Road Rage: An Opinion

Martin Gottfried's portrayal of American drivers in "Rambos of the Road" is only partially accurate (Gottfried, 2005, p.474-476). I have had experiences with both considerate motorists as well as aggressive motorists. This article looks at the angry drivers without even considering the more passive ones. In Gottfried's conclusion he states, "It seems to me that it is a new America we see on the road now. It has the mentality of a hoodlum and the backbone of a coward" (Gottfried, 2005, p.476). Though it seems true that road rage is taking over the streets of America, many people utilize their will power to control their road rage. It is much more likely for a person to be an aggressive driver in a busy, over populated city like New York than in a less populated city like Tucson.

The more people that are on the road cause us to drive unsafely. In "Rambos of the Road," Gottfried discusses a conversation with a Manhattan taxi driver where the driver told him "intimidation is the name of the game. Drive as if you're deaf and blind. You don't hear the other guy's horn and you sure as hell don't see him" (Gottfried, 2005, p.475). On a crowded island like Manhattan, you have to drive forcefully in order to get anywhere in a given time. Although I usually took the subway to and from my destination when I was there, occasionally I would have to hail a cab. I looked forward to these occasions because the driver would always teach me effective ways to get through crowds, which I further utilized to get through the Christmas crowd on 5th Avenue. If the cabbies did not drive in a crazy manner, not only would it have taken much longer to get to my destination, but also it just would not have felt like New York. Perhaps people used to behave civil on the roads, but the population of New York City has grown immensely since the thirties, and so has our impatience.

In most cases, road rage is the result of other bad drivers. There have been many times when I have felt road rage, but have controlled myself in order to avoid driving dangerously. On one such occasion, a snowbird pulled out right in front of me causing me to swerve. Even though I wanted to shoot him in his old, grey head, I continued to drive without even laying on my horn. Of course, once he was out of my sight I fantasized that he crashed his car into a pole and died a painful death. This innocent fantasy made me feel much better about the situation without causing harm to anyone on the road, versus actually killing the man.

I have witnessed many instances where somebody's car has broken down or has run out of gas and a friendly motorist will take the time to stop and let the stranded driver use their cellular phone to call a tow truck, or help push the car to the nearest gas station. In addition, there have been many times when the streets are completely congested, but a motorist has been kind enough to let me switch into their lane, even though there is a chance that I will make it through a yellow light and they will not. This would never happen if all drivers suffered from "auto macho." Though there are definitely those drivers who will actually speed up so that you cannot get into their lane, there are enough considerate drivers to outweigh the aggressive ones. If this were not the case, our use of the automobile could not have evolved to the primary method of getting from one place to another.

Gottfried's article only takes the dark side of America's motorists into consideration. Everybody feels road rage at some point in their life. Some of us are better at internalizing it than others are. Although there are many people who completely lack regard for anyone else on the road, there are also those who will stop and help you when you are in trouble. In an overpopulated city, it is necessary to be aggressive when you are driving, otherwise you would not reach your destination. If we could all find effective and harmless ways of dealing with our aggression towards other motorists, then road rage would no longer exist in the streets of America.