Road rage threatens cheap car insurance

We've all been guilty of shouting the odd swear word or making rude hand gestures at another driver (admittedly I have done it on more than the odd occasion), but what is it that sparks our road rage and makes some drivers so mad they put their cheap car insurance and, more importantly, their lives at risk?

I am the first to admit that I am not the world's greatest driver and have received many a rude hand gesture in my relatively short experience behind the wheel. On the other hand, neither am I the world's most patient driver. Despite generally being an upstanding and respectable member of society, put behind the wheel with a driver right up my car's rear end, I become irrationally angry and incapable of speaking in anything but expletives.

According to AA statistics, I am not alone. Over 90% of drivers have experienced or perpetrated some form of road rage. Whether it be honking the horn (which incidentally is not meant to be used aggressively), the flashing of lights (which should never be used to intimidate other road users), verbal abuse, or the use of obscene gestures, we have all carried out this potentially dangerous behaviour.

So what is the rationale behind it? Professor Leon James, an expert in road rage at the University of Hawaii attributes it to us treating the road "Like a war zone. Behind the wheel you assume another personality that is much more geared towards warfare." He believes that the problem stems from our natural territorial instincts because we have an "emotional territoriality connected to cars." We have our own little bubble around our cars and if that bubble is threatened, we feel violated and strike out accordingly.

Another cause could be the car adverts that equate driving with freedom; uninterrupted open roads surrounded by beautiful landscapes. However the reality is 4-hour traffic jams on built up, concrete-clad roads with motorists battling for an extra inch of tarmac. Perhaps then it is the car companies that are to blame for our road rage, deceiving us into associating motoring with freedom and liberty when it is more to do with confinement and frustration.

Personally though, the frustration that fuels my road rage is not from being overly territorial or because I've been misguided by a car advert, I get annoyed when another driver unnecessarily endangers my life and their own life through tailgating or by deliberately cutting me up.

However for the sake of my cheap car insurance, I will endeavour to contain my rage, or at least keep my rude hand gestures out of sight.

Road rage threatens cheap car insurance

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