Accessing Resiliency During Road Rage By: Rachelle Channell

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Accessing Resiliency During Road RageBy
Rachelle Channell
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(No Transcript)
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What is Road Rage?
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary Defines Road
Rage as a motorist's uncontrolled anger that is
usually provoked by another motorist's irritating
act and is expressed in aggressive or violent
behaviorMerriam-Webster On-line.
Available http//www.m-w.com/dictionary/road20ra
ge
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• Some Road Rage Examples
• People being shot and killed because they had cut
  someone off or driven to slowly.
• A man who was murdered by another drivers
  crossbow after a heated, ongoing traffic
  dispute.
• A student being shot by a 57 year old man because
  he could not disable the loud theft alarm on his
  vehicle.
• Two cars racing at 80 MPH on the George
  Washington Parkway crossed the median and hit two
  vehicles in the oncoming lanes, killing three of
  the four drivers and resulting in the surviving
  driver being sentenced to 10 years in prison.
• A driver who after a mere fender bender pummeled
  his fists into the face of a woman who was six
  months pregnant (the other driver).
• Tailgating
• High beaming
• Obscene language or gestures
• Using ones car as a weapon
• High speeds
• Weaving in and out of traffic
• Mizzell, L. (1996). Aggressive Driving A report
  by Louis Mizell, Inc. for the AAA Foundation for
  Traffic Safety On-line. Available
• http//www.aaafoundation.org/resources/inde
  x.cfm?buttonagdrtext

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• Penalties and Punishment
• If you play the road rage game, be warned that
  for these types of incidents, the United States
  prosecutes under either one or a combination of
  the following
• Aggressive Driving
• Assault and Battery (with or without a vehicle)
• Vehicular Homicide (if someone is killed)
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_rage_(phenomenon
  )

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• It is not only the United States that is
  concerned with this.
• Below are penalties in Great Britian
• Causing Death by Dangerous Driving 10 years
  imprisonment
• Dangerous Driving 5,000 or six months or both
  plus disqualification for one year and a re-test
• Careless or Inconsiderate Driving 2,500 plus
  three to nine penalty points
• Causing Danger to Other Road Users Triable
  summarily2, 5,000 or six months or both. Triable
  on indictment -- seven years or a fine or both
• Murder or Manslaughter could be charged in the
  appropriate circumstances the sentence for both
  can be life imprisonment
• Common Assault Six months or 5,000 or both
• Wounding with Intent Can be life imprisonment
• Unlawful Wounding Five years and/or fine. Triable
  only on indictment
• Causing Injury by Furious Driving On indictment
  five years and/or a fine. Otherwise six months
• and/or 5,000
• Using Threatening, Abusive, or Insulting Words or
  Behavior, thereby causing fear or provocation, or
  offering violence with intent to cause a person
  to believe that unlawful violence will be used
  Six months or 5,000 or both
• As above, but using threatening, abusive, or
  insulting words or behavior and causing
  harassment, fear, or distress 1,000 -- in this
  element there is no actual intent of violence
• Criminal Damage Six months and/or 5,000, unless
  the following elements are present, which would
  dictate that the cause be tried on indictment a)
  Committed by a group b) The damage is of high
  value c) There is clear racial motivation

Connell, D. Joint, M. (1996). Driver
Aggression A report by the Road Safety Unit for
the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety On-line.
Available http//www.aaafoundation.org/re
sources/index.cfm?buttonagdrtext
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Weve All Seen Idiot Drivers But what about
yourselfhave you ever stopped to think about
your behavior and thought processes while
driving?Take a moment to reflect.Go to the
next page and take theROAD RAGE QUIZ!!!!!
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The Road Rage Quiz
Are you ready to R..R....R....R....Rumble? Have
you been accused of being a "RAGER" of the road
kind? Have those drives into work or school
become increasingly colourful in language and
have the old road signals turned into gestures of
the most obscene kind?  If you have answered yes
to any of these questions, then maybe it's time
for you to test your ROAD RAGE QUOTIENT.
OK......Ready? Start those engines.... (Instruc
tions have been edited from original form.
Original content can be viewed at below listed
weblink) The Road Rage Quotient On-line.
Available http//webhome.idirect.com/kehamilt/r
age.htm
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• 1.  If you are driving in traffic in the fast
  lane and the person in front of you is driving
  the speed limit do you
• a. slow down  because you realize you are
  speeding
• b. slow down, turn on your signals and move into
  the other lane, and eventually move back into the
  fast lane
• c. tailgate the idiot
• d. turn on your high beams and honk your horn
  and tailgate
• e. zip into the slow lane then zip into the
  fast lane while giving the finger and then slow
  down in front of the jerk.
• 2. You are in a parking lot looking for a parking
  space. You spot an empty place but there is a
  woman standing in the middle of the space
  obviously saving the space for her husband who is
  nowhere to be seen. Do you
• a. move on and look for another place
• b. give her a dirty look and then move on
• c. swear at her telling her to "move her fat
  butt"
• d. act like you are going to drive into her
• e. drive into the spot just missing her by an
  inch
• 3. You are stopped at a traffic light and the
  light has just turned green. The person in front
  of you is chatting on a cell phone. Do you.
• a. wait calmly, realizing that it will only be a
  second or two
• b. wait a second, put on your signals and move
  into another lane
• c. honk your horn and yell out your window "Pay 
  Attention Idiot"
• d. zoom up quickly behind the person, honking
  madly

