Road Rage by the Numbers

It's something we're all guilty of from time to time, letting our emotions get the best of us behind the wheel, doing something we'd be ashamed to say/do to another person if there wasn't a couple thousand pounds of steel separating us.  Just do a Google search for "road rage", and you'll find incident after incident after incident of road rage just in the past week alone.

What's surprising is, I figured it was mostly the guys going all "road rage".  I thought this because my wife constantly tells me how I shouldn't let it bother me, I shouldn't tailgate, I shouldn't speed around a car driving too slow in the left lane.  Basically, I'm made to feel like I'm some sort of caveman that can't control my primal instincts to be the dominant male.  Well, ma'am, it turns out it's not just guys swinging the club & dragging our cavemamasita back to the cave by the hair.

Ladies, you've been hiding a little secret.  Turns out, we're not such cave dwellers, after all.  It's you ladies with the potty mouth.  It's you ladies that lead the way in vengeful driving.  Not that we're completely innocent, but after all the wise cracks over the years about men not stopping for directions, a few punchlines need to be delivered to the other gender.  The stats aren't overwhelming, but for the number of times I've endured a road trip with the judge, jury & executioner in the passenger seat, I feel the playing field needs to be leveled.

About the only thing my wife will 'fess up to is letting the occasional curse word slip.  I don't judge, but I don't do it (accidentally, as she points out) in the car out of fear of an accident or just a stupid driver.  I do it at home when the kids are making me angry like any other normal, respectable dad.  I prefer cursing at home because I can focus on the important words to use and I'm not distracted by the road.  Don't curse & drive.  Maybe it's all the years in radio, knowing one slip of the tongue could very well end my career, that's kept me from letting the accidental curse spew forth.  Even in the most trying circumstances I can keep my language in check.  It's my only talent in life.

You ladies also flip other drivers off more often, you brake-check tailgaters more and you tailgate more when the car in front of you is driving too slow more often.  This isn't a huge laundry list of flaws compared to the rest of the stats that say guys are more aggressive on the roads, but it's enough for you to at least have to acknowledge the issue.

Personally, I'm Dr. Jekkyl & Mr. Hyde on the roads.  If I'm within city limits on a city street I won't use my horn or flip off another driver, but on the highways... watch out!!  I'm just scared of flipping off someone that turns out to be my pastor, or my boss, or my boss' pastor, for that matter.  I figure if you're driving on a city street a few blocks from my house there's a pretty good chance we'll cross paths again, and I'd hate for the person I just verbally assaulted in my car to be my kid's school teacher.

What about your house?  Who's the angrier driver?