Opinion Bullies Behind the Wheel By JOHN GATHRIGHT	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
ハンドルを握るいじめっ子 ハンドルを握るいじめっ子 車を運転していると、 渋滞や割り込みなど ドライバーをいらだたせる要因が多く、 そのいらだちからほかの車に いやがらせや威嚇をしてしまうこともある。 先日、筆者も無意識に そういった行為に出てしまったのだが…。

At any given moment, there's bullying going on in the streets in almost every country. And recently, I came too close to contributing to the problem.

While I was driving in Nagoya, a car suddenly turned left, cutting us off! Not only was I scared, I was angered! Without thinking, I leaned on the horn. From the back seat voices were saying, "John, don't honk like that! That's someone's mother, don't scare her. It's dangerous."

It was somebody's mother, and she probably just didn't see us. Normally mild mannered John wouldn't have reacted so impulsively. So, where did this anger come from?

It didn't take much analyzing to recall where it began, long before encountering the lady turning left. There was a truck that was tailgating, pushing us to push others ahead of us, the red sports car that cut us out of our parking space, the construction delay that was impeding our hopes of meeting a deadline.

What I had exhibited was an early stage of road rage.

Road rage is defined as the anger drivers exhibit when they become upset and use their vehicles as weapons of intimidation. Tailgating, cutting off and nudging or lightly hitting cars from behind are forms of aggressive driving. Sometimes these acts lead to bodily harm inflicted at stoplights or roadsides.

Road rage has become a major problem. It is most alarming to realize that drivers often don't recognize road rage until they are fully engaged. Although the Nagoya Police Department had no statistical reports for incidents of road rage, they estimated that more than 50 percent of traffic accidents are caused by tailgating and bullying drivers.

Tailgating has been recognized statistically as the No. 1 contributing factor to this rage on the road. Some figures in America put the percentage of driving accidents that could be prevented (by eliminating aggressive driving) as high as 80 percent. Road rage kills hundreds of people and injures thousands every year.

Being in a car, there is an anonymity factor at work. Nobody knows who you are, so you can express your rage and then run. This dehumanizing factor seems to affect aggressive people and stimulates the aggressive factor in normally passive people.

How can we reduce this road rage? Do not get involved in the escalation of the aggressiveness. Keep in mind that the mistakes of others are not intentional. You may be bringing too many of your home, office or scheduling problems to the road. Change lanes, fall back and let aggressive drivers pass. Nagoya police advise reporting the licence numbers of very aggressive drivers. If police receive several reports they will issue warnings and could use the reports in court.

Although I've never felt full blown road rage, leaning on the horn is still a problem and can instigate road rage in others. To rectify this I have started a "kindness quota." For every two kilometers, I show kindness by letting some in or letting them pass. For offensive behavior, I remind myself that not honking qualifies as being kind. If we all practiced road manners and the kindness quota, we could be paving our roads with safety while eliminating road rage.

Shukan ST: March 26, 1999

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