The Road Rage Quotient On-line. Available
http//webhome.idirect.com/kehamilt/rage.htm
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• 5.  When you are in your car how often are you
  ranting and raving
• a. almost never
• b. occasionally
• c. most of the time
• d. 99 of the time
• e. 100 of the time in the car and 50 of the
  time outside of the car once you've reached your
  destination
• 6. Which of the following groups of people do you
  find have poor driving skills
• a. sorry I can't really categorize them
• b. people who drive for a living
• c. people from other ethnicity than your own,
  women drivers, taxi drivers
• d. other ethnicity, women, teenagers, older
  people, people with glasses, taxi drivers,
  blondes, people who are so short that they can't
  be seen behind the wheel, minivan drivers, sports
  car drivers, truckers, 
• e. all of the above plus brunettes, black haired
  people, bald people, red heads, punk hair
  coloured people, members of the hair club
• 7. I find driving to be
• a. fun and relaxing
• b. relaxing when I'm alone on the road, but
  nerve wracking in city traffic
• c. challenging but dangerous
• d. a good place where I can really let loose and
  express myself

The Road Rage Quotient On-line. Available
http//webhome.idirect.com/kehamilt/rage.htm
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• 9. You are driving down the road going your usual
  speed when you spot a woman putting on her
  makeup. Do you
• a. laugh and continue on your way.
• b. drive by and give her a dirty look
• c. speed past her and yell "Forget it It won't
  help"
• d. speed past give her the finger, yell
  obscenities
• e. same as 'd' but also cut in front of her and
  slam on the brakes
• 10. Which phrase fits best how you feel
• a. I like people
• b. I like some people
• c. Most people suck
• d. I like people when they are not around
• e. I like people once they're dead.
• OK folks...time to tally up those numbers. Give
  yourself the following points for each letter
• For every "a" give yourself 0 points
• For every "b" give yourself 2 points
• For every  "c" give yourself 3 points
• For every "d" give yourself 4 points

The Road Rage Quotient On-line. Available
http//webhome.idirect.com/kehamilt/rage.htm
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So how did you do?
0-6 pointsYou are a saint. If everybody were
like you, there would be world peace. 7-20
pointsYou have your good and bad days on the
road. Overall you only suffer from mild road
rage. 21-30 points You can be seen by others
as scary at times. Take up some form of sport to
channel your energies.  31-40 points You are
dangerous. Increase your medication now . 
41-50 points You are a truly sick individual.
Move to the country immediately, become a
vegetarian take up yoga quit your job and buy a
farm grow vegetables denounce the consumer
society join greenpeace donate all  your
motorized vehicles to a worthy cause.
The Road Rage Quotient On-line. Available
http//webhome.idirect.com/kehamilt/rage.htm
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What Now?

• Well, now that you have had time to reflectfor
  those of you with a saintly score..CONGRATULATIO
  NS!
• For those of us with less than a saintly
  scoredo not despair. There are a few simple
  things you can do that will make the driving
  experience more enjoyable for you. It could also
  save your life and perhaps someone elses.
• Wouldnt you like to think that you helped save a
  lifeeverysingleday.?

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• Helpful Tips
• Make your car comfortable.
• Like music? Buy an inexpensive cd player that
  plugs into the tape deck or listen to the radio
• Like books? Audio books
• Fresh air? Windows down or AC..you choose..
• Seat pad? A comfortable cushion can go a long
  way (just dont get too comfy and fall asleep!)

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• Helpful Tips for Yourself
• Make yourself comfortable.
• Feeling stressed?
• Do some neck stretches and shoulder rolls.
• Dont grip the steering wheel. Soften your gaze
  into the distance instead of focusing at a point
  up close. Relax arms.

