Road Rage Disorder
Are drivers crazy -- or is the drive itself just nuts?
By ERIC PETERS
"Road rage" is now an official disease -- Intermittent Explosive Disorder, the
shrinks call it. According to a study funded by the National Institutes of
Mental Health, something on the order of 16 million Americans suffer from
IED. Inadequate production of the brain chemical serotonin leaves victims
unable to properly regulate their moods -- and thus, their behavior.
Confronted with chock-a-block traffic, left-lane hogs, etc., they gesture
rudely, hurl insults -- or worse.
But is IED really a malady? Or just the natural expression of a heavily
overtaxed fight-or-flight mechanism intrinsic to human nature? In other
words, is it reasonable to be stressed out and angry as a consequence of
having to sit and stew in endless traffic?
Do You Believe It?
Or is it in fact a sign of health that more and more of us chafe at being
caught like lab rats in a continent-sized Skinner Box -- and manifest our
natural frustrations by leaning on our horns, stomping on the gas and doing
whatever's in our power to Flee?
Think on it for a moment: Modern humans are essentially the same as our
ancestors of 100,000 years ago; widespread (and inescapable) gridlock is a
phenomenon of the past 50 years. In most parts of the country, it is a
younger phenomenon than that. We were not bred for this sort of abuse. We
have not had time to evolve new mechanisms (such as an internal morphine
release gland, let's say) to cope with an environment our hunter-gatherer
systems are completely ill-equipped to deal with. The chaos; the unremitting
noise -- the slow boil of constant pressure with no escape valve. The flood of
stress hormones that rush into our bloodstream, finding no productive
outlet. Of course we want to shout. Or even hit something. The temptation to
use our car as a battering ram is hard to beat back down into the nether
regions of our subconscious.
We respond, in other words, very much in the way you'd expect a cornered
animal to respond. We get angry. Our vision narrows to the singular focus of
getting through -- and getting away. Forms of civility become a hobble; like
passengers on a doomed ocean liner, the situation devolves to every man for
himself. Sink or swim -- even if you have to push someone else under to keep
your own head above water.
It's ugly and unpleasant -- but it's the reality. Being quiet and polite is not
only increasingly difficult, it's apt to leave one holding the short end of the
stick (or at least, constantly abused by fellow -- and more aggressively
self-preserving -- motorists).
But it's not a "disease."
Becoming stressed out -- and ultimately, enraged -- is an entirely
predictable, entirely natural reaction to an unnatural situation. Sitting in
traffic for a couple of hours every day is madness. Willfully subjecting
ourselves to this and not expecting negative consequences is like failing to
make the connection between a pack-a-day habit and emphysema. Stop
smoking -- or better yet, never start -- and the problem disappears.
We don't need a pill.
We do need to recognize a dangerous and unhealthy situation for what it is --
and take steps to ameliorate it. That would include encouraging people to
live closer to where they work -- or telecommuting -- instead of encouraging
them (via short-sighted land-use policies) to buy a home in some distant
suburb.
That's what's crazy -- not the supposed sufferers of "Intermittent Explosive
Disorder." If we want less of it, we need to address the underlying causes --
not focus on disease-ifying the all-too-predictable symptoms.
Failing that, subscribe to satellite radio, gets some books on tape -- whatever
it takes to get your mind (and your glands) off the galling prospect of
another daily grind. Your blood pressure will thank you. And you might just
avoid a fender-bender, fist-fight -- or worse.
