OT: Road rage accelerates in women
LaTreen Washington
After a passenger is critically hurt, experts say stress is fueling
problems.
By Sherri M. Owens | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted January 5, 2005
Central Florida's latest reported road-rage incident involved female
drivers, which doesn't surprise behavioral experts who say women, succumbing
to media influences and the everyday pressures of work and family life, are
being more combative on the roads.
"Men are usually more aggressive, but that doesn't mean they are the only
ones who are aggressive," said Jim Hoffheimer, president of the American
Institute for Public Safety, a marketing company in North Miami that offers
the RoadRageous Aggressive Driver Course as an instructional tool.
The incident Monday night started when one woman flashed an obscene gesture
at another driver at a Florida's Turnpike toll plaza, triggering a 14-mile
game of "cat-and-mouse," according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
The chase ended near Clermont when the driver of a Toyota 4Runner tossed a
disposable cup at Shannon Leslie Cooper, 24, who was driving a Ford
Explorer. Cooper, from West Palm Beach, swerved, crossed the median and
collided with a northbound tractor-trailer.
She and passenger Tina Marie Gattone, 20, of Pennsylvania were thrown from
the Explorer. Cooper was in stable condition Tuesday and Gattone was in
critical condition, both at Orlando Regional Medical Center.
The other driver fled the scene. Authorities continued Tuesday to search for
the 2002 or newer silver 4Runner with a female driver, about age 40.
FHP Sgt. Jorge Delahoz said he is aware of several road-rage incidents that
involve women, though statistics are hard to come by because in Florida
there is no crime that specifically cites "road rage" as an offense.
"If it's a man and a woman, for some reason the situation defuses," Delahoz
said. "But if it's a woman and a woman, it escalates. It gets really bad.
It's the same when the situation is male on male. That's a more common
scenario, obviously -- it turns into a macho thing. But it's not unheard of
with women."
Robert Dipboye, chairman of the psychology department at the University of
Central Florida, said some women may become hostile and combative on the
road because they feel empowered by media portrayals of tough female role
models.
"There are more aggressive role models in movies, in video games and on TV
now than there were in the past, and those kinds of role models have a big
impact on aggression," he said. "It's considered less of a negative to show
aggression if you're a woman."
It's easier to feel powerful and invincible if you're behind the wheel of a
large automobile such as a sport utility vehicle, experts say. Both women in
the incident Monday night were driving SUVs.
Leon James, author of Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering Clear of
Highway Warfare, studies road rage at the University of Hawaii and maintains
a Web site dedicated to the subject at drdriving.org.
"Three years ago I had a survey on the Web and kept track of people's own
reporting of their aggressive driving and the kinds of cars they drove,"
James said. "I found two sets of cars that people are driving -- tough cars
and soft cars. Tough cars are sports cars and SUVs. People driving those
cars admitted to more aggressive attitudes."
The most commonly cited reason for road rage, regardless of gender, is
stress.
"Things have gotten much more pressurized," said Jeff Hoerger, director of
the counseling program for faculty and staff at Rutgers University in New
Jersey. "People are in much more of a hurry to get places and there are many
more cars on the roads now. Life in general is a stressor."
Dipboye suggests that motorists practice relaxation techniques and learn
ways of managing stress to help minimize the likelihood of their involvement
in a road-rage incident.
The easiest and quickest way of avoiding such confrontations is to simply
ignore other drivers' frustrations, Delahoz said.
"Just back off and let the other person pass," he said. "If the person
doesn't let you defuse the situation, just pull over and dial 911. If they
pull over too, drive away."
Sherri M. Owens can be reached at sow...@orlandosentinel.com or
352-742-5915.
Abbie F.
in news:3456plF...@individual.net:
> Road rage accelerates in women
> After a passenger is critically hurt, experts say stress is fueling
> problems.
>
> By Sherri M. Owens | Sentinel Staff Writer
> Posted January 5, 2005
>
<snip> "I found two sets of cars that people are driving
> -- tough cars and soft cars. Tough cars are sports cars and SUVs.
> People driving those cars admitted to more aggressive attitudes."
Dagnabbit! Just because I'll high beam every no-good rotten piece-a crap
idjit who cuts me off does not mean I'm aggressive. :-)
Actually love my car too much to swap paint with soccer moos. Let them
pretend they won a "race"... whatever floats their land yachts. It's
probably the only thrill they get all day.
- Abbie CF +++F TK ++++ TPI +++ A ++++ VF +++
BULLETIN FOR THOSE WHO STILL DON'T KNOW: Stop looking for nefarious
outside forces causing a refusal to breed. There are none.
Reproduction's simply NOT that palatable. End of story!!!