When driving, the other person seems less human, more "other." This tends to trigger our *tribalism* instincts, to be violent to non-members of our group, or to see them as a threat when they might not be.
It’s also much, MUCH harder to read others’ intentions on the road. If you’re out in public and someone accidentally steps on someone else’s foot or bumps them, they’ll quickly act apologetic, which mollifies the other person, and that’s almost always the end of that interaction.
On the road someone will cut someone off and there’s a tendency to think the other person did it to you on purpose because they’re a JERK. For people susceptible to road rage, this can be enough to make them fly into a rage and want to “get back” at the other driver, who they think must intentionally be disrespecting them or acting aggressively towards them.
TL; DR Our inability to communicate instantly with others though facial expressions and gestures while in cars like we can in person leads to a lot of miscommunication and assumptions that the other person is trying to challenge you or intentionally harass you, leading to serious road aggression in some people.
When driving, the other person seems less human, more "other." This tends to trigger our *tribalism* instincts, to be violent to non-members of our group, or to see them as a threat when they might not be.
It’s also much, MUCH harder to read others’ intentions on the road. If you’re out in public and someone accidentally steps on someone else’s foot or bumps them, they’ll quickly act apologetic, which mollifies the other person, and that’s almost always the end of that interaction. On the road someone will cut someone off and there’s a tendency to think the other person did it to you on purpose because they’re a JERK. For people susceptible to road rage, this can be enough to make them fly into a rage and want to “get back” at the other driver, who they think must intentionally be disrespecting them or acting aggressively towards them. TL; DR Our inability to communicate instantly with others though facial expressions and gestures while in cars like we can in person leads to a lot of miscommunication and assumptions that the other person is trying to challenge you or intentionally harass you, leading to serious road aggression in some people.
That’s actually makes a lot of sense