Don't Road Rage: For Your Sake and the Environment's

I know all about road rage. I live in the city that invented it. Why the heck do people walk so slow here? In other cities people hurry across the street. Not in LA. They saunter so annoyingly. It's like there are a bunch of failed actors walking around, trying to get a few moments of screen time in your windshield. It drives me batty. And if the tiny amount of pedestrian traffic is bad, you need to check out the auto traffic in LA. Some motorists are crazy. They don't use turn signals because, "They won't let me over if they see my turn signal. They'll block me."

It's enough to drive a sane man crazy.

And it has. And I've driven with road rage. Screaming and honking after being nearly killed about twenty times on the 405. Apparently, this kind of driving isn't very good for your health. Road rage causes a flight or fight reaction in the body, which in emergency situations is useful, but when it's triggered over and over again it can be quite detrimental to a person's health. Anger for extended periods of time can weaken the immune system. Anger can also raise blood pressure, lead to heart attack, stroke, anxiety, skin problems, indigestion and headache.

That doesn't even take into account that angry and reckless driving cause traffic accidents, fist fights and even some homicides. On top of that, road raging is bad for the environment.

EERE:

"Aggressive driving (speeding, rapid acceleration, and hard braking) wastes gas. It can lower your highway gas mileage 33% and city mileage 5%."

All that wasted gas contributes to climate change, but it doesn't really propel the motorist where they need to go any more efficiently.