‘Anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one’ — Benjamin Franklin
Bevan Insurance wants you and all others on Canadian roads to be safe and arrive at your destination unharmed. One of the best ways in which you can remain secure is to avoid involving yourself in aggressive driving behaviour or road rage.
Lorraine Sommerfeld, in an article written earlier this year for Driving.ca, points out that experts say we’ve become more hateful because of road conditions and the sheer volume of cars on the roads these days. She has likened the anonymity of internet posts to that within a car: ‘like a computer, a car supplies a barrier, a shield from decent behaviour and repercussions’. There is a feeling for many that there will not be any consequences for negative actions on the road. Ultimately, Sommerfeld’s message is that you win by not engaging.
The Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) differentiates between aggressive driving and road rage in this way: the former involves intentional disregard for safety with no intent to harm others while the latter involves intended physical harm by the offending driver. Either way, it is an offence under the Criminal Code of Canada to operate a vehicle in a manner that is dangerous for the public and can come with a sentence of imprisonment of up to 5 years, more if it involves bodily harm or death. Provinces can also separately issue demerit points and fines for offenders.
TIRF also outlines that there are a number of factors which can contribute to road rage, including: situational or environmental conditions, personality and dispositional factors as well as demographic variables such as age and gender. It is best to know yourself and your moods in order to avoid falling into the trap of taking issues out on other drivers.
Pamela L Ramage-Morin in her Statistics Canada report in 2008, concluded that deaths resulting from motor vehicle accidents have been on the decline since 1979, though it remains the leading cause of death among young people in Canada. Ramage-Morin added that road rage, a phrase first coined in 1988, reflects an extreme form of human error which can lead to collisions and varying negative outcomes as a result.
The good news is that we can all prevent accident and injury caused by aggressive driving and road rage. Michelle Elliot of the CBC listed a number of tips to avoid road rage as sourced from Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, which included: keeping your distance from erratic drivers; avoiding eye contact with aggressive drivers and avoiding reacting to provocation, among others.
Making the conscious effort to avoid conflict on the road is a responsibility we must all take seriously.
This article includes information which is copied from official works and was not produced in affiliation with, or with the endorsement of any source utilized.
Read more from Lorraine Sommerfeld’s article at www.driving.ca/auto-news/news/why-is-road-rage-anger-getting-worse-experts-say or follow Driving.ca on Twitter @drivingdotca.
The Traffic Injury Research Foundation has tackled the issue of aggressive driving at www.yndrc.tirf.ca/issues/aggressive_driving.php. Follow them on Twitter @TIRFCANADA.
The detailed article prepared by Pamela L Ramage-Morin for Statistics Canada can be found in full at www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-003-x/2008003/article/10648-eng.pdf or follow Statistics Canada on Twitter @StatCan_eng.
To read the full list of ‘Tips for Avoiding Road Rage’ follow the link here www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/tips-for-avoiding-road-rage-this-summer-1.2649790 or follow the CBC on Twitter @CBC.
