Road Rage and Riots — Brain Food

Have you ever been driving and thought to yourself, "every other driver is an idiot"? The answer to this question can very reasonably explain why car accidents are one of the leading causes of death in our country, killing almost 200,000 people per year. Driving is such an interesting social interaction for many reasons. Most people in the western world drive somewhere at least every day, and in that time we're almost always confronted with other drivers on the road, taking normal social interaction and adding to the mix numerous different elements and forces.

We’re all trying to get somewhere that would usually take far too long for us to walk. On the way to our destination we’re in contact with dozens of other people all trying to do the same thing we are: get somewhere. The only difference is we’re going 30 to 70mph traveling in large metal transportation machines. Along our journey, it’s almost impossible for us to not come across other drivers that do something that would make us angry or frustrated. This can lead to all sorts of accidents, and sometimes even intentional violence.

One of the reasons road rage is so prevalent, on a seemingly daily basis is that we are obstructed from communication with others. We can't communicate in the normally complex way we are used to such as words and body language, and instead have to resort to things like hand gestures and waves. When we don't communicate with one another, we can easily feel frustration towards someone else, and become even more frustrated that we can't voice our grievance to that other person.

So if someone cuts me off when I'm trying to merge into another lane and they don't see me because they're texting and driving, I can shout, "Hey stop texting and driving!" all I want but they'll never hear me. Knowing that my message is not being received, and also that other lives (specifically my own) are potentially in danger because of this action, creates an immediate resentment in me towards that other driver.

Now suddenly the apprehensive person who was double checking their Google Maps because they took a wrong exit becomes the idiot in the BMW texting and driving. I've functionally dehumanized this driver because of a lack of an ability to communicate effectively, and limited their identity to the car they drive and their driving ability. We often forfeit empathy when we're driving, as other drivers become merely obstacles to us.

When we take away what makes a person human, their eyes, laughter, hopes, and dreams, we are much more easily able and almost compelled to treat them as less than human and become aggressive towards them. When we are in a car, we are so focused on controlling our own machine and directly impacting our surroundings, we can't see others as individuals. Our brains can't categorize all of the information involved in trying to understand each person’s motivations and interests, especially with so many cars on the road. We don't see other drivers as humans who have anxiety and insecurities and passion, but literally as nonhuman metal contraptions. They are then coded into our brains not as human, but as inconveniences.

According to Dr. Andrew Silke from the University of Leicester in his article Deindividuation, anonymity, and violence: Findings from Northern Ireland published in The Journal of Social Psychology, when people believe they are anonymous, either because they are in a large group and won't easily be singled out, because there is a physical barrier preventing them from being identified, or both, they are significantly more likely to participate in antisocial behavior, particularly violence and aggression. Silke sites that anonymity is a major contributor to deindividuation, the phenomenon of losing your self-awareness in a large group. In other words, when you are in a large group, you feel like you can get away with more because it's less likely you'll be able to be identified.

A great example of deindividuation is riots. People in a large crowd believe they can much more easily get away with looting and causing property damage because they see all the other people in their midst and understand they can blend in more, making them feel anonymous. When people feel anonymous, they feel like their identity will be protected if they partake in morally questionable actions. Another prevalent example of deindividuation is hate group violence. The same processes go on in their brains. They believe they can get away with morally questionable actions, like committing heinous acts of violence on people they see as lesser, due to the ability for them to blend in, not to mention being surrounded by like-minded people who all reinforce their actions. They know they won’t get caught as easily as if they did it on their own.

When in the car, I know I can likely get away with aggressive driving behavior because 1. There’s two giant metal contraptions in between me and the other driver, 2. I know that if I do something usually morally questionable it will be much harder for the other driver to identify me in the vast sea of cars, functionally permitting my aggressive behavior, and 3. I'm in a vehicle that moves, so I am much more confident in my ability to get away if need be. These are all factors that blitz through my mind on a subconscious level yet fuel my actions very tangibly. Simultaneously they blitz through everyone else's mind on the road, creating a seemingly very hostile environment for transportation. We obviously don't go around crashing into every car that gets in our way because that wouldn't be in our best interest. However based on the fact that we become more aggressive when we deindividualize, this explains why there are so many road rage incidents and accidents on a daily basis.

This combination of deindividuaiton, anonymity, and lack of communication create a perfect storm to orient our minds less towards empathetic thinking and more towards egotistical thinking. We no longer become concerned with other peoples' actions but instead are only focused on our own. That's why every other car on the road immediately becomes inconvenient for us the second we get behind a wheel. We're so intent on maintaining control of our own surroundings and situations that our minds can't focus on everyone else also trying to get to their destinations.

To combat this, one of the best things you can train yourself to do is practice giving the person who just cut you off a reasonable explanation for their behavior from their point of view. Think of a time where you may have been in the wrong while driving to put some culpability on yourself. To everyone else you are just everyone else. Also it’s important to try and accept the fact that no matter how mad you get at that idiot driver, you can never change their behavior from where you are, so engaging in aggressive driving behavior yourself will accomplish nothing except risk your own or another’s safety.