Freeway fury

Thursday, October 8, 1998

Freeway fury

TRENDS: Tempers often flare on L.A. roadways, but the best
advice may be the simplest: Chill

By Michelle Navarro

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

She cut me off.

He was driving too slow.

She wouldn’t stop tailgating me.

He was blocking traffic.

These have all been used as reasons to justify confronting an
accused "bad" driver.

Everyone has their driving pet peeves.

"No one in L.A. knows what the left-hand lane is for," said
Jason Schroeder, a fourth-year mathematics of computation student,
adding that it should be used for passing.

But letting these pet peeves get to you can lead to
confrontations.

Confrontations don’t just include flashing the finger or yelling
out expletives. It can also mean shooting at, hitting or ramming
another driver.

Armando Clemente, a West Los Angeles police officer, said the
worst accident he was called on involved two women engaged in a
verbal confrontation during bumper to bumper traffic on the 405
Freeway.

The argument escalated, and one of the women went up to the
driver’s side window of the other vehicle and proceeded to hit the
other driver.

This hostile condition has been coined "road rage," and it is a
hot topic for discussion all across the nation.

"It’s a definite problem," Clemente said, "If someone confronts
you, you should ignore them. Don’t meet aggression with aggression.
Just make a lane change and get away."

Much debate still remains as to whether or not road rage is a
new and growing phenomenon. Some speculate that it has always
existed, and it is only its awareness that is increasing.

But the American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic
Safety reported that aggressive driving incidents are growing and
have actually increased 51 percent between 1990 and 1996.

The non-profit research group dedicated to preventing traffic
crashes also identified a total of 10,037 violent "road rage"
incidents.

There are probably countless more incidents on the road, though.
As Michael Mori, a third-year pre-cybernetics student, said,
"Everyone has seen the birdie."

The cases the AAA Foundation cited, however, were more violent
than just the flashing the middle finger.

For example, in 1991 at a parking lot of a California nightclub,
a 26-year-old man drove his vehicle into a crowd that was blocking
the exit of the lot.

He seriously injured seven people, all because he was too
impatient to wait for them to move.

Not too long ago, actor Jack Nicholson put on a great
performance of "road rage."

Angry that a Mercedes-Benz driver cut him off in traffic,
Nicholson took a golf club from his own car at a stoplight and
proceeded to strike the roof and windshield of the Mercedes.

Such incidents are what the AAA Foundation used to define "road
rage," which is "any display of aggression by a driver occurring as
a direct result of a disagreement between drivers."

The AAA Foundation report did stipulate that the perpetrator was
most likely going to be a young male, but anger behind the wheel
doesn’t discriminate between races, ages, financial statuses,
religions or genders.

Interestingly enough, researchers suggested that the anger
doesn’t arise from the traffic situation itself, but rather from
other stress factors brought prior to the driving session.

Most aggressive roadsters are on the streets with a "reservoir
of anger" and the traffic incident serves as the trigger to set
everything off.

In other words, having a bad day at work or at school won’t help
much on the road.

Bottled-up anger and stress may actually do some harm if not
kept under check.

"It’s the stress from the day," Mori said. "The L.A. traffic
only adds to the frustration."

Clemente offered some specific reasons for the rage on Angelino
roads.

"It could be caused by people being late to appointments,
especially since we have the airport. The 405 is always backed up,"
he said. "If people are running late for a flight, it’s easier to
get frustrated or mad when something happens."

Clemente said the Highway Patrol Office receives, on average,
three to four highway-violence related calls on any given shift,
per day.

Matthew Joint, a behavioral analyst who also worked on a report
for the Automobile Association, explained such freeway altercations
by attributing them to the instinctual animal behavior within.

By nature, animals are territorial and when they feel their area
is being invaded or is under attack, they will retaliate.

Joint reasoned that humans tend to extend their territory to
their cars and the surrounding space.

If another driver cuts that space off or tailgates from behind,
the one being intruded upon will perceive it as an attack, and a
need to defend his domain takes over.

When someone unexpectedly pulled in front of Scott Wong, he
blared the horn for a full minute.

"I was angry, and I wanted to let him know that that was not
acceptable," the third-year English student said. "His impatience
was no reason for him to potentially cause an accident."

How drivers view or perceive an action of someone else on the
highway greatly influences what, if any, reaction will follow.
Because cars don’t allow direct contact between drivers, it’s more
than likely that the perception will be a misunderstanding.

"Never assume that an apparently aggressive act was intended as
such," Joint said. "We all make mistakes. So don’t bite back. Draw
reassurance from the fact that if you feel someone is driving like
an idiot, everyone else does also."

The cause for a driver’s "road rage" may stem from animal
instinct or from a full tank of anger accumulated throughout the
day. Either way, it is a problem that needs to be addressed.

Driving a vehicle is dangerous enough, but add in potential
death by human anger and it gets even worse.

"It’s just kind of scary because people carry around guns," said
Mark Kim, a third-year biochemistry student. "It’s really too
stressful and unhealthy."

To avoid exhibiting "road rage" or becoming of victim of it,
most experts recommend listening to relaxing music or finding a way
to alleviate stress before stepping in the car.

Experts advise thinking before reacting, as the consequences may
eventually end up costing more than the confrontation is worth.

"I try not to show an outward display of anger," Mori said,
"because if you get into a confrontation, it’s not worth messing up
your car over."

Even if "road rage" did exist long before all the attention it’s
receiving now, the coverage is making more people aware of the
problem. And, that’s what the AAA Foundation said it hoped to
do.

Drivers just need to ease up on the tension pedal.

"Escalation of a minor dispute into an incident of road rage can
be prevented if one of the drivers simply takes a deep breath and
backs off," AAA Foundation president David Willis said.

"It sure beats getting shot or beat up for making an
inappropriate gesture," he said.

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