Kate Emery: Road rage is a major issue we’re not taking seriously enough

Road rage is getting worse and we need to take it more seriously.

Sorry to jump straight in there, like you need one more thing to worry about at 3am, along with supermarket prices, the prospect Donald Trump may soon once more have access to nuclear launch codes and whether all your pants really did shrink in the wash.

But the death of a man in Sydney after an alleged road rage incident this week is an unwelcome reminder that many of us are behind the wheel of a 1.5 tonne deadly weapon every day. And some of us are very angry indeed.

While most road rage incidents involve nothing more than a middle finger, muttered expletives and more horns than an African safari, some are deadly.

Aggressive driving, like tailgating and speeding, has been shown to increase the odds of a crash more than using a phone.

Trying to find out if road rage is getting worse is a nightmare for a journalist who prefers hard data over anecdotal evidence.

Give me stats and an Excel spreadsheet over a baseless claim from someone’s Uncle Ted that “people are less respectful these days”, especially if Uncle Ted’s other claims include having hiked to school as a child through a foot of snow. In Perth.

Police stats don’t help because road rage itself isn’t a specific offence; someone involved in an incident is liable to be charged with assault or dangerous driving.

Still, if you think people are more aggro on the road than you, like old mate Ted, you are probably right.

An RAC survey found the number of members who had witnessed road rage rose from 69 per cent in 2021 to 80 per cent in 2022, while insurer Budget Direct found the number of road users who said they’d been verbally abused jumped 18 per cent between 2020 and 2023.

Taken alone I’m sceptical of surveys, with their questionable methodology and microscopic sample size.

Taken together — and there are more than those I’ve quoted — they paint a picture. In this case, that picture looks a lot like Edvard Munch’s most famous work, The Scream.

The Australian College of Road Safety’s submission to a Victorian Parliamentary inquiry last year flagged a spike in road rage incidents and aggressive driving, which it suggested could be a post-COVID hangover.

That is, we all got so used to the quieter roads that we now resent the traffic more.

In the US, where the country’s National Highway Traffic Safety Association collects data on this, the number of road rage-related fatal crashes jumped from 80 to 467 in a decade.

The US isn’t Australia — and we’re surely all grateful for that — but where America leads, Australia too often follows.

On one level, road rage is inexplicable; does being 30 seconds later to a job you may dislike justify screaming at someone who can’t merge? On another, it’s entirely explicable; if you’re already stressed about work or home it’s easier to shout at the driver doing 70 in the right lane of the freeway than at your boss or partner.

Part of the psychology behind road rage is that the car offers protective anonymity, emboldening someone to act in a way they wouldn’t without it.

It’s no different to the way the biggest cowards you know feel safe to bully, harass and intimidate strangers on social media.

Say what you will about social media but a mean tweet is no 1.5t vehicle.

I write from experience; there’s a reason my five-year-old shouts “come on mate!” from the backseat and it’s not because she’s been watching Netflix’s Beef.

The solution to road rage is, unfortunately, more boring than that Netflix series, which explores the consequences of road rage.

We all need to chill out, be kinder to each other and be in less of a rush, thus avoiding the temptation to add to the anger stew out there on our roads.

Take deep breaths, listen to calm music and plan enough time for trips.

I told you it was boring.

That’s the advice from the experts, although I did also enjoy the stranger on a Reddit thread who likes to imagine fast or inconsiderate drivers are just desperate for the loo.

We could also admit we’re not as good at driving as we think. You’ll have heard the statistic that 80 per cent of drivers think they’re better-than-average. Whether you’re the reincarnation of Stephen Hawking or studying primary school maths, you can see the issue.

We have to get better at this because, as Perth’s population swells, there will soon be more cars on the road and, unless Elon puts down his brain implant project long enough to focus on Tesla’s driverless cars, they won’t come fast enough to save us.