When aggression turns into rage on the road
KEVIN MCCLINTOCK GateHouse Plus

It's a rainy night and you're in a hurry. You accelerate off the exit ramp, aggressively trying to merge into rush hour traffic. Horns blare at you. You don't even have time to signal. You see a small opening and you push your way in, squeezing between the bumpers. A car behind you brightflashes you. You ignore it. It happens again. You make an obscene gesture.

The car whips around you; up beside you. A blurred pink splash of a face is screaming through the rain-slicked glass at you. The car cuts you off at it swerves back into your lane. In front of you now, the car brakes. Brakes again. Swerves where you swerve.

Speeds up to avoid you switching places with him. Is that a gun he's brandishing now? You swerve onto an unknown exit ramp. The car in front of you brakes, swerves and is now behind you again, riding your tail with his grille.

The chase is on.

Every year, more than 1,500 people are injured or killed on America's highways as a result of aggressive driving, more commonly known as road rage. They are mostly men. They are mostly between the ages of 18 and 26. And most are ordinary citizens with no history of crime, violence or illegal drug use.

The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) has some advice for drivers hoping to avoid causing a fellow driver to erupt into road rage.

"If you feel threatened by another driver, defuse the situation by not reacting. Avoid behaviors that could be interpreted as confrontational, such as sudden accelerations, braking or swerving, which could cause you to lose control of your car.

Staying safe on the road is a two-part process. First,refrain from behavior that could 'set off' other motorists." This includes blocking the passing lane, tailgating, cutting off another driver or failing to signal when changing lanes, overusing the horn, making obscene gestures, failing to dim high beams for oncoming traffic and taking up multiple parking spaces or damaging another vehicle while parking.

Road rage facts

• There are 17 percent more cars in America today than there were 10 years ago, while the number of drivers have increased by 10 percent.

• Incidents of road rage are up 51 percent since the first half of the decade.