A distraction that can cause serious personal injury: Road Rage
This is the time of year in which traffic is not the only thing rampant on the roads – drivers are facing multiple distractions, from issues with jobs, family and juggling holiday events to internal distractions in their cars, chiefly, phones. But there is another distraction that can hurt drivers and passengers just as much as texting on a cell phone at 70 miles per hour: Road Rage. According to research, drivers who are in the throes of an emotional problem are facing a distraction level “even more serious than those experienced by cell phone users,” according to the website dmv.org.
DMV.org says that these negative emotions can cause otherwise excellent drivers to:
- Experience dimmed or otherwise impaired observation and reaction times.
- Fail to recognize situations, such as an abrupt slowing of traffic or debris in the road.
- Get to the point that they are unable to predict or to determine what the other drivers around us are doing.
- Make risky maneuvers and risky changes, such as cutting across several lanes of traffic to take an off-ramp, suddenly change lanes, or even to drive on the freeway shoulder.
- Lose the ability to perform driving skills that require precise timing or other subtle skills.
- Make a driver feel as though he or she is detached from the other drivers, vehicles, and conditions on the road.
The fact is, when you take such risky and reckless chances on the roads, whether you’re speeding on I-95 or traveling on AIA in Fort Lauderdale, you are staring serious personal injury in the face if your emotions are getting the better of you behind the wheel. Injuries from a motor vehicle accident can take a lifetime to heal – if they heal at all – and can malign your chances for a full and prosperous life. A skilled personal injury litigation attorney can tackle the issues associated with insurance compensation following an accident, to make sure you receive the money you are entitled to in order to cover your medical and other expenses. But taking measures to prevent accidents is always the best course of action.
Unfortunately, road rage is common on South Florida’s roads and is the cause of many accidents and injuries. When you are enraged behind the wheel, you tend to overreact – you tend to take it personally if another driver cuts you off, fails to use their blinker when turning or otherwise behaves recklessly. You believe their actions could cause an accident and are unaware that your own rage towards them can also subvert your attention from the road. On the other hand, you could also unwittingly become the object of someone else’s anger, which is equally as frightening.
DMV.org offers the following tips to protect yourself if you are the victim of an enraged driver:
- Remain in your car, and if approached on foot, roll up the windows and lock the doors.
- If you’re talking with a passenger, avoid making gestures that another driver could interpret as hostile, rude, or negative.
- If you accidentally make a move that annoys or upsets another driver, “make overly-exaggerated expressions of regret, hold hand in a prayer gesture, mouth the word “sorry,” make a silly grimace – anything that will send the message that you acknowledge an error.” This works very well to diffuse a situation.
According to a survey conducted by doctors on the topic of road rage, over half of all drivers in America will either express “road rage” themselves, or encounter another driver in a fit of “road rage” focused at them while they are driving, DMV.org states. Thousands of motor vehicle accidents annually can be linked directly to road rage or aggressive driving. “An extremely frightening statistic: road rage accidents are now the leading cause of death for our children,” according to the website.
How can you prevent road rage? First of all, take personalization out of the mix – another driver’s reckless move is not directed toward you personally. True, some drivers want to pretend you don’t exist as they weave in and out and seemingly drive as though your vehicle is invisible. How can that not be taken personally? When you have to veer to get out of the way, or when the reckless actions of another driver catch you so off guard that you come close to an accident, it’s hard not to get angry. Many drivers report that if the other driver causing the problem had merely acknowledged responsibility for causing the near-miss situation, it would have gone a long way to diffuse their anger.
But drivers, for the most part, never admit to a mistake so the best thing you can do, as the victim of a reckless driver’s moves, is wait a few minutes before you do anything and not give in to instantaneous, knee-jerk anger. Also, refrain yourself from common distractions that take your attention away from the road, such as eating, reading, applying makeup or cell phone use. For as long as that car is moving on the road, a driver’s attention should always be on the road and other drivers.
Also, give yourself a brake. If you face a situation in which your anger could get the better of you, take a few deep breaths, listen to a favorite song on the radio or think of something pleasant – separating yourself from these strong emotions can help mitigate a potentially deadly situation.
