A CALL TO ACTION

“Road Rage,” a term that came into existence only 25 years ago, is receiving a growing amount of media attention with a focus on the rage actions.

From simple anger to out-of-control rage, and on to violent, murderous fury (at some point identified as intermittent explosive disorder), the intense emotion is identified by its happening on a roadway.

Rage, however, does not begin on the road!

Travel along to uncover the inside of the feelings that rage expresses and experience ways to transform self-destructive, outward-directed emotions into acts of healthy self-control.

THE ROAD RAGE STORY: WHAT IS IT?

The road rage story is the commonly retold episode of what happens when a driver acts out the rage he is feeling.

The road rage story tells the location of the rage expression, the road, street, highway, not the story of rage itself.  Rage, on its own, is prevalent in homes, schools, bars, work sites, etc.  There are people whose whole upbringing and lifestyle has clouded their ability to even recognize that their behavior is totally unacceptable.

It is imperative to stop road rage as well as to end the road rage story that is only serving to justify their own rage behavior or to fuel others to judgment and anger; it can only be done by understanding the mechanism that triggers the overt behavior.

To understand the whole pallet of inappropriate behavior, consider that there are verbal ragers, who do their raging beneath their breath, and there are people whose rage has gone beyond the common definition of rage to fury. It has caused many to question, “Is road rage a disorder?”

To answer that question, it is important to observe the genesis of rage. In the beginning there is anger, mild or relentless, simple or complex, justified or not; it can be identified as a feeling. It is felt as anger, and it is felt inside. Most who experience this kind of anger, simply think judgmental, negative thoughts, or whisper their annoyance.  Is road rage a disorder in this case?  In fact is this road rage at all? Or is this an expression of anger?

How does one differentiate between anger and rage?
When anger becomes so unbearably intense that it demands action, it becomes known as rage.  Rage is a decision point where an individual, even a group, chooses to use seething anger to do something about the situation, to take some kind of revenge, to reestablish power, or to destroy the object of the anger.

The decision is reckless and even thoughtless; nevertheless, in the moment, it seems to be beyond his control.  The rager, however, thinks he is in control and at that point is capable of behavior that could be called insane.

Taken in this light, it is easy to see what is happening in a road rage incident.  “I’ll show you!”  “I’ll teach you!” “I’ll kill you!” is followed by a chain of expletives, obscene gestures, and wild driving.

Carried to extremes, “ragers” have driven cars off the road and beaten occupants senseless or drawn guns and shot them.  There are too many scenarios to go into.  The violence, tragedies, and disruptions of lives would fill volumes.  Is road rage a disorder? What do you think?

This website is designed to help you understand what causes road rage stress and what to do about it.  As you might suspect, there is no single solution; there are many solutions, several of which may be needed to tame the dragon lurking within.

If you have friends or family members who have not learned to handle anger and stress and fly off the handle, you will find solutions for them, too.  You can help them without becoming the object of their rage.  You will be an instrument to stop the rage.

Most of all, however, you will learn how to handle your own stress, even if you do not have it on the highway.

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