Highway rage and aggressive driving are the reason for critical incidents on our roads. A seven-year compilation of statistics by the Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration (NHTSA) and Auto Vantage discovered that 218 murders and 12,610 accidents had been attributable to street rage.
In South Florida, NHTSA recorded 20,935 aggressive driving incidents in Miami-Dade and 12,722 in Broward over the previous six years. Highway rage shootings practically doubled from 22 to 42 folks every month in 2021, in accordance with a report by Everytown Analysis and Coverage.
What’s street rage?
Highway rage, as outlined by Oxford Languages, is “violent anger attributable to stress and frustration concerned in driving a motorized vehicle in troublesome situations”. This sort of aggressive driving can take the type of tailgating, swerving, honking the horn, yelling expletives, and in some circumstances brandishing a weapon.
A research by Colorado State College psychologist Jerry Deffenbacher, Ph.D., discovered that individuals who recognized as “very offended” drivers had been extra more likely to:
– Participating in riskier behaviors similar to dashing or tailgating.
– Having extra frequent aggressive or hostile ideas.
– Get offended sooner and act extra aggressively.
– Have double the variety of accidents in driving simulations.
– You expertise extra inherent anger, nervousness, and impulsiveness.
Analysis introduced by Psychology At this time factors to 2 key components that contribute to street rage: driver feelings and the flexibility to manage these feelings.
Stop street rage
Drivers should abide by all guidelines of the street and pay particular consideration to the next to keep away from street rage and defend your self from others:
– Keep a secure following distance: The Nationwide Security Council recommends a minimal secure following distance of three seconds.
– Depart room for different automobiles to affix.
– Use your flip indicators to point your intentions to different drivers.
– Chorus from inflammatory hand gestures and language.
– Use a automotive’s excessive beams solely when crucial.
– Observe persistence on the street, at an intersection, and when ready for a parking area.
– Make use of defensive driving strategies. For a full listing of defensive driving suggestions, go to panterlaw.com/2022/12/02/five-ways-to-drive-defensively.
hold calm hold driving
Typically, staying calm whereas touring is a matter of using strategies that assist folks loosen up their thoughts and physique. Listed below are 3 ways to loosen up whereas driving:
1. Observe Deep Respiratory: Take deep, gradual breaths into your decrease stomach and gently launch your breath via your mouth till your coronary heart begins to have a peaceful, regular rhythm.
2. Discover and launch stress within the physique: Discover the place areas of your physique are tense and consciously start to loosen up every half.
three. Observe aware driving: mindfulness is the flexibility to direct the thoughts to the current. Whereas driving, a person may give full and centered consideration to driving. To name the thoughts again to the current second, a person might start to note the sounds, tastes, textures, and sights accessible to them in every occasion.
Drive secure in 2023
The Private Harm Regulation Agency of Panter, Panter & Sampedro hopes you’ll be a part of us in our 2023 Protected Driving Decision to “Hold Calm, Hold Driving”. Our private damage regulation agency is devoted to defending Florida households. We attempt to assist hold our communities secure via security assets like this one. Nevertheless, when the sudden happens, we’re devoted to serving to households via each step of the authorized course of. Discuss to one in every of our skilled private damage attorneys at (305) 662-6178.
Mitchell Panter, Esq.
Mitchell Panter, Esq. is a board-certified civil trial lawyer, neighborhood advocate, and managing companion at Panter, Panter & Sampedro, PA