Road Rage Roundup

Littledan77 / CC BY 2.0

Here's this weeks roundup of road rage stories:

1. The photo comes to us courtesy of Littledan77, who tells the story of riding his bicycle and being cut off by a car, nearly struck and killed. He was raging and furious, but had a creative vision — this picture. “There was nothing I could do to vent except this picture which to be honest took so long to do that I have calmed down considerably!” Littledan77, you get a pocket full of anger management points for demonstrating how creating a piece of art to express your emotions can greatly reduce the compulsion of anger.


2. Merrimack, NH: A pickup driver became angry at a car that moved into his lane, then braked for a right hand turn. Pickup driver retrieved a “pitchfork-type garden tool” from the bed of the vehicle and proceeded to threaten the other driver and damaged his truck, police said.


3. Norristown, PA: A tale of escalating road rage. James Roban had stopped by Dunkin Donuts and purchased five cups of coffee for his wife and her coworkers. He was waiting to make a left-hand turn at a signal when Scott Peirce pulled up behind him. Roban did not move quickly enough after the light turned green, and Peirce honked at him twice. Roban states that he drove slowly to avoid spilling coffee and that Peirce honked repeatedly and "displayed his middle finger."

   When they reached another traffic light, Pierce began yelling at Roban and flailing his arms, according to court papers. The defendant stated he couldn’t understand what the other driver was saying and reached over and threw one of the cups of coffee through the open window.

   Peirce received second degree burns on his thighs and scrotum. Roban pleaded guilty to simple assault and recklessly endangering another person and must pay Peirce $1,846 and serve two years probation. Why was no anger management required?!?


4. Tasmania, Australia: An insurance company survey found that 60% drivers had been verbally abused and nearly 70% tailgated. 74% had experience rude gestures. I wonder how that compares to Southern California?

bicycle, assault, pitchfork, coffee, burns, anger

Road Rage: It's Not Just for City Slickers!

It's not surprising to read about yet another LA road rage incident. Recently a Van Nuys man was charged with four felony counts for shooting another driver on the perpetually crowded and crawling 101 freeway. The suspect has been charged with attempted murder, assault with a semiautomatic firearm, shooting at an occupied motor vehicle and possession of a firearm by a felon. (CBS 2)

But in the gorgeous Matanuska valley (just over the hill from Sarah Palin's home town of Wasilia), road rage flares, too.

WILLOW — Alaska State Troopers say a driver suffering from road rage flashed a gun at another motorist and ended up in jail.

The call reporting the incident came in at 1:40 p.m. Friday. Troopers say Perry Breeding, 36, of Willow, was southbound near Mile 75 Parks Highway when he and another motorist both passed the same slow-moving vehicle.

“Breeding became upset with the other driver and started tailgating him at a high rate of speed and making obscene gestures toward the other driver,” troopers wrote.

He also waived a gun at the other driver.

Clearly, road rage is not just a product of environment. I've driven both highways on numerous occasions. As ugly and depressing as the 101 is, Park Highway, through Willow, is beautiful and uplifting.

Rage is not about what happens to us, about the circumstance we're in; rage is what happens when we cling to angry thoughts about how we have been wronged.

Road rage is the product of an angry mind. Clearly, using anger management skills could have prevented either situation from occurring. How much better life would be if we all had learned basic anger management skills as a part of growing up. Until that day, however, anybody can benefit from an anger management class.

Road Rage: Car vs. Bicycle

This image was snapped by a witness to a road rage incident where the driver of the car became enraged after the bicyclist shouted for him to slow down. The driver is being charged with 2nd degree kidnapping. The (literal) insanity that people can be "driven" to is amazing. I'm certain that sitting on his couch at home, James Millican (who drove the car) would have told anybody who cared to ask that he would never deliberately ram a bicyclist. But after being shouted at to slow down (and possibly having a few drinks), Millican allowed his reaction to drive him into some serious legal trouble. Fortunately, the cyclist was unharmed, and was able to get off the car when Millican slowed for an intersection.

Why would an otherwise sane human being do this? Once can only speculate ... but we know that anger does not come from external events, but rather from how we (choose) to think about those events. Millican must have felt some threat ... probably to his ego by the shouting cyclist. And once a person feels a threat, even just a psychic one, all bets are off unless they immediately use the tools of emotional intelligence and anger management to rein themselves in.

