Road rage
A journalist asks about causes and remedies of road rage. I respond:
The cause of road rage is likely no different from that which causes rage in general–alcohol or other drug addiction.
The closest proof of this is a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study in which driving behaviors were linked to likelihood of DUI. There were, apparently, not enough road rage incidents to glean reliable statistics for that particular misbehavior, but there were enough incidents in which obscene gestures were made (often a precursor to rage). The study found the likelihood of DUI in someone making such a gesture was 60%. I anecdotally suggest that most of the other 40% were addicts between drinking/using episodes.
Another study from which we might logically extrapolate was on air rage, which is much easier to study than road rage because those flying and raging are either detained or arrested. Reading between the lines (I can provide my methodology), it is likely that at least 80% of such incidents were fueled by alcohol or other drugs. And if such drugs cause rage, there is alcoholism (the old adage is, if there’s alcohol and there’s a problem, the problem is alcohol).
The cure is the same as that for any addict: uncompromising tough love and legal consequences. A DUI is always a good thing for an addict. Many recovering addicts admit that it was the DUI (or the 2nd one, or the 3rd) that inspired in them a need to try sobriety.