Road Rage
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Introduction
“Road rage” is a potentially dangerous phenomenon that, given our individual proximity to driving or riding in automobiles, has broad ranging personal and societal impacts. As such, road rage has recently been the subject of significant public and media attention, and sensational stories about “road rage” fill the newspapers (Carter, 2007; Eckinger, 2007; Fumento, 1998; Richmond, 2007; Thompson, 2007), magazines (Best & Furedi, 2001; A. Ferguson, 1998; Jenson, 2007; Liu, 2006) and television news ("Best and worst cities for road rage.," 2006; "Miami Road Rage Fight," 2006; "Police: Man Pointed Shotgun At Car In Road Rage Incident," 2007; "Road Rage rears its head," 2006). Pervasive public interest in “road rage” has led to a proliferation of websites and blogs that attempt to serve a variety of functions from helping upset drivers vent their anger ("AboveAverageDriver.com"; "Road Rage - A blog about driving in Houston"; "RoadRagers.com") to electronic vigilantism in which users can report the locations, car makes, and license plate numbers of offending drivers ("PlateRage.com"; "Platewire.com"). Another website offers books of flip-cards with large print—and mostly obscene—statements that tell drivers how their road behavior is affecting the card-waving driver ("RoadRageCards.com"). Road rage is not unique to America and has been the topic of a great deal of media, research, and government attention in numerous countries across the
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globe including the United Kingdom, the Philippines, India, Israel, China, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, and Australia (Alave, 2007; Best & Furedi, 2001; Brewer, 2000; James & Nahl, 2000a; Liu, 2006; Mdletshe, 2007; Muhammad, 2007; Shanthi, 2007; Yagil, 2001). In the U.S. alone, legislation to counter aggressive driving and road rage has been passed in more than one-third of the states (Rathbone, 1999) and governments around the world have made various levels of legislative commitment to managing this problem
Introduction
“Road rage” is a potentially dangerous phenomenon that, given our individual proximity to driving or riding in automobiles, has broad ranging personal and societal impacts. As such, road rage has recently been the subject of significant public and media attention, and sensational stories about “road rage” fill the newspapers (Carter, 2007; Eckinger, 2007; Fumento, 1998; Richmond, 2007; Thompson, 2007), magazines (Best & Furedi, 2001; A. Ferguson, 1998; Jenson, 2007; Liu, 2006) and television news ("Best and worst cities for road rage.," 2006; "Miami Road Rage Fight," 2006; "Police: Man Pointed Shotgun At Car In Road Rage Incident," 2007; "Road Rage rears its head," 2006). Pervasive public interest in “road rage” has led to a proliferation of websites and blogs that attempt to serve a variety of functions from helping upset drivers vent their anger ("AboveAverageDriver.com"; "Road Rage - A blog about driving in Houston"; "RoadRagers.com") to electronic vigilantism in which users can report the locations, car makes, and license plate numbers of offending drivers ("PlateRage.com"; "Platewire.com"). Another website offers books of flip-cards with large print—and mostly obscene—statements that tell drivers how their road behavior is affecting the card-waving driver ("RoadRageCards.com"). Road rage is not unique to America and has been the topic of a great deal of media, research, and government attention in numerous countries across the
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globe including the United Kingdom, the Philippines, India, Israel, China, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, and Australia (Alave, 2007; Best & Furedi, 2001; Brewer, 2000; James & Nahl, 2000a; Liu, 2006; Mdletshe, 2007; Muhammad, 2007; Shanthi, 2007; Yagil, 2001). In the U.S. alone, legislation to counter aggressive driving and road rage has been passed in more than one-third of the states (Rathbone, 1999) and governments around the world have made various levels of legislative commitment to managing this problem