For some reason, a particular type of driver can’t help but fly into a frothing rage when something inconveniences them. It probably doesn’t help that these are often also the most selfish and annoying drivers on the road. Anger makes many people do stupid things, up to and including wanting to literally fight people in the street.
A woman shared a story of being threatened by a man with road rage and how she made him shut up and flee the scene with nothing but a mobile phone. We also got in touch with the woman in the story and she was kind enough to share some more details.
Road rage can make some drivers into a threat to everyone around them
Image credits:LightFieldStudios (Not the actual photo)
But one woman had the perfect solution when a driver got out of his car and wanted to fight her
Image credits:leungchopan (Not the actual photo)
Image credits:Pressmaster (Not the actual photo)
She also shared some updates later
Image credits:Minkiemink
It’s hard to explain what exactly causes some drivers to get overly aggressive
Bored Panda got in touch with the woman who shared the story and she was kind enough to answer some of our questions. “There were two updates: One to say that I checked in with the police, and as expected, because no one was hurt and nothing was damaged, there was no crime. The second update was to try and hopefully get people to check in with themselves to see if their desired level of retributive rage was really commensurate with the circumstances.”
We also wanted to hear her thoughts on the various replies to the story. “So many comments pretty much called for the internet equivalent of putting this guy’s head on a pike and parading it through the streets, ended up making me feel more thoughtful about what had occurred, which I explained in my second update. So many comments wanting to ruin someone, seemingly just for the entertainment value, convinced me not to post the video,” she shared.
Totally speculating, but I think people may have been caught up in the post because absolutely everyone has experienced a terrible driver that was either a grade-A AH, or someone who we felt put us in danger. Feeling helpless to do anything retributive in an angry or frightening moment is pretty universal.
Road rage is a peculiar phenomenon, as these days, the vast majority of people don’t exhibit “random” aggression, particularly in a public space. As in this story, paradoxically, many of the drivers who are the most aggressive behind the wheel also tend to commit the most traffic violations. This, for some reason, doesn’t seem to cause any amount of proper introspection.
In general, this story has many of the hallmarks of a “typical” case of road rage. The angry person is a man, and he is irritated over being cut off. It’s not always a man, as some stories online have shown, but men do commit the majority of road rage incidents. While, at a distance, it can seem a bit comical how (literally) up-in-arms people can get over something as trivial as a parking spot, the reality is that over 5% of road rage incidents actually lead to a fatality, due to aggressive driving or an altercation. As a side-note, there does seem to be a connection between bumper stickers and territory markers with drivers who are prone to road rage. Indeed, these sorts of markings are often better predictors of road rage over any other indicator like the value or condition of the car. In other words, if you see a car loaded with stickers of some sort, drive safe.
Road rage also tends to be a bit confusing because, outside of a late-night Waffle House, most of us just don’t see public displays of aggression, but on the road, they seem to be so common that 77% of people who are learning to drive have experienced at least one. This is why some researchers theorize that driving can trigger some folks’ intermittent explosive disorder, conveniently shortened to IED.
Image credits:Prostock-studio (Not the actual photo)
Most road rage incidents stem from minor inconveniences
IED is a behavioral disorder that works exactly like the name describes. A person suffering from it will be triggered by something and will then “explode” in anger that is disproportionate to the incident. While driving can at times be a life-or-death question, in this particular story, this was not the case.
The actual symptoms of IED are also in line with many cases of road rage, involving shouting, screaming and aggressive body language. We don’t have enough evidence to diagnose this particular driver, but this could at least shed some light on why some folks fly into an uncontrollable rage behind the wheel.
However, the man in this story did at least back down when, presumably, his entire life flashed before his eyes. This does display awareness that most people with an anger-based disorder simply do not have. That being said, it would also indicate that this man is actually just deeply entitled and rude, as he didn’t “fly off the handle,” he was perfectly aware of what was going on when he threatened to fight a small woman on the road.
The woman had the right idea. It’s hard to get away with bad behavior when it is immortalized and posted online for the entire world to see. There have already been numerous cases in the past where someone did something idiotic behind the wheel and then ended up jobless because the clip went viral. For example, just this year, a Florida fire chief was filmed pushing a cyclist off the road, leading to him resigning. Similarly, also in 2024, a High School football coach in Maricopa, Arizona was fired and jailed, after a video emerged of him threatening to kill a woman on the road.
Image credits:alexlucru123 (Not the actual photo)
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