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http://drdriving.org/ has a bunch of good articles on the various
psychologies behind road rage. The other day I started thinking
that maybe another big factor is simple frustration at not having
any good way to communicate with other drivers and have a reasoned
discussion about realtime traffic dynamics -- leaving everyone
with a few clumsy, ambiguous indicators which may or may not
be able to transmit intentions, opinions, or anything else about
what's going on. What does a car horn mean? It's like a baby
crying, you never know what it wants until you take the time to
check several possibilities. On the road there's no time to
do that. What if there were a reliable way to say "sorry, you just
made me feel very concerned for my safety by coming that close
and I'm sure most other people would agree, could you please try
to avoid doing that" to the guy who just cut you off? What would
his response be, especially if several other drivers around the
incident were able to also listen to the conversation and chime
in? If such a communication methodology did exist the babble
would probably be worse than the equivalent nest of cellphones,
but it would certainly make driver interactions very different.
.
My personal favorite would probably be "Look, if you always keep
your TRUCK that close behind other cars, buddy, you are one phone
call away from LOSING YOUR JOB -- do you have any idea how
dangerous that is?" ... which the Yuppie Button is sometimes
able to get across temporarily, but many of them are oblivious.
Or for the mpg-conscious, "Hey, I *am* going the same speed as
the traffic ahead, please stop asking me to close that gap
because I don't think it's safe and won't get either of us there
any faster" ...
.
While I can dream, such a facility would probably just turn into
a continual chorus of "F you, get the F out of my way" all day.
.
_H*

My road rage fantasy is it goes on videocam and ends up on the evening local news with the driver identified and clearly doing something such as the birdie.

I'm thinking along the lines of the South Caroline frat boys that are suing over their appearance in Borat (http://www.kristv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5664376). :p

It's odd that people act like they are anonymous on the road when they are not. They do things in the car they would not dare doing face to face, yet other drivers see it.

I'm of the opinion that if road ragers thought it was semi-likely the people that know them saw it on a video clip - it would stop.







COLUMBIA, S.C. Two fraternity members from a South Carolina university are suing over their appearance in the hit movie "Borat," saying they were duped into making racist and sexist remarks.

The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction to stop the studio from displaying their image and likeness, along with unspecified monetary damages.


The lawsuit claims a production crew took the students -- from the University of South Carolina in Columbia -- to a bar to drink and "loosen up" before the movie, causing them to make racist and sexist comments on camera.


The lawsuit names 20th Century Fox and three production companies as defendants. A studio spokesman says the lawsuit "has no merit."


A fraternity spokesman says the group condemns the remarks made in the film.