Running head: DRIVING AGGRESSION

Dealing with Driving Aggression: A Way to Reduce Incidents of Driving Aggression

Michael Karasch
Loras College

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Abstract

The research that I plan to conduct will address the issue of aggressive driving and to investigate
one of the possible ways to reduce it. A way that I will choose will be anger management
therapy. I expect that the anger management therapy will cause a reduction in the number of
reported anger incidents and aggressive driving. The reduction will be caused by the anger
management therapy and not by an unknown variable.

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Driving Aggression

Driving aggression is an issue that, According to statements given at the U.S. congress
at a hearing of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure in 1997, aggressive driving
was estimated to be involved in 50% of all motor vehicle collisions, one third of all personal
injuries, and two thirds of all fatalities resulting from motor vehicle crashes. (Wickens, et. al.,
2011). Road Rage (Dukes, et. al., 2001) is another name for driving aggression. Everyone who
has driven a car has seen, participated in or been a victim of road rage. There are times when you
want to lay on your horn, curse and/or scream at the ineptitude of other drivers. The research that
I plan to do will give people better tools to deal with aggression and may even prevent many
future traffic incidents. The main question that I wish to ask is: What is the most effective way of
dealing with road rage? There are many forms and causes of road rage however, which presents
a significant problem. Key to solving that problem is knowing the potential causes and forms.
There are many reasons for feeling angry while driving. The actions of other drivers can
sometimes play a big role in the development and expression of aggression. Examples include;
tailgating, cutting off other vehicles and speeding (Wickens, et. al., 2011). The list does not stop
there, however, for a full list consult Deffenbacher and Oettings article Development of a
Driving Anger Scale (Deffenbacher & Oetting, 1994). Some examples of include: hostile
gestures, discourtesy and slow driving (Deffenbacher & Oetting, 1994). Chances are in the past
year you have been the victim or the perpetrator of one or more of these actions. The issue of
Road rage is an issue effects every driver on the road and off the road whether they are aware
of it or not. In a study by Brian Parkinson, Frequency estimates supported the popular notion
that anger is relatively more likely while driving than during other activities. (Parkinson, 2001)

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The number of vehicles on the road continues to rise and so logically it follows that the number
of accidents will rise. It is an inescapable fact that we rely on cars for transportation. The
There are other potential reasons for driver aggression. The theory of attribution is one of
these potential reasons. The level of control someone feels that they have in certain situations can
affect the level of aggression that they are going to exhibit. It can sometimes be referred to as the
attributional model of social conduct to roadway environments (Wickens, et. al., 2011). In that
study the researcher explored the level of blame one placed on other drivers or on themselves.
The more blame that was placed on other drivers the more aggression was shown toward other
motorists. Reversely if a driver believed themselves to be at fault they are less likely to become
aggressive. Aggressive driving can be defined as any form of driver behavior conducted with an
intention to harm (physically or physiologically) or cause damage to other road users.
(Jovanovi, Stanojevi, & Stanojevi, 2011). Researchers found that among UK drivers ager
was evoked by any of three events: impeded progress, reckless driving and direct hostility. These
are all events that one might expect to cause annoyance to other drivers on the road. In the
modern age when we expect fast speed internet we also expect fast speed progress on the road.
The digital age has made people impatient and that results in people becoming annoyed by the
reduced speed of other drivers. Reckless driving and direct hostility are expected to cause anger
in other drivers. The hypothesis for my research is that those who attend anger management
sessions will see a reduction in the number of reports of anger.
Method
Participants
The study will include 40 participants. These participants will be recruited from a college
setting. Students that have a history of anger management issues will be selected to participate.

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These students will represent a wide range of backgrounds and ethnicities. They will be selected
for each class (year in school; freshman, sophomore, junior and senior). Their ages will range
from 18 to 25. There will be an equal number of men and women in this study. The sample will
represent a generalization of the population at large, the population being college students with
anger management problems.
Materials
The materials for this study will include the following; a demographic sheet, an
informed consent form and a survey to determine if the participant has anger management
issues.
Procedure
The procedure for this experiment will be relatively simple. First the participants will be
recruited from the college population at large. They will first be given the survey. Once the
participants have been selected they will be given the demographic sheet and the informed
consent form. The participants will record in a journal for a week times that they felt angry while
driving. The participants would then submit the journals to the researchers after the week is over.
The week starts on Sunday and ends the following Sunday. They will then attend an anger
management group therapy session. After the therapy session they will record for another week
all the incidence of anger while driving that they felt. The researchers would evaluate the
journals on the number of times the participants reported feeling anger. Anger is defined as any
event that includes the participant causing harm to another person or another persons vehicle or
contemplating causing harm to another person or that persons vehicle. The variable that will be
studied is the number of times anger was reported.

