Five Strategies You Can Use To Decrease Your Own Road Rage

[alexander lake]

Road Rage has become one of the most serious issues in Western
Society. The number of murders and manslaughter cases going before the
court due to road rage is simply quite appalling. Just recently I
watched a segment on A Current Affair where a person was bashed with
in an inch of their life simply because they cut another person off.
What, has the world gone totally nuts!
There is no reason on the planet why any person should be behaving
like apes from the caveman period on the road. Nobody is that
important that they have the right to take another man or woman's life
just because they cut you off. Sometimes someone cutting you off will
happen by accident and some of our vehicle designs are much the reason
for these incidents. As an owner of a Toyota Lite Ace Van, the simple
design of this vehicle has led me to find many dangerous blind spots
where I can effectively see out but many vehicles owners do not know
blind spots even exist, so we all need to give a bit of leeway when it
comes to driving cause simply due to a vehicle design can led to an
accidental cut off.
Look us all make mistakes when we drive, nobody is perfect but is it
really the incident of being cut off that leads to road rage or are
there other underlying issues. In reality, most road rage incidents
that occur are simply an outlet for other things that are going on in
their life. With this being the case, whilst you are driving, you are
the only one who can control YOU so it is important that you control
your own road rage and to help you to do that I want to outline five
strategies you can use to help you with your own road rage.
Strategy 1 - Leave Yourself Enough Travel Time
One of the biggest mistakes people make during the day is not leaving
themselves enough time to travel from one appointment to another. The
stress alone of running behind schedule is enough to make a persons
blood boil and personally if you are running late then you should not
be behind the wheel of the car. You are a danger behind the wheel to
yourself and everyone else. One of the observations I have made is
that anyone who is late, always wants to do 10 kilometers over the
speed limit and will get really aggressive and abusive to those who
want to do the speed limit.
In fact one day I was driving along, this bloke got incredibly
aggressive and abusive behind me simply because he could not force me
to speed. The speed limit on the road was 100 km per hour and we were
in an outback area where there were no fences and cattle roaming
freely. I was fortunate I was in a Toyota Landcruiser which gave me a
bit of size and protection. The individual in question eventually
drove his truck up next to my vehicle and tried to drive me into the
creek. Fortunately being in a four wheel drive gave me the ability to
go off the road and cope with this individual. In the end, the
individual was stopped by the police and charged with dangerous
driving as the police officer had seen the incident and clocked me
doing the legal limit. I was very lucky in the end because I could
have been killed that day. In turns out the whole reason the
individual was getting so aggressive was that he was late to get home
to his wife. Instead of taking his time the police caught up with him
and he was not home for quite some time.
The moral of the story is to plan your day and plan to stay alive. If
you have a full calendar of appointments to go to during a day make
sure you work out how long it takes to get from one appointment to
another. If you find you can not get to your next appointment on time,
then simply ring the client and tell them you are on your way,
apologise and drive sensibly, cause remember life is not a dress
rehearsal.
Strategy 2 - Chew Gum
Whenever I used to go away with my parents when I was younger my
parents would always chew gum. Could never understand why but they
did. Well, a few months ago I was reading some new research on the
value of gum and it actually found that a combination of chewing gum
and listening to music, helped in releasing alpha waves in your brain.
It is the alpha waves that are responsible for the feeling of calmness
you feel, like when you whistle a happy tune.
Recently I was listening to a researcher who helps students study for
their High School exams and he found that students increased their
ability to learn by as much as 30% by chewing gum in combination with
their studies and listening to music. We will cover more on the music
issue in a moment.
Strategy 3 - Meditate Prior To Traveling
Okay, I can hear it now, "Oh Yeah Hippy, Want Us to Meditate do ya?"
Absolutely! Look whilst meditation has certainly been a thing of
fringe groups in western society or associated with eastern religions
many researchers are now coming to the distinct conclusion that
meditation can make a huge difference to our day-to-day lives and help
us to overcome stress, especially while traveling. Look, why not try
out meditation for just 20 minutes a day. It is a fantastic tool and
when you become proficient in the art you will find that moving to a
start of calm is really easy.
There are many different techniques to help you meditate and I
certainly recommend meditating using Baroque music as we have found
that it helps the person meditating get to that point of peace a lot
quicker than other types of meditation music.
Let us face it... if you are calm prior to getting into the car, then
you have a much better chance of staying calm but if you are out of
sorts prior to getting into the car, then with the stress of driving
all you are going to do is run the risk of doing something silly.
Strategy 4 - Play Baroque Meditation Music during Your Trip
Playing music in the car can really help you to maintain your calmness
and is a great stress reliever whilst driving but be careful of what
sort of music you do listen to. You can find that certain music can in
fact heighten your anxieties or stress whilst traveling. Researchers
have found that Baroque Meditation music at 60 beats per minute will
in fact help release alpha waves in your brain and lead you to a sense
of calm. Combine this strategy with that of chewing gum and you will
have a much greater chance of beating road rage than without.
Strategy 5 - Have A Photo Of Your Family Visible
When fighter pilots go into battle, one of the objects they carry with
them and put on the cockpit of their aircraft is a picture of their
family. The reason they do that is to remember in the heat of a dog
fight exactly what they are fighting for. Sometimes when they go into
a really steep dive, they may loose consciousness for a few moments
due to the G-forces and as they come to the photo of their loved ones
jolts them back into place. Well just like the fighter pilots, I
encourage all drivers to have a photo of their loved ones on the
dashboard of your car.
The next time someone cuts you off and you want to run up the back of
the car in front or to give them what for, simply look at the photo of
your family briefly and remember what you will loose if you do
something silly. Remember, if you kill someone whilst driving, you are
going to go to jail. What would you do if your family lost you? Your
family should be the most important thing in your life, why put them
at risk.
Road Rage is a major problem on the roads today and whilst there is
nothing you can do about all the other people on the road you can do
something about yourself and that is where we need to start. The next
time someone cuts in front of you or someone steals your car space, do
not abuse them or confront them, simply feel sorry for them and move
on.
To finish off I want to reiterate the five strategies that you can do
to help reduce your own road rage:
Strategy 1 - Leave Yourself Enough Travel TimeStrategy 2 - Chew
GumStrategy 3 - Meditate Prior To TravelingStrategy 4 - Play Baroque
Meditation Music During Your TripStrategy 5 - Have A Photo Of Your
Family Visible