NCJ Number
190171
Date Published
2000
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This Great Britain Home Office briefing note presents the main findings of an analysis of 1996 newspaper reports on road rage, supplemented by data from the 1998 British Crime Survey (BCS).
Abstract
"Road rage" is commonly associated with any form of aggressive or antisocial behavior that occurs when at least one party is driving a vehicle. An examination of 60 single incidents of road rage reported by the British press in 1996 found that 20 percent of them culminated in the death of a person, and 48 percent involved some form of injury (often serious). Thirty-five percent resulted in a custodial sentence being imposed on the enraged driver. In 35 percent of the incidents, a weapon of some type was used to injure, damage, or threaten a person. Only 3 percent of the respondents in the 1998 BCS reported being threatened with violence in a road rage incident. Although the BCS provides useful information on the proportion of victims who experience various types of road rage, it does not provide details on what proportion experienced more than one form of behavior within a single incident. This means it is unclear from the data the extent to which more minor incidents of road rage precipitate those that are more serious. Due to the low incidence of violent road rage incidents compared to other violent incidents, police force media liaison officers should ensure that when violent road rage incidents occur, they should be described in the context of the overall levels of all forms of violent crime. Although the scope of this research did not encompass the causes of road rage, it is important that road traffic measures address aspects of the driving environment that may make the driving experience less frustrating. This might include measures to reduce road overcrowding and delay, to minimize disagreements over the rules of the road, and to prevent speeding. The BCS might include additional questions that probe respondents about details of their experience of road rage, either as perpetrator or victim. 5 tables and 24 references