September 12th, 2008
Mionske on Road Rage
In his recent Velo News column, Bob Mionske (author of Bicycling & the Law) dives into the subject of road rage; what triggers it, why it’s particularly dangerous to cyclists, and what we can do to minimize the possibility of it occuring.
In my talks, I sometimes discuss my own experience when confronted with road rage, or even just poor driving that threatens my safety. I’ve had two distinct types of reaction—what I used to do, and what I do now. By nature, I am the type who doesn’t take trouble from anyone; after all, it’s the same type A personality in our sport that enables us to succeed that also directs our response to aggression. What I used to do was react with what you could call a “tough guy response.†Unfortunately, as a response to anti-cyclist aggression, that doesn’t work, for two reasons. At the social level, it’s a selfish response, because even if you win, it only perpetuates the enmity towards cyclists, and worsens the cycling environment for everyone. And of course, at the personal level, a tough-guy response to an automotive vigilante has the potential to escalate into epic road rage, as we saw in Brentwood. In fact, according to Dr, James, even a measured response, as we saw in Kamas, can lead to epic road rage.
Mionske goes on to suggest ways to reframe the inevitable run-ins we have with other road users to help control our reactions. He states that by doing so, we minimize our personal anxiety and stress, while also making the road safer for ourselves and other cyclists.
Read the article at Velo News →
Related posts:
2 Responses to “Mionske on Road Rage”
Speaking of road rage, did you see The Car Whisperer’s recent road rage story?
Great story – thanks Fritz..
Submit a Comment
All comments are reviewed by our moderators before being approved for publication. Please take a moment to read our discussion guidelines before submitting a comment.
You can also follow the discussion by subscribing to the Comments RSS Feed.