CAMHblog

Some years ago I purchased a pleasant house in Mississauga, but soon discovered the misery of commuting during rush hour to my workplace in Toronto. Because I became increasingly “angry at the wheel” I left that house and took on much debt to live close to Toronto and near a subway.

As part of an initial attempt to reduce this type of driver aggression, Christine Wickens and colleagues measured the number and types of driver behaviour complaints posted to a website, Roadragers.com, from 1999-2007. The group found that the most frequently reported improper driver behaviours were cutting in/weaving, followed by speeding, perceived displays of hostility, and tailgating—and yes, reports were most frequent on weekdays and during morning and afternoon rush hours. The study, published recently in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention, was based on more than 5,500 entries.

Can this information help angry drivers (like me) during rush hour?  (BTW: my solution to the problem is the same as Rob Ford’s—“People want subways, folks” --but I suspect that it will be a very long time before a subway is built that leaves Mississauga for Toronto every 10 minutes during rush hour.)

Dr. Wickens suggests that educating the public early in driving training on the most offensive roadway situations might help drivers consciously avoid the most “upsetting of these behaviours.”  She also suggests that the training could teach drivers to recognize their own biases associated with their own “roadway vengeance.” 

Do you feel that such early training could have a real chance of reducing aggressive driving?