Road Rage? Nothing’s new

By Corporal S.A. Lyon

The current buzz words in the traffic safety area are “road rage.” Everyone seems to want a simple fix or an answer for this phrase. There are numerous inquiries from the public, “What are you doing about ‘road rage’?”

First, let’s define it. Some say that road rage is overly aggressive driving., while others try to categorize it with a list of driver misconduct. That list includes things like: anger behind the wheel, impatience, competitiveness, the need to “punish” an offending driver, etc. But, when you try to pin down a clear, concise definition, no one can sum it up and tell what the phrase “road rage” means to everyone.

This new buzz word seems to be another phenomenon of the ‘90s. It’s a term coined by someone who, perhaps, was trying to be “politically correct.” The media picked up on it and fashioned it into a term that covers things that most seasoned drivers have seen for a long time. In essence, it’s nothing new.

The adjectives used to describe “road rage” are what law enforcement have described in the past as discourteous driving. The violence that sometimes erupts from discourteous driving is what law enforcement has always called it .. violence.

For the most part, this phenomenon is nothing new or different. It might be more noticeable because of the media, but discourteous drivers have been on the road since the automobile was first invented.

My attempt to define this new term is to call it what it has always been — discourteous drivers — and encourage you to do your best to avoid them. If you’re a courteous driver, you’ll defuse that angry driver’s emotions and maybe their actions.

I’ve seen a number of checklists and guides on what to watch for and what not to do when trying to avoid being a victim of “road rage.” My simple solution is to be a courteous driver and remember that courtesy is contagious. I wonder if this will spread as fast as the term “road rage” did.