Posted on 01/05/2005 6:25:13 AM PST by HockeyPop
After a passenger is critically hurt, experts say stress is fueling problems.
January 5, 2005
Central Florida's latest reported road-rage incident involved female drivers, which doesn't surprise behavioral experts who say women, succumbing to media influences and the everyday pressures of work and family life, are being more combative on the roads.
"Men are usually more aggressive, but that doesn't mean they are the only ones who are aggressive," said Jim Hoffheimer, president of the American Institute for Public Safety, a marketing company in North Miami that offers the RoadRageous Aggressive Driver Course as an instructional tool.
The incident Monday night started when one woman flashed an obscene gesture at another driver at a Florida's Turnpike toll plaza, triggering a 14-mile game of "cat-and-mouse," according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
The chase ended near Clermont when the driver of a Toyota 4Runner tossed a disposable cup at Shannon Leslie Cooper, 24, who was driving a Ford Explorer. Cooper, from West Palm Beach, swerved, crossed the median and collided with a northbound tractor-trailer.
She and passenger Tina Marie Gattone, 20, of Pennsylvania were thrown from the Explorer. Cooper was in stable condition Tuesday and Gattone was in critical condition, both at Orlando Regional Medical Center.
The other driver fled the scene. Authorities continued Tuesday to search for the 2002 or newer silver 4Runner with a female driver, about age 40.
FHP Sgt. Jorge Delahoz said he is aware of several road-rage incidents that involve women, though statistics are hard to come by because in Florida there is no crime that specifically cites "road rage" as an offense.
"If it's a man and a woman, for some reason the situation defuses," Delahoz said. "But if it's a woman and a woman, it escalates. It gets really bad. EXCERPTED
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
The damn SUVs made 'em do it.
But seriesly, my theory is that there'd be a lot less road rage if everyone rode a motorcycle. Discuss.
Git'em off the road!
This statement seems just so stupid in so many ways....
Let me say up front that I am not calling for a SUV ban.
But… SUVs certainly make one feel less vulnerable and may encourage aggressive behavior. If we all drove around in small cars with a large spike protruding from the steering wheel, you can bet we’d see more courteous drivers.
Not that I’m call for that either.
Personally I'd rather have hubcaps like the ones on Messala's chariot in "Ben-Hur"....wheel-cutters
Oh, of course, it's the media's fault.
Road Catfight. Film at 11.
Road rage..... sounds like SUV rage. I mean after all whats a 4 Runner in an Explorer world. Some girls just don't get it.
Female road rage is caused by an overt use of females acting in masculine roles. An effort to combine seductive females with machismo and action into one package that hooks the male viewership. The phenomena - a fantasy among women - who women think they can be just as bad as men, as tough as men, and fight as good as men.
As we all know, women can't fight there way out of a wet paper bag. ;^)
Discuss.
Women behind the wheel of any large vehicle scare me to death. The women who drive school buses are the worst. The ones where I live are maniacs. I can't count the times that I have almost been hit by one of these women bus drivers. I think the large vehicles give them a sense of power. Add a cellphone, and you really have a problem! BTW -- I am a woman!
That saying was around long before Frued, in one form or another.
My theory is that road rage often occurs because people feel they can vent their anger and frustration with the world and get away with it.
Some drivers make no sense at all. Tailgate rather than go around when it's easy to pass, you're looking for a fight.
And the worst drivers of all are the ones coming out of the church parking lot on Sunday. They drive like Dale Earnhardt back from the dead.
careful. you're profiling. |}
You go, girl(s)!
hahahahaha....keepers
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