Development by Example
Danielle M. Parnell
J. Hawk
English Comp I - Section 305 25 February 2013
Road Rage is Worse Today than Ever In today's hectic, fast-paced world, it's easy to become frustrated, and increasingly people express their anger when driving. This has been categorized as ‘Road Rage.’ It can happen on the way to work, while sitting in traffic, or when simply pulling out of your driveway. I see it happening more often, and have even had it directed at me. Once when I was jammed in bumper-to-bumper traffic I nearly slammed into the back of someone’s car because I was texting rather than paying attention to the road. This resulted in quite the major ‘Road Rage’ incident and the drivers behind and beside me illustrated their anger in more than just their faces. Based on my driving experiences, I would say that the most common triggers for incidents of ‘Road Rage’ are overcrowding of the roadways, distracted driving, and irresponsible speeding.
As our population grows in the United States, and as this increase causes increased population density, there are more drivers on roadways today than there ever has been before. This has led to the over use of our already crumbling highway infrastructures in many parts of the country. These roadways were designed decades ago to handle a population and density that was simply a fraction of our current traffic volumes. This, of course, directly contributes to traffic congestion and leads to significant delays. A substantial portion of ‘Road Rage’ seems to stem from an irrational reaction to the stress of the increased traffic and the delays encountered.
If someone is not driving as fast as the person behind him thinks he should, or someone cuts in front of someone else, it can quickly escalate out of control and lead to an incident that is dangerous to the offender as well as those around him on the road. ‘Road Rage’ due to congestion often manifests itself as these ‘intentional retaliatory’ maneuvers. For instance: a driver in
J. Hawk
English Comp I - Section 305 25 February 2013
Road Rage is Worse Today than Ever In today's hectic, fast-paced world, it's easy to become frustrated, and increasingly people express their anger when driving. This has been categorized as ‘Road Rage.’ It can happen on the way to work, while sitting in traffic, or when simply pulling out of your driveway. I see it happening more often, and have even had it directed at me. Once when I was jammed in bumper-to-bumper traffic I nearly slammed into the back of someone’s car because I was texting rather than paying attention to the road. This resulted in quite the major ‘Road Rage’ incident and the drivers behind and beside me illustrated their anger in more than just their faces. Based on my driving experiences, I would say that the most common triggers for incidents of ‘Road Rage’ are overcrowding of the roadways, distracted driving, and irresponsible speeding.
As our population grows in the United States, and as this increase causes increased population density, there are more drivers on roadways today than there ever has been before. This has led to the over use of our already crumbling highway infrastructures in many parts of the country. These roadways were designed decades ago to handle a population and density that was simply a fraction of our current traffic volumes. This, of course, directly contributes to traffic congestion and leads to significant delays. A substantial portion of ‘Road Rage’ seems to stem from an irrational reaction to the stress of the increased traffic and the delays encountered.
If someone is not driving as fast as the person behind him thinks he should, or someone cuts in front of someone else, it can quickly escalate out of control and lead to an incident that is dangerous to the offender as well as those around him on the road. ‘Road Rage’ due to congestion often manifests itself as these ‘intentional retaliatory’ maneuvers. For instance: a driver in