I was on the way to play in my sand volleyball league on a recent Thursday, sharing the freeway packed three lanes wide with evening rush-hour commuters heading out of downtown. Traffic was moving at a reasonable pace for 5:30 p.m. Then a menace appeared.
A motorist two lanes over used the left shoulder to speed around another driver, then darted into traffic and abruptly slammed on his brakes. The irritated motorist retaliated by gunning it as he shimmied along the skip stripe between commuters in left and center lanes to get ahead of the original offender, then cut him off.
Can you say road rage?
I had never seen another driver willfully put his life and others in danger just to settle a score, but I'm not naive enough to think it doesn't happen. What's alarming is just how much our tempers are getting the best of us while we are behind the wheel. Nearly eight in 10 drivers admit to engaging in significant angry or aggressive behaviors while in traffic, and they go far beyond yelling, gesturing and horn honking, according to a study released this month by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
The study's authors were shocked not only by the prevalence but also by the degree to which ticked-off drivers display their fury. Based on the self-reported data of 2,700 U.S. drivers over age 16, the foundation estimates that 104 million Americans purposely tailgate, 95 million yell at other drivers, 91 million honk to show annoyance and 67 million make rude gestures. And that's mild compared to the 7.6 million who get out of their car to confront another driver and 5.7 million who intentionally bump or ram another vehicle.
Unexpected dangers of anger
"The numbers are mind-blowing," said AAA spokesman Michael Green. "So many people admit to angry behavior behind the wheel. It is concerning that anger is so prevalent. There is a lot of anonymity when you are behind the wheel. You're inside your car. You don't know the person you are angry at. You probably will never see them again. People feel like and allow themselves to be angry in ways they would not be if they were walking down the sidewalk. When we are driving, we express that in ways that can potentially turn dangerous."
Just this year, two motorists duked it out with baseball bats in Austin, Texas; a brawl broke out at a stoplight in San Bernardino, Calif.; and an irate motorist in Tulsa, Okla., rammed the car in front of him and sent it careening into a guardrail. Here, a woman who honked at a vehicle that cut her off on Hennepin Avenue near Groveland Avenue in April was shot four times by a person in the offending vehicle. The woman recovered.
Male drivers and all drivers ages 19 to 39 were significantly more likely to engage in aggressive behaviors than older drivers — unsafe behaviors such as speeding and running red lights, the study found.
More than 67 percent of Americans say road rage is worse now than it was just three years ago, and that should not be surprising since driving is expected to hit an all-time high this year, according to the Federal Highway Administration. With more vehicles on the road comes more opportunities to lash out at other drivers.
The AAA study found that 90 percent of Americans say aggressive drivers are a serious threat to their safety. As tempting as it is to get even with road bullies, safety experts say to stay calm, avoid eye contact and exercise patience.
"The best thing to do is to chill out," Green said.
Follow news about traffic and commuting at The Drive on startribune.com. Got traffic or transportation questions, or story ideas? E-mail drive@startribune.com, tweet @stribdrive or call Tim Harlow at 612-673-7768.
