We’ve all seen, or done, the waving arms, the brake checking, the cutting up, and even the escalation into physical altercations behind the wheel. It doesn’t matter who you are, sometimes it’s tempting to lay on the horn, “get revenge”, or make yourself feel like you’ve won over another driver who has “wronged” you in some way on the road. But when you’re on the recieving end of road rage, it can be embarassing at best, and dangerous at worst.
1. Create space to avoid conflict
Road rage happens a lot when people close the gap to prove a point, block others, or show the “right” way to do something. Whether that’s stopping someone from overtaking, or merging. You have not lost if someone overtakes you, or tries to zipper merge, so giving them a bit of room to dissapear off down the road can often be a good idea. It’s better they cause trouble down the road, and not directly to you for feeling like you need to police them.
2. Don’t Mirror Their Behaviour
If you match someones aggression in any way on the road, it can often turn a slightly annoying moment into a genuinely dangerous one. Driving for revenge is the fastest way to get yourself a telling off from the police, or into an altercation with a member of the general public who might be having a bad day. There’s also the point that you never know exactly why someone may be doing what they’re doing, they could be driving to hospital for example.
3. Box Breathing
I know it can be annoying when someone tells you to “Just breath” when you’re feeling angry. One of my favourite techniques is “box breathing”. Inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, exhale for 4 seconds, and hold for 4 seconds, repeating the cycle until you feel your heart rate coming down. Feels cheesy, it works, and is used by various militaries around the world. Anything you can do to stop you trying to “get your own back” is vital in road rage situations.
“Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
4. People make mistakes, 99% of them aren’t doing it with bad intentions
It’s actually quite rare that people do things with pure malice against you, and most mistakes on the road are purely that, mistakes. Assume this first, be ready to hold your own protective bubble, and allow for people to naturally make mistakes.
5. Control what you can control
Make your car a lovely place to be, keep it as calm as possible, and set up your environment so that it’s a genuinely relaxing place to sit. Music, smell, seating position, and keep your car clean. It’s the little things that add up, and having a grim car that’s dirty and hard to see out of is probably not going to help at all.
6. Recognise your driving triggers
Know what annoys you the most, awareness is key. Whether it’s people merging across you last minute, lane hoggers, speeders, or just general lack of awareness, know what sets you off. Think for a second, realise you’re getting annoyed, and bring yourself back to earth with a good breathing technique. I know it’s boring.
7. Learn from Racing Drivers
I don’t mean drive fast, but know what to focus on. If someone comes speeding past you, you keep focus on your control, and not on them. You don’t want to start following what they’re doing, and getting into just as much trouble as they’re about to be. If someone flies off the race track, you stay on and gain the position.
8. Eye contact is important, but sometimes avoiding it on the road is good.
Eye contact with a driver who is already riled up, may absolutely make things worse for both of you. If you’ve been wronged in your eyes, you will almost always make the problem worse by swearing, blinding, and throwing your hands about. If you’ve been the one to make the mistake, then a hands up apology, and even mouthing of a “sorry” can placate most people.
9. Winning isn’t the goal
As much as your brain is screaming at you to “win” at everything you do, “winning” is not something you should be aiming at in any road driving scenario. Winning here is when everyone gets home safely, not when someone is overtaken, brake checked, or threatened. Keep your ego in check, and make it so that you can drive another day.
10. Sometimes you just need to stop.
If nothing is calming you down, no matter what has happened, sometimes the best thing to do is just to pull over, and take a break. Grab a bite to eat, and something to drink if you can too. It’s amazing what 10 minutes, and a nice coffee can do for your brain, when it all seemed too much earlier. I reckon just taking a few minutes to myself has saved me from countless bad decisions, and when it comes to the risk filled act of driving, it could save your life at that point.
If you’re reading this article then you’re already 10 steps ahead of the majority of drivers, and you want to improve. If you keep this mindset, keep your ego in check, and continue to learn, there’s no real reason you should have many problems with road rage in the future.
Remember to take it easy out there on the roads, and leave everything a bit better off than how you found it.
