When I was younger and in better shape, I was susceptible to it, although, thankfully, I never carried it far enough along to get myself or anyone else hurt. A few years ago, a very tough friend of mine was the passenger in a car that was cut off as it drove onto the Verrazano Bridge into Brooklyn. My friend told his driver to pull up alongside the offending vehicle, so he could yell some choice invective at its driver. My friend's intention was only to blow off some steam; while he never backed down from a fight, he wasn't a psycho. As their car pulled alongside the offending vehicle and my friend craned his head out the window to yell some obscenity or other, he found himself looking down the barrel of a gun. Thankfully, no violence occurred, and the other car sped off, but it did serve as sort of an epiphany-- for me if not for my friend. I'm always aware now that there could be an armed psycho or criminal in the other car, and is it really worthwhile for me to allow my blood pressure to climb to alarming levels? Two minutes after the other car passes and is gone, my life goes on, and so does that of the other driver. Karma being what it is, he'll probably come to some predictable end. Sad to say, the number of really bad drivers seems to climb year after year after year, with no end in sight. At least in NJ.

Say what you will, but the time some twat tried to punch his way through my window and broke his hand in the process was funny as all hell. Auto glass only breaks for a punch in the movies, kids...

There was a time when I was guilty of this, much more than now. Now I restrict it to occasionally flipping somebody off, or a few curses, if that. I never attacked anyone, but it was close a couple of times.

What cured me was being a close witness to a tragicomic incident. On a hot summer day, one of the bridges in my town got shut down all day because of a suicide attempt, while the cops tried to talk the guy down. The traffic started to pile up throughout the city and combined with a few accidents had the streets gridlocked by the time I was heading home from work. Knowing what to expect, I took sidestreets, avoided choke points and was making reasonably good progress and after an hour was three quarters of the way home. (The entire drive normally took about 20 minutes)

I reached another choke point and was two cars back of the intersection. Traffic moving across the intersection entirely blocked it at this point, as people were unwilling to leave the slightest gap. The guy in front of me, a heavyset man in his fifties, jumped out of his car, his face beet red, and started pounding on the roof of the car blocking the intersection. The folks inside the car looked terrified, and the chubby guy suddenly went purple and went down like he was shot.

By the time I moved the thirty feet to him he was in full cardiac arrest, and my limited first aid skills, and that of another motorist couldn`t keep him alive. The traffic was so bad that it took paramedics over 40 minutes to get there.

I swore to myself that day, that no matter how I died, it wasn`t going to be like a damn fool, having a heart attack in the dirt after losing his temper at traffic.

It makes zero sense to engage them. You might catch a guy who is having the worst day of his life, and wants to take it out on somebody.

a dangerous douchbag. hey, I admit if anyone could ever read my lips I am in trouble. but I would never try and harm someone by trying to run them off the road or anything dangerous. some people can be nuts when it comes to road rage and in a heavy vehicle as ammunition. foolish.

I think it is fairly well documented that California, and Los Angeles in particular, is the road rage capital of the country, although I can't imagine why. A friend of mine that I work with was driving to work one morning when he inadvertently cut someone off on the freeway. The guy in the other car took a few shots at my friend, and this being Los Angeles and all, he pulled out his gun and fired back. After he told me this I was leery about ever getting into his car again. Giving into road rage makes someone much more than a douchebag.

I have two words for people who can't control themselves on the road: GROW UP!

The greater DC area is home to some of the highest levels of educated people when one considers degrees and work experience. . .but it's like they attempt to drive stupid on purpose to prove some kind of point. . .