Incidents of reckless driving have risen since the start of the pandemic – and it may be due to how we feel behind the wheel
In a hurry the other day, I drove through a yellow light and was almost T-boned by someone approaching from the opposite direction making a left-hand turn. Honestly, I was in the wrong — a fact the other driver made clear by blaring his horn.
I knew it was an unsafe move, a calculated risk I took in the blink of an eye because I was stressed out and rushing. Thankfully, the other driver did not pull a U-turn and pursue me.
Extreme? Perhaps, but according to Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, incidents of reckless and aggressive driving have been on the rise. And you don’t have to look hard to find fresh examples of road rage across the country.
In early February, a Calgary motorist shot another driver around 8 a.m. after two drivers got into what police called “a verbal altercation.” In a fit of road rage last summer, a man in Lethbridge, Alta., used a golf club to smash another driver’s car window. Last April, a man in Walkerville, Ont., was arrested after he pulled a gun on another driver. And on it goes.
What is happening here? Did these people always have violent tendencies, or were they regular citizens pushed to the brink? And if it’s the latter, what is it about driving that brought out the monster in them?
“If you wanted to create a scenario that makes people mad, that scenario would look a lot like driving,” said Dr. Ryan Martin, a psychology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay who researches anger and aggressive driving.
Martin said what triggers anger under any circumstances is a combination of three things: provocation, our mood at the time of that provocation, and how we interpret that provocation.
“Those three things come together in a way to create angry feelings.” And driving in traffic, he said, provides a perfect storm for these conditions to coexist.
So, why do some of us manage to keep our cool under anger-inducing circumstances, while others snap? Martin said there are people for whom road rage is likely an extension of anger problems they have everywhere.
“Personality traits that might trigger that behaviour are impatience or competitiveness or general Type-A behaviour that manifests itself behind the wheel the same way it does everywhere else,” Martin said. “But there are other people for whom driving is just an especially anger-provoking situation.”
Who are these people? A recent survey would suggest it’s pretty much all of us. According to a survey conducted last year by InsuranceHotline.com, 95 per cent of Canadian drivers polled admit to aggressive and road rage-like behaviour.
Presumably, the large percentage of us who admit to acts of speeding, honking in anger, making use of choice hand gestures and other aggressive behaviours, are not acting like this in the rest of our daily lives. So, does this mean, when provoked behind the wheel, we have an alternate “driver personality” lurking within?
Dr. Dwight Hennessy thinks so. Hennessy, a social psychologist who specializes in traffic psychology, points to situational influences on personality, whereby different traits emerge in different situations — such as driving a vehicle.
“I’m not suggesting we’re all like Jekyll and Hyde, and have a completely different personality when driving,” said Hennessy, a professor at Buffalo State College. “But I think that environment draws out certain elements of your person. And as you continue to drive a certain way, over time, you are developing that driver side of your personality.”
Hennessy said commuting, excess traffic, weather, your mood and your perception of other drivers’ behaviour all are potential triggers for your driver personality.
Even your own good driving record can be responsible for you adopting riskier behaviour. “When you don’t get into collisions and you don’t get speeding tickets, you start to feel comfortable,” Hennessy said. “And you’re more likely to shift to accept more risk.”
One aspect to driving both Martin and Hennessy point to as playing a key role in how you behave behind the wheel is anonymity. That you are largely unidentifiable in your vehicle emboldens you, frees you to behave in ways you might not otherwise.
Imagine you’re in the express line at the grocery store and the person in front of you has a full cart of items. The sign specifically says eight items or less, and the joker ahead of you has at least two dozen items. You might say something, but you’re not likely to shake your fist at this person, curse at him and flip your middle finger as you fume past him.
Yet, in the cosy cocoon of your car, your driver personality might be raging at a similarly inconsiderate driver, and any action you take will likely be free from judgment because no one knows who you are.
“In a lot of people’s minds, that anonymity legitimizes the progression of being angry to being aggressive,” said Hennessy.
Assuming none of us wants to go full Hulk every time we step behind the wheel of a car, how can we tame the beast within?
Martin advises practising extremely defensive driving. When we see someone behaving badly on the road, do not engage. “The right thing to do is to back off and let people go,” he said.
For Martin, it’s as simple as keeping in mind that your goal is to get to your destination safely. “I can’t imagine a circumstance where the right thing to do is to give someone the finger or to cut them off for doing something that made you mad,” he said.
Keyword: When anonymity meets anger