Why is road rage such a problem?

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

cKGunslinger

Lifer
Nov 29, 1999
16,408
57
91
Originally posted by: Rudee
What's really annoyed me lately is people who leave 3 car lengths between their car and the car in front of them when STOPPED in traffic. Move up for crying out loud!

Why? What harm is there by leaving space between your car and the one in front of you? What would *you* gain by them moving up?
 

KarenMarie

Elite Member
Sep 20, 2003
14,372
6
81
Originally posted by: cKGunslinger
Originally posted by: Rudee
What's really annoyed me lately is people who leave 3 car lengths between their car and the car in front of them when STOPPED in traffic. Move up for crying out loud!

Why? What harm is there by leaving space between your car and the one in front of you? What would *you* gain by them moving up?

because when they leave that three car length car space, for no reason, it is an invitation for other cars to pull in... hence the lane traffic is longer, more ppl to have to wait for to get alert enuf to find the gas pedal... and there is less chance to making the light. Plus it is like everything else... why ppl do stupid sh!t for no reason.

:)
 

Sukhoi

Elite Member
Dec 5, 1999
15,346
106
106
Because so many drivers are incompotent fools that pay no fvcking attention to what they are doing when commanding a 4,000 lb vehicle moving at 75 MPH. Is that a good enough reason?
 

Rudee

Lifer
Apr 23, 2000
11,218
2
76
Originally posted by: cKGunslinger
Originally posted by: Rudee
What's really annoyed me lately is people who leave 3 car lengths between their car and the car in front of them when STOPPED in traffic. Move up for crying out loud!

Why? What harm is there by leaving space between your car and the one in front of you? What would *you* gain by them moving up?


When moving, space is good. When stopped in city traffic, leaving 3 car lengths between your vehicle and the vechicle in front of you is idiotic.
 

phreakah

Platinum Member
Feb 9, 2002
2,883
0
76
i hate it when people either change lanes in front of me and go a slower speed than i was going, or when im coasting down the street and then someone has to turn onto the street RIGHT in front of me.. those 2 things trigger something in me and i just downshift and fly around/past them and everyone else
 

Sukhoi

Elite Member
Dec 5, 1999
15,346
106
106
Originally posted by: Rudee
Originally posted by: cKGunslinger
Originally posted by: Rudee
What's really annoyed me lately is people who leave 3 car lengths between their car and the car in front of them when STOPPED in traffic. Move up for crying out loud!

Why? What harm is there by leaving space between your car and the one in front of you? What would *you* gain by them moving up?


When moving, space is good. When stopped in city traffic, leaving 3 car lenghts between your vehicle and the vechicle in front of you is idiotic.

It's idiotic for sure. If you're in a straight-ahead lane it can potentially stop people from getting in the turn lane and making the light, etc.
 

mobobuff

Lifer
Apr 5, 2004
11,099
1
81
I only get angry when slow driving minivans with pro-Bush stickers and 5 little kids in the back making faces are preventing me from getting somewhere on time. Other than that, I'm usually pretty laid back.
 

EGGO

Diamond Member
Jul 29, 2004
5,504
1
0
Originally posted by: KarenMarie
I am the WORST road rager ever.

But I live in NJ, so....

We get 60% of the ppl who think they are ENTITLED to run the stop sign. Or cut us off. Or not use the blinker. Or make a right turn on red with traffic coming. Or ones that are in the left lane on their cell phones doing 50 miles an hour in a vehicle that is way too big for them and they cannot control properly. People who go from the left lane to the exit ramp in .4 nanoseconds, cause they dont wannt get behind any cars to exit. And ppl who ride the shoulder to cut off cars at the last minute...and them pull an attitude if you dont like it.

And we get the NY'ers... who drive 100 miles an hour on city streets, yet can't seem to get above 45mph in the left lane on the highway and never move over.

I get crazy sometimes. But when I am in different parts of the country, I don't seem to have a problem.

Holy shat, QFT. Hello fellow NJ-ian!
 

ActuaryTm

Diamond Member
Mar 30, 2003
6,858
12
81
Individuals in general assume they are much more important than they actually are. Being confronted and challenged by another individual in a vehicle (who by doing so asserts he/she is far more important than you or your needs) is essentially an attack at your importance and perceived self value - especially in relation to time, and that it is now somehow being "wasted".

In reality, it is individuals' perception - or more accurately perhaps, their misperception - of themselves that causes such rage.
 

gwlam12

Diamond Member
Apr 4, 2001
6,946
1
71
i get pissed off at people who go through stop signs like they're not even there.
 

i used to be really bad, stopping the car and getting out, chasing people, throwing stuff at other cars

i'm not so bad now, i went through 4 sessions of 'anger management'
I keep a gorilla mask in the car, when i start getting mad i put the gorilla mask on.