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• Breathing
• Breathe deeply and not shallowly in todays
  busy world, most people find that they tend to
  hold in their stomach and as a result they
  breathe more shallowly by pulling air into the
  chest and then exhaling.
• Try it for yourself just breathe normally and
  observe where you feel the most movement..is it
  in the chest or in the belly?
• If you feel most movement in the chest then you
  are chest breathing and actually making
  yourself feel more stressed and angry.

Want to know more about conscious breathing?
Check out the below recommended Reading Farhi,
D. (1996). The Breathing Book. New York, Henry
Holt and Company, LLC.
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How To Breathe Deeply Belly Breathing

• Relax the Belly.
• Inhale slowly and feel the belly expand with the
  inhalebring the air up and feel the ribs
  expandinhale a little further up into the
  chest.and then exhale slowly and smoothly.
• Do the above technique for a minute or two. When
  we are angry, our blood pressure rises and
  contributes to feelings of panic or stress.
  Because we feel this way, as a fight or flight
  mechanism, our breath becomes more rapid and
  shallow. Deep breathing can reduce blood
  pressure within a matter of minutes.

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• What Else Can I Do?
• Good Question
• Now that you are feeling less stressed, more
  relaxed and actually enjoying the ridelets talk
  about something else.
• The Principles Mind, Thought, and
  Consciousness
• Mind -the formless energy that pervades all life
• Thought - We, as humans use the power of Mind to
  create Thought
• Consciousness how we experience something (I am
  angry because)

Want to know more about the Three Principles?
Check out the below recommended Readings Banks,
S. (1998). The Missing Link. Canada,
International Human Relations Consultants,
Inc. Pransky, J. (2003). Prevention from the
Inside-Out. Cabot, Vermont 1st Books.
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Thought A thought is a random, neutral event it
is just a thought, nothing more..nothing
less. But, because we are humanswhen a thought
is formed, we then use our Consciousness
(although at times we do this unconsciously!) to
experience Thought as a reality. By understanding
and reflecting on the three principles, one
begins to realize that in life (or in this case
driving), something happens (a trigger), we have
a thought about that trigger (example that
woman cut me off), and then we experience that
thought and add a dimension of good/bad to that
thought and then experience it as reality
(example she cut me off because of this reason
or that, how dare her, she cant do that to me,
Ill show her.).

And this means???..
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This Means that. Once an understanding of the
principles takes place, a person can stop at the
Thought portion of the process and realize that
they are just having a thought and by not adding
a dimension of good or bad to it, they can let it
go. Once we realize thiswe gain our power back
and dont have to react. We are in control of
ourselves. So..when you are faced with road
rage..think to yourself Should I let that
offending and annoying driver control me or
should I realize that Im just having a thought
and let it goand be the one in control? And you
know what else?
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COMPASSION It doesnt hurt to also think to
yourself that That offending/annoying driver
is acting in the only way that they can, given
their understanding and knowledge. I should feel
sorry for them and just be on my way Why get
angry because someone is acting out of ignorance?
Dont be ignorant back just to prove a pointbe
thankful that you understand the
principles. Perhaps you can help someone else to
understand..
So
that
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Instead of.. We can all be
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The End or perhaps for you..its the beginning
of a new understanding
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A very special Thanks to Karen E.
Hamilton Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences
George Brown College, Toronto, Canada Owner and
Creator of the Road Rage Quotient http//webhome.i
direct.com/kehamilt/rage.htm For More of Karens
Work See http//www.youtube.com/kehamilt http//c
a.geocities.com/kehamilt_at_rogers.com/
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References and Recommended Readings Banks, S.
(1998). The Missing Link. Canada, International
Human Relations Consultants, Inc. Connell, D.
Joint, M. (1996). Driver Aggression A report by
the Road Safety Unit for the AAA
Foundation for Traffic Safety On-line.
Available http//www.aaafoundation.org/res
ources/index.cfm?buttonagdrtext Farhi, D.
(1996). The Breathing Book. New York, Henry Holt
and Company, LLC. Pransky, J. (2003). Prevention
from the Inside-Out. Cabot, Vermont 1st Books.
Merriam-Webster On-line. Available
http//www.m-w.com/dictionary/road20rage
Mizzell, L. (1996). Aggressive Driving A report
by Louis Mizell, Inc. for the AAA Foundation for
Traffic
Safety On-line. Available
http//www.aaafoundation.org/resources/index.cfm?b
uttonagdrtext The Road Rage Quotient On-line.
Available http//webhome.idirect.com/kehamilt/
rage.htm http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_rage_(p
henomenon)