputes between drivers,
as well as more psychotherapy and counseling
services, including anger management clinics and
workshops, and community initiatives.
Still, these remain scattered attempts, and have
been unable to alter basic driving patterns.
Sociocultural methods need to be used to change
the driving norms of an entire generation.
To learn more about road rage, simply click on the
links below:
What Is Road Rage?
Road Rage and Aggressive Driving
Avoiding Road Rage
Driving with Emotional Intelligence
| Anger Management Groups led by Dr. Lyle Becourtney, licensed psychologist |
| Anger Management Groups led by Dr. Lyle Becourtney, licensed psychologist |
Call for your
appointment:
(917) 968-0965
appointment:
(917) 968-0965
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