'Calm down people': Almost nine in 10 drivers admit to road rage
Alarming new figures have revealed almost nine in every ten Australian drivers have carried out some form of road rage.
The admissions range from honking the horn and verbal abuse through to tailgating, and 18 per cent confessed to deliberately chasing another drive down to intimidate them, the study by the Monash University Accident Research Centre in Melbourne found.
The study found aggressive driving is "prevalent" on Australian roads. It follows a spate of serious road rage accidents this year.
Sunrise commentator, Cath Webber, said she "found the statistics horrifying".
"It's not just the road rage - in another bracket one in three drivers admitted to chasing another drive down just to intimidate them," she said.
"That's chasing someone down to what? Run them off the road?
"I think honking the horn is OK, as in you're behind someone and it's a red light and they haven't seen it go green where you don't want to be cranky, I wish there a friendly honk sometimes."
The study found that in Victoria, 86 per cent of drivers said they expressed anger on the road.
Justin Smith from Radio 3AW said it might be because "it's our only form of release left".
"You can't be tough on people in the workplace, you can't be tough on people in a domestic situation so the only two things left are when you're in the car and can yell at someone or when you can be an anonymous coward on social media," he said.
Ms Webber added that people need "to calm down".
"You just need to think of it like your grandmother when someone is going a bit under the speed limit," she said.
"Yeah, OK, you're going to be a few minutes late than what you were.
"Where is the patience and how are we so mean spirited as Australians to want to intimidate and terrify someone?"
