Preventing Road Rage

The traffic woes of Bangalore are notorious the world over.  When two Bangaloreans meet at a social function, the first topic that will be discussed is about the traffic jam they faced and how difficult it was to get to the venue. In many areas of Bangalore, we measure speed in Hours per Kilometer instead of Kmph. Government statistics indicate there are 4 million vehicles on the streets of Bangalore, translating to a whopping 5400 vehicles per square kilometer. The poor state of roads slows down traffic further. A natural consequence of this congestion is road rage, the aggressive or angry behavior of drivers. Thankfully, road rage in Bangalore is largely confined to loud honking, angry words and hand gestures. It has not yet degraded to shooting, stabbing and assault incidents in Delhi or freeway shootings in California. NDTV has an entire page dedicated to the coverage of road rage incidents in Delhi.

Many a time, people who would normally be less aggressive seem to lose their cool when they encounter rash driving and aggressive behavior from fellow drivers. The above goes for me too. My trigger points include - two wheeler riders trying to sneak in between vehicles and hitting the rear view mirror, vehicles getting into the other lane and blocking oncoming traffic, incessant honking when the traffic light is red etc. There are occasions when I have yelled, of course in decent language and with windows rolled up, at the offending drivers. A similar incident last week with a cab driver prompted me to think thoroughly about the meaninglessness of indulging in such outbursts.

How does one counter aggressive behavior from other drivers? Returning the aggression just worsens the situation, increasing your own blood pressure and spreading negativity all around. Bangalore Traffic Police has placed hoardings of Bangalore’s favorite icon, Rahul Dravid, to spread the message of traffic safety awareness at busy junctions. The choice of personality could not be more appropriate. In addition to being the one of greatest batsmen and slip fielders, Dravid is widely respected for being one of the best gentlemen who has played the game with great dignity. Have you observed how Dravid reacts to aggression and sledging by the bowling side? Time and again, he just turns away his glance when the bowler stares at him and hurls abuses. The abuses seem to just go over his head and in response he lets his bat do the talking. Over the years, bowlers have come to realize the futility of sledging against Dravid and largely left him alone.

We all could learn a lesson from Dravid and just ignore the aggressive behavior of errant drivers and focus on getting from Point A to B. Listening to our favorite music on the car stereo will aid us in ignoring the madness outside. Starting early for that important appointment is eminently better than resorting to aggression on the roads. A collection of simple and practical tips of preventing road rage can be found here.

In “The Greatness Guide”, author and success coach Robin Sharma gives an excellent recipe to handle inappropriate behavior from others. The solution is to “see through the eyes of understanding”. As he rightly points out, no one wakes up in the morning and schemes about how they can “mess up someone else’s day”. An abusive driver may have had a bad day at work or home or he could be a cab driver who has been given an unrealistic schedule of trips. Most of the mistakes people make are the result of lack of awareness, they just don’t know better. If we believe we are more educated and cultured, it is our task to avoid taking it personally and forgive them for they know not what they do.