Often it’s frightening. Sometimes it’s deadly.
Road rage – where flaring tempers mix with two-ton machines and, sometimes, weapons – continues to be a problem on America’s highways, leading to accidents, assaults and occasionally even murder.
It’s a perplexing problem in part because it can happen at anytime and anywhere that roads and vehicles are involved, yet specific statistics on its frequency are hard to come by. Millions of employees drive vehicles as part of their job responsibilities, and vehicle crashes are the No. 1 cause of worker fatalities.
There are solutions that can at least reduce the number of road-rage incidents and help keep your employees safer on the roads. People who are easily angered by slower drivers, detours and other traffic disruptions can be taught to be more aware of their responses and modify them to reduce accident risks, according to research published this year by the Society for Risk Analysis.
That let’s-calm-down approach is applauded by Scott Morofsky, author of the books “The Daily Breath: Transform Your Life One Breath at a Time” and “Wellativity: In-Powering Wellness Through Communication.” (www.Wellativity.com)
“Sometimes there’s this tendency to throw on the brakes when someone is tailgating us, or use an obscene gesture at an aggressive driver,” says Morofsky. “But when you encounter an aggressive driver, you don’t want to engage them or do anything to further agitate them.”