An inappropriate gesture or a fishtail that turns into drama: disputes on American roads have claimed a record number of victims since the start of the pandemic which has aggravated the aggressiveness of drivers no longer hesitating to draw a weapon to respond .
In recent days, a passenger in a car was shot in the back for a grilled priority at a crossroads in Texas and in Kentucky, a woman was shot multiple times in an altercation for a parking spot.
In May, a young man shot a female driver for making an obscene gesture to complain about a dangerous maneuver on a California freeway. The bullet was fatal to a 6-year-old child sitting in the back of the car.
The local authorities blasted the attitude of the shooter who “cannot control his emotions and (for whom) the slightest event can provoke a fatal outburst of anger”.
This kind of incident, called “road rage”, has been increasing steadily since 2018 but peaked in 2020 in the United States with 403 dead or gunshot wounds, according to an Every Town for Gun Safety report published at the end of June.
And the organization in favor of better regulation of firearms forecasts that at this rate, 2021 will beat a historic record with around 500 victims of aggressive driving.
“Just driving is dangerous and in many cases it’s the perfect scenario for anger,” Ryan Martin, professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin in Green Bay, who worked on aggressive driving behavior.
But since the start of the pandemic, “we have seen an increase in situations of stress, anxiety and frustration,” he explains. “The very existence of a deadly virus puts people on their nerves”, not to mention the shutdown of entire sectors of the economy, confinement or teleworking which have taken a heavy toll on the mental health of Americans.
– Narcissism and freedom –
In a country where the carrying of weapons is protected, the explosion in sales of firearms in 2020 has been an aggravating factor, according to him.
A gun is a “lethal mechanism for expressing anger,” says Dr. Martin, citing studies that show that just having a gun in your car increases the risk of aggressive driving.
For psychologist Pauline Wallin, a specialist in emotional management, the extreme polarization of society under Donald Trump’s mandate has also exacerbated Americans’ sense of aggression in the face of a situation of frustration.
“The one who cuts you off is no longer just someone who annoys you, he is an enemy against whom you must defend yourself, or attack,” she told AFP.
“Because you are more divided, you are more inclined to blame others for what happens to you,” she explains.
Ryan Martin emphasizes that the Covid-19 has increased the feeling of fracture of the country, such as the wearing of a mask, which has become “the mark of a political ideology”. And the divide did not disappear with the defeat of Donald Trump.
But, underlines Dr Wallin, “the final responsibility rests with the individual” rather than with the pandemic because violence at the wheel is not a new phenomenon.
She denounces the “narcissism” and the “mismanagement of the feeling of frustration” of Americans, when Ryan Martin evokes the “individualism” of society and its very personalized conception of “freedom”.
To avoid a stressful situation in the car that can escalate, Pauline Wallin advises to “take a long breath” and ask yourself if this incident “will still be important for you tomorrow, or in a week”.
Dr Martin emphasizes road safety messages on mutual respect or the renovation of infrastructure so that driving is not a stressor.
He also recommends “letting it run” rather than engaging in a confrontation with another motorist, because “reacting in a hostile or aggressive manner will never give a positive result”.
cyj / rle / ob
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