You might as well admit it ... If you are a driver you must have lost your temper at least once in your life, while in traffic. But if the survey conducted by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that only 60 percent of the drivers admitted of loosing temper, then who are we to argue?
The survey showed that 80 percent of the respondents consider aggressive drivers as a danger to the traffic safety, but also many of them admitted they drive aggressively (also known as ‘road rage’). Changing lanes without signaling, tailgating, honking at other drivers or yelling obscenities may often lead to violent situations.
But AAA also has a series of advices to give (of common sense we might add) to prevent these potentially deadly altercations:
Don’t offend
- Avoid cutting off other drivers.Do not drive slowly in the left lane. Make way for those who want to pass.
- Allow a two to four second space between your car and the vehicle ahead of you to prevent tailgating.
- Keep your hands on the wheel. Obscene gestures often incite other drivers.
- Do not take other driver’s actions personally. Give aggressive drivers lots of space.
- Avoid eye contact with aggressive drivers.
- Do not get out of your car.
- Forget winning; driving is not a contest.
- Give yourself plenty of time to get where you’re going. Eliminate your need to rush.
- Practice relaxation. Soothing music and deep breathing help you arrive at your destination in a calmer frame of mind.
- If you find yourself driving angrily on a regular basis, ask for help. An anger management course may dramatically change your attitude.
About that anger management course, you must remember the movie with same name, when Jack Nicholson's character forces Adam Sandler's to stop driving on the way to work in order to sing the show tune "I Feel Pretty", while blocking traffic on a bridge. That worked eventually, so you might as well try it...
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