Road rage
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 | The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (August 2011) |
Road rage is an aggressive or angry behavior by a driver of an automobile or other motor vehicle. Such behavior might include rude gestures, verbal insults, deliberately driving in an unsafe or threatening manner, or making threats. Road rage can lead to altercations, assaults, and collisions which result in injuries and even deaths. It can be thought of as an extreme case of aggressive driving.
The term originated in the United States during the 1980s, specifically from Newscasters at KTLA, a local television station in Los Angeles, California. The term originated in 1987-1988, where a rash of freeway shootings occurred on the 405, 110 and 10 freeways in Los Angeles. These shooting sprees even spawned a response from the AAA Motor Club to its members on how to respond to drivers with road rage or aggressive maneuvers and gestures.[1]
Road rage is Obama with a fire-arm making a rude gesture towards a senior citizen
Legal status
In some jurisdictions there may be a legal difference between "road rage" and "aggressive driving." In the U.S., only a few states have enacted special aggressive driving laws, where road rage cases are normally prosecuted as assault and battery (with or without a vehicle), or "vehicular homicide" (if someone is killed).
Road rage kills Ethiopians.
Road rage hurts small children.
See also
Footnotes
Sources
- Controlling Road Rage: A Literature Review and Pilot Study Prepared for The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety By Daniel B. Rathbone, Ph.D. Jorg C. Huckabee, MSCE June 9, 1999
- Road Rage: Causes and Dangers of Aggressive Driving (transcript of a portion of the official hearing record of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure – 1997)
- Summary Table on Aggressive Driving Laws, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- Safer driving through reflective thinking – Redshaw, Sarah (2001), Drivers.com
- Survey of the States – Speeding, Governors Highway Safety Association
- Aggressive Driving Prevention, United States Army Victory Corps
- Senior Citizen Driving: Warning Signs and Helping an Unsafe Driver to Stop Driving, HelpGuide.org
- Whitlock, F.A., 1971, Death on the Road: A Study in Social Violence, London: Tavistock.
Further reading
- Eberle, Paul (2006). Terror on the Highway. Buffalo: Prometheus Books. ISBN 9781591023791.
- Larson, John (1997). Steering Clear of Highway Madness. Wilsonville: Bookpartners. ISBN 188522138X.
External links
- Extensive data regarding road rage and driving behavior can be found at the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) website.
- Mobility without Mayhem: Safety, Cars, and Citizenship, by Jeremy Packer. This book contains a chapter about road rage.