Road rage can be costly
If you're searching for cheap car insurance, a motoring conviction for dangerous driving that led to an incident of road rage is likely to make finding a decent motor cover quote very hard indeed - in fact if you receive a ban for dangerous driving it is likely you will also have to stump up for another test and a renewal of your driving licence. Road rage is a costly thing.
Searching round the web, I found several sites for reporting incidents of bad driving and road rage, and many of the reports were frightening in the aggression used and the level of bad driving that had caused the whole incident.
There are also many sites that advocate certain driving behaviour that will lessen the impact of, or attempt to prevent road rage, but it would be this driver's experience that this sort of acquiescence in driving manner merely feels like letting the aggressors get away with it.
How can it be OK, for someone to speed up behind you, way in excess of the speed limit, flash their lights, driving in a manner that threatens your safety, and yet, you have to yield without a murmur, perhaps being forced into a gap that it is not really safe to go into. It's all wrong isn't it and I suppose, if it makes you feel better to name and shame these hazardous drivers, then perhaps that's a good thing to do.
Some websites, such as SaferMotoring.co.uk advocate all the common sense advice of leaving a two second gap in between you and the car in front, and not flashing your headlights at someone who has pulled out in front of you.
And how about the useful tip of trying to bring down your stress levels so that you will not 'snap' in a pressure situation - well, this seems like rather sweeping advice that may be completely ineffectual for most of us because it is the dangerous and thoughtless drivers who make driving stressful in the first place.
So, what do I have to say about road rage that is useful? Well, perhaps not a lot. In fact, it appears to be extremely hard for most people to remain calm behind the wheel - I do, to be fair, apologise by holding a hand up, when I make an erroneous manoeuvre, and I won't deny that I do. When you are driving on unfamiliar roads, trying to get somewhere that you have never been before, most drivers are going to make some errors - it happens - it would just be good if more people could accept that they have made a mistake, apologise, and the other driver say, "fair enough and thanks for the apology."
Road rage - we have lived with it for many years - put a name to it in the 80s - some countries have legislated against it and UK motoring penalties have been increased to deal more harshly with perpetrators of careless and dangerous driving. However, if you drive anywhere on a dual carriageway, motorway or any road, for that matter, someone will inevitably drive in a manner that leaves you angry or a non-plussed. Is there any way to really deal with it? I don't know.
Certainly the dangling carrot of cheap car insurance for safer drivers has not worked and the harsh penalties have not worked either. Perhaps if we could all muster an attitude of, "so what" when someone screams past us, it would make aggressive drivers feel a little less impressive. I'm not entirely convinced, but I think I might just give it a go.