Topic: Road RageGeneral Purpose: To convinceSpecific Purpose: To convince the audience to combat "road rage" by increasing driver awarenessThesis Statement: "Road rage" caused by aggressive driving tendencies is a growing epidemic affecting today's roadways, but there is a solution.Ethos: Include myself in my statements.Pathos: Audience should feel horrified at the consequences of road rage.Logos: Cite statistics and research resources.IntroductionI. How many of you have ever been in a motor vehicle? Did you know that "motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among Americans 1-37 years old." With the largest % being our age group. (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)II. Many traffic accidents could have been easily prevented if not for the angry menace called road rage.
Road rage caused by aggressive driving tendencies is a growing epidemic affecting today's roadways, but there is a solution.Transition 1: As you can see road rage is a serious problem that could potentially affect us all. But many of us have different ideas of the scope of road rage.BodyI. You can better combat "road rage" by understanding what it is...A. Road rage or aggressive driving is defined as behavior behind the wheel in which furious drivers lose their temper and engage in risk-taking behavior or attempt to injure or kill another driver or pedestrian over minor traffic disputes.(Dr.
Leon James, Professor of Psychology at the University of Hawaii, further defines road rage by breaking it down into three types)1. Verbal Road Rage is composed of behaviors such as yelling, swearing, gesturing, honking, and insulting.2. Quiet Road Rage includes complaining, rushing, competing, and resisting.3. Epic Road Rage includes cutting off, blocking, chasing, fighting, and shooting.B. You all are thinking that we've all done some of those things, but no one really gets hurt. You can be sure that's exactly what Tracie Alfieri and Narkey Terry also thought.1.
According to a June 2, Newsweek article, Tracie Alfieri became enraged by the manner in which Rene Andrews pulled into her lane. Alfieri tried to pass Andrews on the right then cut in front and hit the brakes causing Andrews to swerve into a stopped tractor resulting in the loss of Andrews' 6 month old unborn child. Tracie Alfieri was convicted this May of vehicular manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in prison. (Newsweek)2. In the most commonly cited incident of road rage, which ended in three deaths: Narkey Terry and Billy Canipe became involved in a game of cat and mouse because Canipe was moving too slowly in the left lane.
Statistics show 16- to 17-year-old driver death rates increase with each additional passenger, which is due to distracted driving. Taking your eyes off the road for 2 (two) seconds, at 60 mph, means you have driven blindly for half the length of a football field. The risk of fatality is 3.6 times higher, when they are driving with passengers than when alone. For many years, the correlation between driving behavior and age has interested highway safety researchers and administrators. It is general knowledge that the greatest risk of motor vehicle crash...
Aggressive driving can also result from drunk or drug driving and distracted driving. It is hence densely woven into multiple road dangers.
The essay Road Warrior, written by Dave Berry expresses the road rages that everyone, or most people, face on a daily basis as well as a few other rages. He justifies how unnecessary these can be sometimes, and how they just lead to bad things (e.g. violence). The title is quite fitted for what the essay is about, additionally making you want to read the essay, as the title pulls you in.
Dangers on roadways is an issue that describes the discrepancy between perception and reality of road rage. The media, for some odd reason, tends to make road rage a huge controversial issue. As seen on talk shows from Oprah Winfrey to CNN, they reveal to people that road rage could happen at any time and to always be looking over your shoulder. These talk shows and news programs also put fear into our minds by explaining that most roadragers often use guns to kill or injure their victims. Glassner contradicts the media's speculations by stating that out of approximately 250,000 people killed on roadways between 1990-1997, AAA attributed that one in one thousand was an act of road rage (pg.5).
According to the Journal of Applied Behavioral Analysis, "automobile crashes are the leading cause of death for those aged 3 to 33, with 43,005 (118 per day) Americans killed in 2002 alone" (Clayton, Helms, Simpson, 2006). Worldwide, vehicle accidents consist of 1.2 millions deaths per year, "behind only childhood infections and AIDS as cause of death amount people aged 5 to 30 years old" (Clayton., 2006). The annual cost of road accidents is estimated about $518 billion"(Factor, Yair, Mahalel, 2013). The fact alone of being in a moving, heavy vehicle is a danger in itself but individuals that do not wear their seat belts, talk on the phone, text, and do other distracting behavior also put themselves in even more harmful situations.
