A Driving Anger
“Road rage deserves our attention because, on any given day, incidents of severe road rage occur no matter where we live or where we drive.”
Road rage is a topic that has long interested and intrigued me.
Over the past 5-10 years, I have talked with hundreds of people about road rage.
I have also given talks about this type of Driving Anger at professional meetings.
I have also found that it is a topic that interests and concerns others. As soon as people hear that I study road rage, they want to hear more about what is causing so much anger and rage on the road—and in other contexts. Some people are troubled by their own anger while driving, while others are concerned about the rage they see in others while driving. Just about all have examples of extreme instances of road rage they've witnessed on the road and express concern about a problem they perceive is increasing. All are curious to learn more.
Recent attention to rage in general, and road rage in particular, in the popular press also supports that this is a topic of timely interest and concern. Examples include: "The Real Roots of American Rage" in The Atlantic, Feb 2019; "America the Angry" in Psychology Today, Aug 2020; and "Angry Drivers, Lots of Guns: An Explosion in Road Rage Shootings" in The New York Times, April 12, 2022) have brought the topic of this type of rage to the attention of many readers. Related, the surge in the rage-filled aggressions of airline travelers is raising concerns.
Check out the Blog for road rage in the news.
In this book, I don't try to explain all rage (and, in fact, I note early on that not all anger is bad—rage against injustice can be productive). Instead, I focus on road rage as a particular type of anger and one that can and should be reduced. I call this type of rage A Driving Anger, as it is not only ubiquitous while driving but also consumes and overwhelms us, driving us to act in ways we usually would not.
The lens this book applies to Driving Anger is that of social psychology. As a social psychologist, I always aim to understand how everyday people can find themselves in not-so-everyday situations—and what they do in these circumstances. I hope readers will better understand what causes their own and others' Driving Anger and find some tools for reducing this type of anger in their lives.
I am pleased to be working with Mona Kanin @ Great Dog Literary as I develop this project.
About this project
Let’s keep in touch!
This book is currently in progress, so to stay in the loop on the project, follow me on Twitter and/or Instagram.
Feel free to reach out to me on my contact page.
If you have a road rage story you’d like to share, please feel free to tell me about it.
I have a short, anonymous driving anger survey I made many years ago available here, with more information on my Research & Presentations page.
“Driving anger often comes upon us suddenly and without warning. Once we're in it, the emerging rage can consume our thoughts and drive us to extreme actions.”
— Anne O’Dwyer, A Driving Anger
There is clearly something about road rage—and its associated emotions— that is different from our other experiences with anger.
— Anne O’Dwyer, A Driving Anger