The only thing that really irks me on the road now is slow people at the light.
The arrow turns green, the first car takes 3 seconds to let of the brake, 2 seconds to hit the gas, and 10 seconds to get through the intersection.
The 2nd car seems to wait for the first car to get all the way through the turn before hitting THEIR gas petal.
20 seconds later cars 15-20 are bumper to bumper like a locomotion trying to make their left turn through the yellow arrow all because the first few tardcarts took their sweetass time.

When i'm first in line, i feel it's my responsibility to get moving when the arrow goes green. I know the people behind me want to go.
WHen i'm second in line, the first person has 3 seconds to get their car moving before i lay on the horn.
Impatient? yep.

I'll pass and throw the bird if I feel that you've caused me more inconvenience than normal.
But who cares if a guy in a gorilla mask flips em off? :)
 

Vic

Elite Member
Jun 12, 2001
50,422
14,337
136
Originally posted by: Sukhoi
Because so many drivers are incompotent fools that pay no fvcking attention to what they are doing when commanding a 4,000 lb vehicle moving at 75 MPH. Is that a good enough reason?
That's pretty much it. The label of "aggressive driving" is an excuse created by the inattentive drivers to condemn the attentive drivers for their righteous anger. If those inattentive drivers were actually paying attention to the dangers that drivers like them cause on the roads, they'd get pissed off too.
Think of it. How many times do need to get cut off by some asshole who never uses his mirrors or his turn signals before it pisses you off? How about some bitch running stop signs while chatting on her cell phone? What about the dick who always drives less than the speed limit in the left lane, blocking traffic and creating dangerous congestion behind him simply because he wants to police the road himself to make sure that no one breaks the speed limit?

These inattentive drivers are the true dangers on the road. Their arrogance and stupidity costs lives every day. And they want to tell you that it is the rest of us who get pissed off at them who are the problem... :roll:
 

KarenMarie

Elite Member
Sep 20, 2003
14,372
6
81
Originally posted by: troytime
i used to be really bad, stopping the car and getting out, chasing people, throwing stuff at other cars

i'm not so bad now, i went through 4 sessions of 'anger management'
I keep a gorilla mask in the car, when i start getting mad i put the gorilla mask on.

The only thing that really irks me on the road now is slow people at the light.
The arrow turns green, the first car takes 3 seconds to let of the brake, 2 seconds to hit the gas, and 10 seconds to get through the intersection.
The 2nd car seems to wait for the first car to get all the way through the turn before hitting THEIR gas petal.
20 seconds later cars 15-20 are bumper to bumper like a locomotion trying to make their left turn through the yellow arrow all because the first few tardcarts took their sweetass time.

When i'm first in line, i feel it's my responsibility to get moving when the arrow goes green. I know the people behind me want to go.
WHen i'm second in line, the first person has 3 seconds to get their car moving before i lay on the horn.
Impatient? yep.

I'll pass and throw the bird if I feel that you've caused me more inconvenience than normal.
But who cares if a guy in a gorilla mask flips em off? :)

Here... if they want to make a left.... there are as many cars as will fit gridlocking the intersection... and 1/2 of them will still go if the light turns red, even if they are not in the intersection. And if the traffic starts moving in the other direction cause the light has turned green... the cars going thru the red will usually honk or flip a bird, cause they are entitled to block an intersection and/or go thru the red.

:)
 

Hossenfeffer

Diamond Member
Jul 16, 2000
7,462
1
0
K, brainstormin' a bit here.

Such a big part of road rage arises from the feeling that someone is cheating and that you can't do anything about it. A lack of general awareness, paired with unfulfilled expectations for all parties all add up to bad ju-ju.

Wish we could implement something into cars, where you could somehow give a person you considered to be a poor driver a "checkmark" or something. (To go overboard, sensors/cameras in the car could take readings and a video of the last 10 seconds or so as evidence.) If you got a bunch of checkmarks (talking hundreds, not just a handful), you'd have to go get retested or something. In theory, at least, it would allow some sort of outlet for the "rage" that people experience and, hopefully, would allow you to rest in knowing that if the guy is truly inconsiderate or just a poor driver, something will come of it.

Chances are, people would mistakenly "mark" you, but I figure if 150 people disapprove of your driving, there's something that needs to be looked at, no matter how much of a driving god you think there are.
 

