Insurer says road rage is major killer

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A new report from UK insurer, AXA, calculates that 800 lives are lost on Britain’s roads through accidents caused by road rage.

The report also suggests that £945m of insurance premium could be saved if motorists rid themselves of aggression.

The nationwide independent survey reveals that almost four in ten drivers involved in the 222,100 accidents on British roads ever year say they were frightened or angered by other drivers in the critical moments before a crash.

Of those, more than 20 per cent said the inconsiderate driving had come in the form of speeding, almost a quarter said that others were driving erratically, and more than one in five said another driver had been ignoring road rules and signs.

The calculations are based on research that shows 35 per cent of drivers involved in more serious and costly accidents, those with a ‘personal injury’ element where someone is either killed or injured, were either made angry or frightened by another driver’s behaviour moments before the accident.

According to motoring psychologist, Peter Marsh, disrespectful, aggressive driving can be the cause of an accident in itself but also the negative emotions created by this type of driving can cause other drivers to become irrational and make mistakes they would otherwise not make.

He said: “The AXA study highlights clearly the powerful psychological forces at work when we get behind the wheel of a car. Our cars may be safer than before and our roads increasingly designed to reduce accidents but unless we recognise and deal with the strong emotional aspects of motoring, the factors that give rise to uncharacteristic belligerence and sheer bloody-mindedness, we may never be able to reduce much further the number of people who die unnecessarily on Britain’s highways.”

The behaviours categorised by motorists as ‘disrespectful’ range from speeding, driving erratically and ignoring road signs to beeping a horn in anger, making offensive hand gestures, yelling, swearing and flashing headlights.

Additional research findings revealed that:

• Over half of accidents involving Manchester drivers occurred in urban areas while 41 per cent take place on A roads
• Prior to the accident taking place despite 18 per cent being scared of the other drivers behaviour and a further 18 per cent being stressed, 14 per cent were happy
• Almost a third of drivers (29 per cent) believed the other driver was being disrespectful through ignoring road signs (27 per cent), speeding (21 per cent) and driving erratically (20 per cent)
• 7 per cent admitted to being disrespectful towards the other driver through driving erratically, beeping their horn and making offensive hand gestures
• After the accident took place, over four in ten (45 per cent) felt stressed while 25 per cent felt angry towards the other driver with 16 per cent feeling frightened and intimated by the other driver
• 14 per cent feel the experience of disrespectful driving has resulted in them less likely to drive in the future