Road rage is aggressive or angry behavior by a driver of an automobile or other motor vehicle. Such behavior might include rude gestures, verbal insults, deliberately driving in an unsafe or threatening manner, or making threats. Road rage can lead to altercations, assaults, and collisions which result in injuries and even deaths. It can be thought of as an extreme case of aggressive driving.
Society is moving at a faster pace now more than ever. It is possible the increased value of time is causing us to be much more aggressive on the road, especially during commuting hours. Some drivers only see the traffic ahead of them as an obstacle to overcome at any cost. When we couple this with society's becoming accustomed to instantaneous communications, the problem becomes more pronounced. Whatever the reasons may be, this attitude can place those who share the roadway in jeopardy. Statistics tell us that almost everyone has been involved in an aggressive driving experience either as the victim or the aggressor at some point in their lives. The words, "aggressive driving," came about during the 1990s as a label for a category of dangerous on-the-road behaviors such as following too closely, driving at dangerous speeds, weaving through traffic, and running stop lights and signs. Aggressive driving occasionally escalates to gesturing in anger or yelling at another motorist, confrontation, physical assault and even murder. "Road Rage" is the label that emerged to describe the angry and violent behaviors at the extreme of aggressive driving.
Some people drive aggressively because they have too much to do and are running late for work, school, their next meeting, lesson, game, or other appointment. Many otherwise law-abiding citizens often speed when running late, almost as they would a medical emergency. Some of ever the safest drivers believe that speeding because one is running late to pick up a waiting child or getting an elderly parent to a doctor's appointment is okay. Most drivers rarely drive aggressively, and some never at all. For others, episodes of aggressive driving are frequent, and for a small group of motorists it is their usual driving behavior. Occasional episodes of aggressive driving might occur in response to specific situations, such as speeding and changing lanes suddenly when late for an important appointment, when it is not the driver's normal behavior.