Self-knowledge and self-control, major components of emotional intelligence, would have helped Millican to not simply react, but to notice his thinking and his reactions and to contain them. Anger management skills could have helped him to de-escalate and behave in a rational manner. If emotional intelligence were considered as important as IQ, if it were taught in schools, Millican would likely not be facing charges and the incident would never have been newsworthy. After all, who can imagine a headline that reads Local Man Practices Anger Management and Avoids Committing Mayhem by Using Emotional Intelligence Skills Gained in Grammar School!

Anger management classes based on stress management help students realize that alcohol is a bad way to relieve stress. Emotional intelligence components help students to understand themselves and their triggers as well as to coach themselves through frustration. These techniques form part of the core curriculum of Anderson & Anderson's Anger Management and Executive Coaching curricula.

Road Rage & Bumper Stickers

A study by Colorado State University social psychologist William Szlemko found drivers of cars with bumper stickers, window decals, personalized license plates and other "territorial markers" are more likely to be aggressive drivers.

It's a pity. Granted, one needn't be a genius to put a sticker on your bumper (as those still driving around with Bush 04 stickers prove), but personalizing a car, especially with a clever plate, seems more interesting.

This study supports the notion that IQ isn't enough. No matter how smart a person in this society is, no matter how creative, chances are that they've never learned the skills to handle anger well. And this translates to rage and tragedy.

I recently spoke with a person whose spouse had pursued another vehicle, resulting in a crash that killed their teenage daughter. Both parents are thoughtful people with plenty of psychological growth experiences. But neither had learned the skills of assertive communication or adequately developed their emotional intelligence.

Anger Management; consisting of understanding anger, learning to manage stress (and today's traffic can be a stressor), developing emotional intelligence, and learning assertive communications; can free up the creativity and genius that goes wasted when good people road rage.

Reduce Road Rage bumper stickers

I’m Officer D. J. Vanhee. Having been a Police Officer for ten years, I’ve worked a multitude of traffic accidents. In the past few years I've noticed Road Rage incidents on the increase. I've seen Road Rage cause everything from fender benders to full scale multiple vehicle fatalities. Because I have personally witnessed too many of these avoidable incidents, I feel compelled to increase awareness of this dangerous problem among the driving public.

A nice way to share a good sentiment ...

But I remember a time BEFORE anger management, when I'm sure a good number of souls in western LA County were perplexed to have just been honked at, flipped off, tailgated, and finally cut off by a little tan car with a "Practice Random Acts of Kindness" bumper sticker clearly visible!

An embarrassing nugget of my personal history. I'm in favor of reinforcing the idea (just like the LAPD squad cars with the "There's No Excuse for Domestic Violence" stickers) - I think it's a good start. Stay tuned for more about road rage and how to prevent it.

Road Rage Kills

Police said Bender and Luciano were exchanging obscene gestures with the driver of a green Chevrolet pickup truck for some distance as they headed south in commuter traffic.

The truck swerved into the left lane in front of Luciano’s 1998 Chrysler Sebring, causing him to lose control, cross the right lane and hit the guardrail, said Maryland State Police spokesman 1st Sergeant Russ Newell.

Luciano was the 1998 state wrestling champion in the 171-pound weight class for Northampton High School in eastern Pennsylvania. Neither victim was wearing a seat belt and both were ejected and pronounced dead at the scene

Often times crowded freeways and poor planning lead to impatience and frustration with traffic. Sometimes, misplaced competition leads drivers to antagonized each other. In this case, rude gestures led to a fatal crash and a manhunt for the driver of the green pickup.

Anger management skills could have helped save Luciano and Bender. Enhanced emotional intelligence would have helped them to be aware of their rising anger and the social intelligence would have reminded them not to antagonize others. Stress management techniques would have helped them to "shake it off." They could even have taken a tip from the movie Anger Management and said "Goosefraba" to each other. That would have gotten them both laughing instead of leaving them dead.

Equally, the driver of the green pickup could have "just said no" and ignored the decedents. By escalating a hostile exchange and swerving in front of the other vehicle he contributed to two unnecessary deaths.