We all have pressure in our life. But some days our patience is tested more than others; frustration surrounding the circumstances of perhaps a family fall out, an issue at work, a traffic jam and the pressures of being late, all are contributory factors as to what comes next.

Add to this the actions of others on the road, excessive speeding, tailgating, light jumping, horn sounding, weaving in and out of lanes can easily culminate in a driver "exploding" with anger. For far too many people pent up emotions are vented when behind the wheel. It is so common that it has a name "Road Rage".

Road rage has been recognised as one of the leading causes of vehicle collisions and violent confrontations between motorists. Of course there are different levels of rage, some are able to contain themselves with a quiet grumble to themselves, others may gesture graphically, shout abuse but for some, such actions can escalate into direct damaging contact.

There is no doubt road rage has exceptionally dangerous consequences. If a driver is frustrated, stressed or angry getting behind the wheel of a vehicle it is the wrong place to be.

So this begs the question, what is it that happens to a normally mild mannered, pleasant, responsible individual once they are behind the wheel and someone commits a driving error or performs an aggressive act against them?

The answer is simple, personality and behaviour. To a large extent personality can be considered as a metric to the thresholds at which a driver is likely to display a particular behaviour.

Drivers of vehicles are human; as such they are prone to errors of judgment, fatigue, inconsistency, distraction, emotion or a plain old making a mistake.

Part of the issue is the driver of a vehicle is faceless. An example might be, two pedestrians walking on a narrow pavement, bump into each other, this doesn't often result in rage, more often than not it is an apology by one or both and they continue on their way.

So why is there so much intolerance towards another vehicles driver's act of bad manners, abuse, aggression or incompetence? It is suspected that because the vehicle is seen as faceless, the normal facial signals and interpretations of intent, which for millennia are the indicators to appropriate and measured response are non-applicable.

There are two scenarios;
Stressed drivers
Drivers having imposed restrictions of speed, lane discipline, direction, signs, other vehicles and traffic signals are recognised to increase stress levels within the car, meaning that any non-related "life stress" is compounded whilst driving. The intolerance comes from being pushed beyond the individuals stress threshold.

King of the road
This group are generally aggressive, feel it is their duty to expose and educate other drivers in the error of their ways, they become vigilantes, ready to instantly hunt down and inflict retribution on those that are in their way or make an mistake.

If you have made a driving error, it is best to self reflect positively about what happened and why, then make a conscious effort to avoid it happening again.
The secret to a good driver is not to let any situation escalate into conflict, no matter how wronged you may feel.

Just remember, getting to the chosen destination is far better than having an altercation or life changing incident.