How do you REACT to other drivers RAGE?-in traffic jams-?

Question

do you rage back.. or what?

Answer 1

I generally don't react, try and ignore them . If I think that I as wrong then at the next red light, if I can, try and tell them that I'm sorry, with a smile, if they are wrong, I tell em to be careful, again in a very friendly manner, with a smile. It works mostly, but if it doesn't then I just ignore them and try not to react.

If I am upset, this happens sometimes, but very rarely, I may react by being abusive, but later on, on reflection this generally leaves me feeling foolish and sorry for lowering myself, at least I should know better, even if the other person didn't, and this feeling happens, even if the other person was wrong and I reacted badly. I feel like a real sh.it if the mistake was mine and yet I used abusive language or reacted angrily, once I have cooled down. An overactive conscience, I guess.
tsk

Answer 2

I try very hard not to react, specially if I did make a mistake. In that case I will back off and let them have the right of way. Even if I didn't do anything that I recognize a wrong, you don't know what causes someone to have a short fuse, just yelling back only risks it getting out of control and something much worse happening. Much better to just backoff and give them the right of way. If you slow down and they slow down too then turn off and head for the closest police station. If they follow then definatly head for the police station but do not stop as that will just make things ugly.

Answer 3

I try to act not to react. Not always an easy call but it keeps me in a peaceful place when I can pull it off. Anyone can react, but not everyone can choose to act responsibly at a given moment. It would be a great world if we could learn how to do it consistently. What I do know is if we react we have two problems, the first "How to deal with the other person" and then second our reaction of anger that we have to deal with.

Answer 4

Sadly enough I do rage back. I don't start trouble but I look to finish it. I have a hard time ignoring ignorance/selfishness, which in turn, makes me ignorant/immature. It's something I'm working on to the point of talking to myself before I go out on the road, but I'm 35 (yes I'm embarrassed) and while I'm better, I'm still not where I want to be.

Answer 5

I live in a very small town in the middle of nowhere out west, but I used to live in a major midwestern city.

Now you would think that small-town folks would be really laid back and not get too uptight about being "cut off" (and the whole concept of being cut off is a bunch of hooey; just an ego reaction to someone cutting in front of you - sheesh, get a life) and things like that.

Well, my friend, who is in her 60s and drives like the Little Old Lady From Pasadena (she tells me I drive like an old lady) told me that this strange woman followed her all the way to the next town, which is seven miles away, just to jump out of the car and scold her for cutting her off!

I said, "how do you cut someone off on a two-lane road?"

Now THERE is someone who needs to get a life. She drove SEVEN MILES out of her way - actually 14, because she had to drive back! - just to scold someone for a behavior the person didn't even commit, or if she did, it was totally accidental and she didn't remember doing it.

Me, I often find myself driving in larger towns (there's one about 75 miles from here), and when people get all hot and bothered about nothing, I usually just look at them like they're totally in need of psychiatric help (which is what most people around here do), raise my eyebrow (like The Rock, and it looks pretty funny when I do it) and then turn back to my driving and ignore them.

Answer 6

It depends on my mood. Sometimes I have raged back. But once, the guy followed me to my destination. When I got out of the car, he came up and shoved me. So I had to kick his ***. I feel bad that his wife was in his car and had to watch. It's better if you can avoid that.

Answer 7

ignore them unless you want to get in trouble. But don't take out your anger on a third party. Find somewhere to get rid of the anger but don't be a sissy driver either.

Answer 8

I realy try hard to keep rage inside ... this showes me how strong I am !!!

Answer 9

Ignore them...you never know these days if they are carrying a gun. You see it all over the news

Answer 10

usually, I am just alarmed and try to stay out of their way. people have been known to do some crazy things, and I don't want to be the brunt of their anger.