Forum

1. Don’t retaliate

If you find yourself being subjected to road rage, and another driver is being confrontational or aggressive, ignore them and don’t make eye contact or react in any way that they can see.

2. Let them go

If someone’s driving aggressively behind you, aching to get past, find a safe place to pull over and let them go. It’ll add seconds to your journey but may save you from being involved in an accident or having an unpleasant confrontation.

3. Recognise your failings

As we’ve established, we all make mistakes. But it’s easy for other road users to take it the wrong way. Acknowledge your mistake with a wave of the hand. There’s a very good chance it will pacify the other person and could prevent the situation escalating to a confrontation. Simply saying sorry can make problems go away very quickly.

4. Is it you?

If you keep being subjected to road rage, it might be down to the way you drive. Perhaps you’re overly assertive. Or maybe you’ve fallen into some bad driving habits that wind others up, such as not indicating. If you’re finding you’re the target of frequent aggression, you might want to think about how you engage with other road users, or take a refresher driving course.

5. Calm down

If you’ve been in a situation with another driver, it will undoubtedly affect you. But if you get too wound up, your concentration levels will drop, putting you at greater risk of having an accident. “I was angry” isn’t going to get you out of trouble with the police or help you with a car insurance claim.

Take steps to stop your stress levels spiking. If you feel upset or emotional, pull over and get some fresh air, or walk around if you need to before resuming your journey.

Or alternatively, find a distraction, like listening to the radio. Move your mind deliberately onto something else and don’t dwell on the incident.