Between Rage and Aggressive Driving

Road Safety

Did you hear the news? I am not talking about the crisis in the Middle East. Neither am I talking about our preparations to do battle with the Libyan National football team. It is not even about the story making the rounds that our lethal striker, Victor Osimhen, will miss the two-legged matches against the Libyans.

I am talking about the new pump price of petrol. Yes, the one announced on October 9, by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited. It says those of us in Abuja will buy fuel for N1,030. My lucky friends, such as Chris Kehinde Nwandu (CKN), in Lagos, may buy at a little lower than a thousand Naira

I do not know how you feel. But I can tell you how I feel as a fresh retiree. I feel troubled. Financially. Mentally. The thought of spending over fifty thousand Naira to fill my car’s tank scares me, but I guess it is worth the price to build a better Nigeria. But, as I rehash the possibilities, all that is flashing on my mind now is my late friend Chaz B, of Hot 98.4Fm, Abuja.

As I reflect on his passing on to glory, God’s Holy word in Ecclesiastes 1:2, that says, “Vanity of vanity, says the preacher; Vanities of vanities, all is vanity”, hits me. I wish my Muslim brother was here to provide what the Holy Koran says about the vanity of life.

My partnership with my late friend exposed me to the Station’s corporate responsibility daily promo on safe driving in the Federal Capital Territory. I can’t remember the right or correct wordings, but it sums up by counselling drivers to be calm in the face of aggressive, irresponsible, or dangerous driving. At a precious time, such as this, we all need to stay calm and trust government policy. This is the only antidote from indulging in aggressive or rage driving.

In the first part of my piece on RAGE Drivers, I told you I love acting. For emphasis, I wish to state that I love the stage. The lights. The camera. And the actions; cut, take five among others. The ambience of the theatre intrigues me. The trouble to get your lines frightens me, though.

Today, as I attempt to draw the curtain on this subject, I wish to dwell a bit on the viral video I told you about that prompted me to do the piece of Rage Driving last week. The video is about a family dispute turned into road rage, leaving five injured, according to the Economic Times, which is used verbatim in this piece..

It is captioned; Harrier vs. Fortuner in Thame: Watch shocking video of family dispute turn into road rage leaving five injured. According to the publication, its synopsis says that a family dispute in Ambarnath took a dangerous turn on Tuesday evening, resulting in a road rage that left five people injured.

The incident occurred on the Ambernath-Badlapur road and involved members of the Sharma family who were reportedly in conflict over a marital issue. The situation escalated, leading to a shocking confrontation on the public roadway.

According to a police source quoted in the publication, the incident began when a Tata Harrier, driven by one of the Sharma brothers, intentionally collided with a Toyota Fortuner, also owned by the family. The father of the driver, who is a retired defence department official, had come from Mumbai with his wife and another son to mediate the ongoing marital discord between the son and wife.

The argument, however, spiralled out of control, resulting in the violent confrontation. In the viral video, the Tata Harrier was seen crashing into the Fortuner multiple times. A bystander was hit and dragged by the Safari before the vehicle reversed and rammed into the Fortuner again.

For those who love action and horror movies, this will scale a screening among the best in cinematography or plot, theme, acting, and direction, among other criteria. But, this was no movie. It was pure madness. Insanity. It was aggressive driving turned Rage.

If you read the piece last week, I told you that one of the reasons cited by aggressive drivers for their insane driving is heavy traffic. This, they noted, is reinforced by existing stressed conditions such as running late to work, already feeling angry before setting out of their homes, among others.

Today, I wish to rely on a report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the United States of America on the subject and title of my piece. The Agency, according to the report, began using aggression in the 1990s to describe recurring dangerous driving behaviour and to differentiate it from road rage.

While aggressive driving is a traffic infraction that includes intentional behaviours that pose risk to other drivers, road rage is a criminal offence. Unlike aggressive driving, road rage includes intentional violent and extreme behaviours that put other drivers and road users at risk.

The incident captured by the Economic Times was not aggressive driving. It fits the criteria highlighted in rage driving. It was not aggravated by traffic incidents. It was a failure of marital squabbles gone bad that was carried onto the road. It was also reinforced by the madness called ‘status’.

So, what are traffic offences? They range from tailgating, running stop lights, speeding in heavy traffic, weaving in and out of traffic, cutting off another driver and then slowing down, changing lanes without signaling as well as blocking other cars from attempting to change lanes or pass.

In contrast, the report states, criminal charges include, rude or obscene gestures, profanity, sideswiping, bumping or ramming into another vehicle, brake checking or flashing headlights to intimidate other drivers, forcing another vehicle off the road, confrontation, physical assault, as well as murder.

According to a survey conducted,  millions of drivers, the American Automobile Association Foundation notes that millions are engaged in aggressive driving while the story is not different in our clime even if the available data is not available.The AAA expressed worry on the trend of   rage driving and the potential of being shot with a gun.

It notes further that the potential for use of weapons in rage driving is worrying as 60 percent claim they drive with a gun, knife, pepper spray for either protection or for use when involved in a rage or aggressive driving situation.

Who do you think is a major culprit in rage driving? In terms of gender classifications, and Road rage by gender, male demonstrate more aggressive behaviors and are likely to exhibit road rage. In Nigeria, male drivers are the speed freaks and the ones who prefer shortcuts and drive against traffic.

Traffic data in developed climes or even back here in our nation shows that men tend to speed, tailgate, merge dangerously, and honk or make rude gestures at other drivers more often than women. The data for women is not as frightening as those for male.

However, with respect to road rage by age, which is a contributing factor in aggressive driving, the report notes that GenZ is more likely to engage in aggressive driving. Even within the GenZ, classifications are less likely depending on the dates when they were born.

For instance, those born between 1997 and 2012 and Millennials born between 1981 and 1996 are more likely to engage in aggressive driving than GenZ born between 1965 and 1980 and Boomers born between 1946 and 1964. I bless God that I fall in the category that is less likely to be aggressive, and I look forward to a study similar to this to verify the survey’s findings.