Case study of road rage incidents resulting from the illegal use of high beams

Abstract

Road rage refers to drivers' anger when they encounter anger-provoking situations such as traffic jams, aberrant overtaking, honking and flashing of headlights. When angry, drivers are likely to engage in dangerous driving behaviors that may cause accidents. In China, the illegal use of high beams is a primary factor provoking drivers' anger and subsequent incidents during night driving. Using qualitative analytical methods, this paper analyzed the characteristics of road rage incidents resulting from the illegal use of high beams based on 20 typical cases collected in China. The results showed that when drivers were flashed by the high beams of an oncoming vehicle, they sometimes became angry and chased or insulted the other driver, flashed their own high beams in retaliation or drove into the opposite lane and blocked the oncoming car. When drivers were flashed by the high beams of a following car, they sometimes blocked the car or used other means to disrupt its travel. In addition, it was found that more than half of road rage incidents resulted from the illegal use of high beams on country roads or highways. Moreover, most of the incidents were caused by the high beams of an oncoming car. Most of the people involved in such incidents were young men. Finally, strategies to avoid serious injuries in such incidents were discussed.