StageLeft

No Lifer
Sep 29, 2000
70,150
5
0
Originally posted by: Vic
Originally posted by: Sukhoi
Because so many drivers are incompotent fools that pay no fvcking attention to what they are doing when commanding a 4,000 lb vehicle moving at 75 MPH. Is that a good enough reason?
That's pretty much it. The label of "aggressive driving" is an excuse created by the inattentive drivers to condemn the attentive drivers for their righteous anger. If those inattentive drivers were actually paying attention to the dangers that drivers like them cause on the roads, they'd get pissed off too.
Think of it. How many times do need to get cut off by some asshole who never uses his mirrors or his turn signals before it pisses you off? How about some bitch running stop signs while chatting on her cell phone? What about the dick who always drives less than the speed limit in the left lane, blocking traffic and creating dangerous congestion behind him simply because he wants to police the road himself to make sure that no one breaks the speed limit?

These inattentive drivers are the true dangers on the road. Their arrogance and stupidity costs lives every day. And they want to tell you that it is the rest of us who get pissed off at them who are the problem... :roll:
:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

xospec1alk

Diamond Member
Mar 4, 2002
4,329
0
0
Yesterday I was driving home from upstate ny and there was this guy eating/writing/chatting on the phone while driving at around 70mph...he was switching lanes and tailgating me for a bit.

I took this oppurtunity to slow myself down to the speed of the car on my right, it was a two lane highway and i was on the left...effectively blocking him in. Well this caused him to drop whatever was in his hands, and actually pay attentino to the road.

Soon i realize that the people behind him must be getting pissed, so i moved over and let him pass me...he was again back on the phone, and shuffling papers around...
 

thomsbrain

Lifer
Dec 4, 2001
18,148
1
0
social psychologists have found there is a cognitive mistake so prevalent, it's called it the Fundamental Attribution Error.

basically, we tend to think that people do things because of who they are, rather than external influences.

i.e.: that guy cut me off because he is an asswipe, not because he didn't see me. that guy is driving 90 MPH because he thinks he owns the world, not because his wife is at the hospital giving birth. that lady ran the red light because she's too stupid to drive, not because at that moment her kid crapped his pants in the back seat and started screaming.

it's not just driving, of course: poor people are lazy, not unlucky. when i said hello to that woman at the coffee shop, she didn't say hello back because she's a bitch, not because she was having a bad day.

we make these mistakes so often and so predictably, it's scary. and they pretty much explain why we get so pissed off at each other when we're driving. driving simply puts us in a situation where we get into a lot of conflicts and have absolutely no information on the other person's reasons for their actions, so we always assume it's because they are stupid/mean/aggressive/etc.
 

Homerboy

Lifer
Mar 1, 2000
30,890
5,001
126
Example: Driving home from Mother's Day Lunch with my wife and 2 kids in the car. Im in left lane, guy in right lane starts drifting into mine (as he's tailgating the person in front of him). I lay on the horn, as the guy was about to take out my front passenger qtr panel with his rear driver's side qtr panel. He looks over shoulder, hesitates, then CONTINUES to switch lanes. I have to put on breaks as to avoid the accident. He then continues to drive ~ the same speed as the car he was tailgating in right lane. Then eventualy goes back behind him

I get road rage, because some people suck at the driving.
 

Sheepathon

Diamond Member
Oct 22, 2003
6,093
7
81
Originally posted by: ActuaryTm
Individuals in general assume they are much more important than they actually are. Being confronted and challenged by another individual in a vehicle (who by doing so asserts he/she is far more important than you or your needs) is essentially an attack at your importance and perceived self value - especially in relation to time, and that it is now somehow being "wasted".

In reality, it is individuals' perception - or more accurately perhaps, their misperception - of themselves that causes such rage.

QFT
 

markgm

Diamond Member
Aug 23, 2001
3,291
2
81
Originally posted by: xospec1alk
Yesterday I was driving home from upstate ny and there was this guy eating/writing/chatting on the phone while driving at around 70mph...he was switching lanes and tailgating me for a bit.

I took this oppurtunity to slow myself down to the speed of the car on my right, it was a two lane highway and i was on the left...effectively blocking him in. Well this caused him to drop whatever was in his hands, and actually pay attentino to the road.

Soon i realize that the people behind him must be getting pissed, so i moved over and let him pass me...he was again back on the phone, and shuffling papers around...

Good for you officer.
 

imported_GateKeeper

Junior Member
May 9, 2005
9
0
0
Originally posted by: Homerboy
Example: Driving home from Mother's Day Lunch with my wife and 2 kids in the car. Im in left lane, guy in right lane starts drifting into mine (as he's tailgating the person in front of him). I lay on the horn, as the guy was about to take out my front passenger qtr panel with his rear driver's side qtr panel. He looks over shoulder, hesitates, then CONTINUES to switch lanes. I have to put on breaks as to avoid the accident. He then continues to drive ~ the same speed as the car he was tailgating in right lane. Then eventualy goes back behind him

I get road rage, because some people suck at the driving.


The guy was in a hurry, maybe he had something better to do then be behind some slow ass..