The Top 5 Types of Road Ragers

Traffic in Canadian cities is getting progressively worse, and while most drivers on the road exercise patience, or have developed various ways to deal with commuter stress, there are others that have chosen and different coping mechanism.

Road rage is a phenomenon that is becoming increasingly frequent and for many, encountered in some form or another on a daily basis. Thanks to the advent of dashcams, doing a quick search for “road rage” on YouTube delivers thousands upon thousands of incidents from every corner of the globe.

Here’s a snapshot of the top 5 types of road ragers driving today:

1) The Passive Aggressive Rager

This is the rager who will try to maintain control on the road at the expense of others, but will do so in a way that tends to avoid direct confrontation. They will drive slowly in the left lane, but then slow down if they feel someone is trying to prompt them to either speed up or switch lanes. They are also the drivers who will speed up to disallow another car from merging into their lane, but never turn their head to even acknowledge the presence of the other driver.

2) The Entitled Rager

Often behind the wheel of flashy, expensive cars, or far too busy on their hands-free conversation to be bothered by the frustrations of other drivers, these ragers believe that they have special privileges on the road. They also act incredulous if someone dares to question the way they are driving, because again, their next meeting destination will always take precedence, even for an ambulance sounding an alert for cars ahead to yield.

3) The Screaming Rager

Prone to rolling down their window to let you know exactly what they think, volume control issues and often a limited vocabulary tend to be the defining characteristics of these ragers. They have their favour words and gestures, and rely heavily on both (most often in tandem, and at the expense of having their hands on the wheel and eyes on the road).

4) The Competitive Rager

This rager might enjoy revving their engine at a red light to indicate they will be the first through the intersection, or follow you intently for many kilometres because you legally passed them on the highway. They tend to become even more agitated when they don’t find a willing participant in their various tests of road strength.

5) The Fighting Rager

These are the ragers that are prone to physical confrontations, or at least displays that allude to violence. They are quick to jump out of their car, regardless of whether they are stopping traffic or their car is still moving slightly. They will challenge you to fight, and vaguely threaten damage to your vehicle, and therefore should never be encountered face-to-face by stepping out of your vehicle.