Be a Safe Driver: Learn How to Avoid Road Rage

On the road today there seems to be a growing trend of angry drivers who are not afraid of telling somebody precisely what they think of traffic using their fingers, their horns and their desperately loud voices. One of the problems with this type of expression is that lately it's been going overboard and it has turned into a war of weapons on the road. From angry people dropping rocks from overpasses to emboldened, fed up drivers who are carrying guns in their vehicles, there seems to be no end to the anger, frustration and violence on the freeways anymore. A veteran California highway driver myself, and having deterred myself from road rage for as long as I have been driving, I have a few tips for the common driver on how to avoid road rage and how to find your happy place while driving on some of the worst freeways in the country.

There are several important factors to modern driving that were never issues when I learned to drive. Cell phones are one of these factors and angry, "shoot-em-up" music is another. I don't intend to gripe about kids these days, only to make a point. If you're going to use a cell phone while driving (and I realize that this is absolutely necessary for some), buy a hands free system from your cell phone carrier. Some vehicles nowadays come equipped with a hands free car system for your phone to assist you with keeping your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road. If you have the money for such a vehicle (or for such an upgrade to your existing vehicle), I highly recommend purchasing it. In California, as of June 2007, there is a law against driving and talking on your cell without having some sort of bluetooth feature in use - though I've yet to see it enforced on the road. The problem is, when you've got one hand on the wheel and one at your ear, it's impossible to turn on your blinker, be sure that nobody is coming and get over. Many drivers have completely abandoned their vehicle's blinker system altogether and just swerve over. This raises the blood level of all other drivers on the road. The stress of not knowing when somebody will just swerve over into your lane without regard to who is already there or whether they will hit somebody just makes every driver nervous to some degree. Just don't do it. Pay attention and use your signals.

As for the music situation, find your happy music before you start driving. Blasting music that gets your blood boiling will not help you get home in one piece. You need to be calm when driving - able to make decisions on the fly and able to allow somebody else to make a mistake and swerve into your lane without you deciding to shoot them for it. Find music that calms you, or puts your in your zen driving zone. Maybe it's Enya, maybe it's Corinne Bailey Rae, maybe it's John Mayer. Whatever it is that gets you smiling and thinking that the world simply isn't that bad - put it on. It may be that you prefer spoken word to music. If that's the case, listen to an audio book. You'll be home before you know it, and traffic won't bother you nearly as much. "It's just five or ten more minutes I get to listen to my book before getting home," says my wife. "I love audio books for that reason alone. I get angry far less often than I used to on the road, and sometimes I even welcome a bit of traffic."

Another thing you can do to reduce the stress of traffic and road rage is to get one of those really nice massage pads that fit over the seat of your car. I don't mean the vibrating ones (they don't work worth a darn). I mean the ones from high end retailers like Brookstone or Sharper Image that have the rollers inside. If you get stuck in particularly bad traffic, turn that puppy on and treat yourself to a full back massage for the entire hour and a half that you might be on the freeway parking lot. I have one of these, and believe me, it's worth every penny I paid for it and then some.

So whether it's being a more courteous driver through bluetooth cell phone systems, better music, audio books or massaging chair backs, make an effort to make the freeway a better place for all of us. Knowing that there is a possibility you could be shot while driving in California (for seemingly no reason lately) is frightening enough without people who drive around inciting such behavior.

Sources:

Terry Johnston "Road Rage" Flickr URL: (http://www.flickr.com/photos/61172365@N00/466704717)