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Results

The results that I expect to find are that the number of incidents of anger will decrease
after the anger management therapy sessions. I will run a Chonbachs alpha to determine the
validity of the survey. The data will be analyzed by using descriptive statistics only as there was
no manipulation of variables and only the observation of participants behaviors. The statistical
analysis of my data would be that there will be a statistical significance between the means of the
diaries before and the diaries after. Specifically the means of the diary entries after the anger
management session would be higher than those before. The level of statistical that I would
allow would be p < .05. This means that I would not accept a p-value of .059. After running the
descriptive statistics I will run a Pearsons r.
Discussion
I expect that the number of reports of anger will be decreased after the participants have
participated in anger management therapy. I expect that the results will support my hypothesis.
The results will support the fact that anger management therapy is a good way to reduce the
number of driving related incidents. Driving aggression is of course situational and there is no
survey that will be able to predict every situation that will occur on the road. Every person is
different and everyday people have different attitudes and moods. There may be an interesting
course for future research.
Anger management therapy is not the only therapy and future researchers could
investigate the effectiveness of other forms of therapy as ways to reduce anger related incidents
on the road. That is should be the subject of another study. I expect that the research would show
that anger management therapy is the most effective for reducing the incidents of aggression on
the road.

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References

1. Deffenbacher, J. L., & Oetting, E. R. (1994). Development of a driving anger

scale. Psychological Reports, 74(1), 83.
2. Deffenbacher, J. L., Filetti, L. B., Richards, T. L., Lynch, R. S., & Oetting, E. R. (2003).
Characteristics of two groups of angry drivers. Journal Of Counseling Psychology, 50(2),
123-132. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.50.2.123
3. Stephens, A. N., & Groeger, J. A. (2011). Anger-congruent behaviour transfers across
driving situations. Cognition & Emotion, 25(8), 1423-1438.
doi:10.1080/02699931.2010.551184
4. Krah, B. (2005). Predictors of women's aggressive driving behavior. Aggressive
Behavior, 31(6), 537-546. doi:10.1002/ab.20070
5. Wickens, C. M., Wiesenthal, D. L., Flora, D. B., & Flett, G. L. (2011). Understanding
driver anger and aggression: Attributional theory in the driving environment. Journal Of
Experimental Psychology: Applied, 17(4), 354-370. doi:10.1037/a0025815
6. Deffenbacher, J. L., Petrilli, R. T., Lynch, R. S., Oetting, E. R., & Swaim, R. C. (2003).
The Driver's Angry Thoughts Questionnaire: A measure of angry cognitions when
driving. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 27(4), 383-402.
doi:10.1023/A:1025403712897
7. Sharkin, B. S. (2004). Road Rage: Risk Factors, Assessment, and Intervention Strategies.
Journal Of Counseling & Development, 82(2), 191-198. doi:10.1002/j.15566678.2004.tb00301.x

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8. Parkinson, B. (2001). Anger on and off the road. British Journal Of Psychology, 92(3),
507-526. doi:10.1348/000712601162310
9. Van Rooy, D. L., Rotton, J., & Burns, T. M. (2006). Convergent, discriminant, and
predictive validity of aggressive driving inventories: They drive as they live. Aggressive
Behavior, 32(2), 89-98. doi:10.1002/ab.20113
10. Jovanovi, D., Stanojevi, P., & Stanojevi, D. (2011). Motives for, and attitudes about,
driving-related anger and aggressive driving. Social Behavior and Personality, 39(6),
755-764. doi:10.2224/sbp.2011.39.6.755
11. Dukes, R. L., Clayton, S. L., Jenkins, L. T., Miller, T. L., & Rodgers, S. E. (2001).
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