ROAD RAGE AND ANGER

Road rage gets a lot of attention in the media - perhaps more than it deserves. Road rage is not the same as driving aggressively, or speeding, or taking unnecessary risks. Road rage is the unhelpful behaviour that occurs with a strong feeling of anger when someone else in the road system does something that you don't want them to do. Road rage is an angry reaction to things like being cut off, having someone overtake you, having someone sound their horn at you, and so on.  It is an angry reaction that makes you do things that increase the risk of injury to yourself or others to get back at the other person, or that risk causing harm directly to the other driver.

Don't let anyone ever tell you that anger is OK and you just need to express it.  Anger is a destructive emotion that gets in the way of you enjoying your driving or any of the other things you like to be doing. Extreme anger, like in road rage, can only lead to unpleasant outcomes.  At a mild level you'll make others think worse of you.  At an extreme level this type of anger can result in people getting hurt and you suffering costly legal consequences.

You can deal with your anger and learn to control the way you respond to other people.  You can control your anger. It's not easy and you will probably find some professional help is very useful. The key is working out how you contribute to your own angry reactions, and then find a way to modify your contribution. 

Keep in mind that not everyone suffers from road rage - many people have the same things happen to them but don't end up with anger problems.  This means that you must be part of the problem... this is a good thing because it means that you can be a huge part of the solution.

Reducing your road rage involves learning a new skill - an emotion-control skill that will help you deal with many unhelpful emotions.  This skill can be taught to you, and a professional Psychologist can help you develop and practice this new skill, and can support you while you work at reducing the extreme anger that underlies road rage