What makes you angry on the road?

Tuesday, 7 May 2019

It's not a good idea to get angry behind the wheel. Here's how to keep a cool head.

Your mood can have a massive effect on your driving, with studies having shown that driving when angry is actually more dangerous than driving while using a phone.

While getting behind the wheel when angry is never a good idea, sometimes that anger happens when we are already behind the wheel and get enraged by other driver's actions.

Which is a common problem, largely because what people regard as 'assertive' in their own driving often translates as 'aggressive' to another driver, leading to that increasingly-common eruption of road rage.

Driving angry has been shown to potentially be more dangerous than using a phone behind the wheel.

Road rage is a growing problem that we are not immune to here in New Zealand, but new study out of the UK by automotive data expert HPI has unveiled a rather alarming statistic - more than one in five (22 per cent) of motorists have got out of their vehicle to argue with another driver in a road rage incident.

* Road-rage victim gave police offender's car rego - 'policy' meant they didn't follow up

* New study reveals driving is anything but relaxing**

Road works, traffic jams, van drivers and backseat drivers all annoyed people behind the wheel.

'Our research of what really gets motorists hot under the collar reveals some fascinating findings,' said Fernando Garcia, consumer director at HPI.

'What it really highlights is that it doesn't take much to wind up drivers and many are putting their safety and the well-being of others at risk. With nearly a quarter willing to get out of their vehicle and confront another driver, this could easily escalate into something far more serious and drivers need to think about remaining calm and collected when behind the wheel.'

It's important to recognise when road rage is brewing inside yourself. But also keeping safe from the same in others.

The research also revealed that 19 per cent have actually followed another driver following an incident, surprisingly with women drivers being the worst offenders with 20 per cent having knowingly followed another driver compared with 18 per cent of men.

When it comes to actually getting out and confronting the other driver,however, men retake the lead with 23 per cent of men admitting to this compared to 21 per cent of women.

More than a third (39 per cent) say that having a bad day has led them to taking this out on other motorists and an alarming 3 per cent of drivers confess to 'always being furious' when they are driving.

In terms of what sets them off in the first place, dangerous overtaking by other motorists was the main trigger for frustration among nearly a third of drivers (28 per cent), while 20 per cent reported being tipped over the edge by impatient tailgaters.

Other motorists who persist with illegally using their mobile phones triggered rage in 17 per cent of drivers, while one in 10 were enraged by other drivers breaking the speed limit.

When asked about the condition of roads, potholes angered 31 per cent of motorists, followed by congestion and sitting in traffic jams for a frustrated 20 per cent of motorists.

On the subject of other drivers, van drivers topped the offenders list for the majority of UK drivers with 23 per cent of motorists finding them to be the most infuriating followed by cyclists (19 per cent), taxi and Uber drivers (11 per cent) and careless pedestrians (8 per cent).

Inside their own car, backseat drivers are the cause of frustration for 27 per cent of drivers, followed by squabbling kids (17 per cent) and passengers who mess around with the car stereo (11 per cent).

One in ten just want to concentrate on the road ahead without incessant chatter from fellow passengers. They must be fun on a long road trip.

But what about Kiwi drivers? What gets under your skin on the roads? Let us know in the poll above or the comments below.