-Health and Transportation: the Dangers and Prevalence of Road Rage within the Transport System
The resulting traffic congestion inevitably occurs as the available capacity of the existing infrastructure can no longer serve the desired demand on a portion of roadway at a particular time. These traffic problems are no longer minor occasional inconveniences, but rather inevitabilities producing anger responses in commuters. Anger levels have been associated with factors such as the daily commute length and the type of commute:
A Canadian study highlighted the root cause of road rage, with the greatest source of aggression being associated with traffic and congestion:
Recent studies have shown that nearly all drivers independent of age and gender where prone to at least moderate levels of anger whilst commuting. This in turn has been attributed to the advent of the highway system in combination with the construction and development of thousands of roads over a relatively short period of time, which has facilitated a phenomenon know as Urban Sprawl (urban populations moving further away from cities into rapidly expanding suburban areas).
In general, nearly all drivers may experience anger while driving, with most having the potential to experience this anger at moderate to high levels. Road rage is a phenomenon that is seen on all of our South African roads and requires a concerted effort from all commuters to help reduce such incidents.
An Injury Prevention Project brought to you by @safeinthecityct