The first point I chose for the article is the four types of rage people have. The four types of rage, is Road rage or ‘’Mad driver disease”, Sky rage, Sideline rage, Line rage. In this essay I will explain just one of them and that is Road rage. Dianne Hales wrote in the article that American Automobile Association’s Foundation for Traffic Safety says that road rage or what they call “Mad diver disease” is getting more and more examples, as in the 1990’s the percentage increase 7 percent each year in that decade. Dianne Hales did not explain road rage in detail, so I wrote out the definition of it. This rage is a hostile or crazy action by a driver of a car or truck or other automobile on the road. This is when the driver does oral malign, intentionally driving dangerously and making warnings to hurt other drivers. Road rage can lead to assaults, and collisions that can guide to trauma to other divers and even death to those drivers. I agree with Dianne Hales that this case of rage is getting more common in drivers as I see it happen more often lately. I sometimes see people driving recklessly, like hooting the horn and diving people off the road. For example, I was with my family in
In this essay I will explain only one of them and that is Road rage. This rage is a hostile or crazy action by a driver of a car or truck or other automobile on the road and this includes oral malign, intentionally driving in a dangerous way, or making warnings to hurt other drivers. Road rage can lead to fights, assaults, and collisions that result in trauma to other divers and even death to those drivers. It can be conceived of as an extreme instance of aggressive driving. I agree with Dianne Hales that this case of rage can be called “mad driver disease” and that this type of rage do increase per year because I see it happen. For an example, I was with my family in our car and my dad was driving. It was a rainy day and people were driving really slow compared to sunny days. We were driving along the turnpike and out of know where there was traffic. There was a motor vehicle collision ahead of us and that caused the traffic. The car behind us started to honk the horn after minutes, sitting there waiting for the traffic to move. Then out of know where the driver got out the car and started to scream to move the car. It was a scary moment. Lucky for us a state police trooper seen him and told
Dave Barry’s “Road Warrior” is a humorous essay that discusses different types of “rages” that exists on a daily basis in American life. Barry begins by discussing road rage then goes into parking lot rage, and shopping cart rage. He explains that these rages are unnecessary, and how they just create violence in the world today. While Barry was writing this article he was living in Miami, Florida discussing the problems of road rage in the city. If anyone has ever felt road rage, or any kind of rage this is for you.
Drinking and driving has an always been problem in modern day society. In today’s society there have been many messages given to humanity about the dangers of impaired driving. However, despite this people continue to drive drunk and put many civilians in harm’s way. With drinking and driving being illegal, there were still 13, 625 deaths directly relating from alcohol-related highway crashes in the US in 2010 alone (“Impaired Driving.”). Statistics like this one show that drunk driving is still a major issue in today society. Mother Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is a non-profit organization that missions to support victims of drunk driving and to prevent it all together. In 2012 MADD released a public service announcement called “Impact” specifically targeting the problems of drunk driving. This public service announcement shows the dangers and the impact of one accident on people’s lives that were not even present in the crash caused by drunk driving. MADD’s public service announcement uses sound effects, metaphoric imagery, slow-motion, and facial visuals to show the
After reading Diane Hales’ essay, “Why Are We So Angry?”, I think that time, technology, and tension are major reasons for anger in our society. These are the leading reasons for impatience, road rage, and altercations in our lives today. Society has become fast paced and intolerable on many aspects. No one has time to stop and think things through. Everyone is simply reacting to everything on an impulse.
A term that emerged around the 1990’s and is used to describe dangerous on-the-road behaviors, acts of aggression, violent behavior by a driver of an automobile, which causes accidents or incidents on roadways (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). Between 2003 and 2007, 56% of deadly vehicle crashes are a result of aggressive driving.
“The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status, or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we all believe that we are above-average drivers” -Dave Barry, comedian. The number of accidents over the last ten years have drastically increased, drivers are paying less attention to the road itself. Many individuals behind the wheel of a car believe that their driving does not affect the road conditions, however it always will. The driving habits of today are catastrophic due to the reasoning that the driving will affect other lives through reckless or distracted driving, and disobeying traffic laws.
It starts with just a moment of tailgating, or maybe the guy in front of you cut you off or wouldn’t let you into the fast lane. In some cases it appears that incidents of road rage are caused by simple misunderstandings between drivers. A driver may make a momentary error of judgment but the perception of another driver is that he or she is driving aggressively. Then suddenly it turns into World War III on the highway. It matters little what causes it; a bad day at the office, a love affair going bad, credit cards maxed to the credit limit. All it takes is a sudden movement of someone else’s wheels, and within seconds a normally mild mannered motorist is consumed with a red-eyed, mouth-foaming surge of anger that grabs more of us every day. Road Rage, something that has always simmered on the back burner of motoring America, is now going off like fireworks.
Every year, thousands of people are injured or killed in car wrecks caused by road rage/ aggressive driving. Despite this fact many people still are impatient and become angry on the road. Driving is a curious display of public and private acts. A car isolates the driver from the world. The personal sensation of power over a couple thousand pound car is intoxicating. Road rage/aggressive driving starts from things such as illegal or improper lane changes, failing to yield the right of way, and excessive speeding just to name a few. Everyday we deal with this type of driving. Everyone runs a great risk just driving around the corner to the local convenience store or just to the local church. According to U.S. News and World Report, the United States Department of Transportation estimates that two-thirds of fatalities are at least partially caused by road rage/ aggressive driving. This essay will look at some of the arguments for and against road rage/aggressive driving.
III. Connection: Everday we have to deal with these people on our roads. We run a great risk just driving around the corner to go to the store or a quiet trip to church. According to U.S. News and World Report, the U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that two-thirds of fatalities are at least partially caused by aggressive driving. Fortunately, there is something we can do about it.