The Psychosocial Road to Road Rage |
Why do some people suddenly see red while driving? Road rage happens when motorists’ uncontrolled anger, provoked by other motorists’ actions, manifests in aggression or violence. Such acts can escalate within seconds but alter lives forever. Recent examples in the United States have ranged from repeated, aggressive braking in front of a moving truck to a grocery store parking lot shooting. Pervasive and striking, road rage has even become a cultural phenomenon over time. Consider King Oedipus’s slaying his father at a crossroads, or the opening chase of Netflix’s Beef.
Despite its real, devastating impacts across the United States, road rage is only explicitly penalized in a few states, like Utah. The scarcity of not only legal but also clinical treatment guidelines is unsurprising when research remains limited. As a psychiatrist, for example, I have met patients with histories of such behaviors, but not yet colleagues in my profession with expertise on this issue. One thing appears clear, however: Road rage is multifactorial and not traceable to any single cause or diagnosis.
Addressing road rage, a set of outward behaviors, and not a mental illness in and of itself, through treatment and public policy requires considering intersecting psychological and societal factors. Forms of unsafe conduct that appear similar on the surface might arise from different underlying causes.
Road rage represents anger, which itself can be a “secondary emotion.” Anger, including in motorists, often masks deeper feelings such as overwhelming frustration, anxiety, disgust, or fear.........