Lets take a look at why that is.

Traffic can induce tantrums even in the most calm among us.

Unlike normal anger, you cant leave, zone out, or take a break to de-stress.

When youre in your car, you just have to continue paying attention.

Plus, there are all kinds of stresses that can lead to road rage.

Perhaps youre justhaving a bad day.

Road rage evokes something totally different thats because it puts us in uncommon situations.

In short, deindividualization is when a person loses a sense of individual identity.

Traffic facilitates both of these situations pretty well, and this can lead to more aggressive behavior.

In short, when were in traffic, we feel less human.

Thisseries of studiesproduced by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety,measures anonymity and a drivers likelihood to honk.

This anonymity can also mean that as drivers, were more likely to do things we wouldnt normally do.

Sure, why not?

Theyre never going to see you again.

Speed through a neighborhood?

Sure, you dont live here.

This inability to talk upsets us more than youd think.

Unfortunately, theres no way to ask the driver what they mean.

This may lead to a rhetorical outburst: Are you going to turn or not?

But you cant ask, nor would there be a way to get an answer back…

Being muted and unable to communicate makes us mad.

We dont even have someone to complain to about the problem, because usually were alone in our cars.

So, we get angry, because we have no other outlet.

Thats not to mention the fact we usually get irritated and shout in our car.

We make snap judgements and dont think much about them beyond that.

If they cut you off, you dont think about why they cut you off.

Maybe they were avoiding debris.

Maybe theres an accident on the side of the road.

Maybe you were just sitting in their blind spot.

The affect heuristic prevents those possibilities from ever crossing our minds, so we end up being illogically upset.

Theres a moral order to driving, and when we see people break those rules, we get upset.

And cyclists trigger this anger when they use the roads but dont follow the same rules as cars.

Ever get mad because someone hops over onto the shoulder on the highway to bypass standstill traffic?

Its the same thing.

If were on the road and we have to follow the rules, we want everyone else to also.