Continental Tyres has released a report following a survey on road rage in Ireland. Continental interviewed 300 drivers and the results make some scary reading.
Figures show that 40 per cent of drivers get angry or resort to shouting behind the wheel every week; whilst 11 per cent admit to doing this daily. Even more worryingly, 13 per cent of drivers have actually gotten out of their cars to confront another motorist.
"The road rage figures revealed in our survey are shocking," comments Paddy Murphy of Continental Tyres Ireland. "If motorists feel angry or intimidated they will lack concentration, increasing the danger for other road users."
For those on the receiving end of road rage, of which one in three drivers expect to be, 40 per cent also feel angry and 18.9 per cent feel like retaliating. However, more than one-in-five people feel shaken and uneasy.
So you may ask, what's the cause if all this road rage? Well statistics show that in terms of road users, Irish motorists get mostly riled by learner drivers - at a whopping 52 per cent - with slow/older drivers coming second and boy racers third. Tactics of displaying anger behind the wheel are most commonly found as a blast on the horn, followed by hand gestures and tailgating.
"When driving, we are prevented from using the normal cues to work out people's intentions, and we are more likely to misunderstand their behaviour in a negative way," says Dr. Mark Sullman, expert in driver behaviour at Cranfield University. "You can choose not to let it rile you and instead deal with the situation in a positive way, and realise that everyone makes mistakes."