How to Manage Road Rage with Kids in the Car
Road rage is probably a common cause of road accidents here in the Philippines. But we have to resist the urge, especially with kids.
Although many say driving is a privilege, those who live in Metro Manila are more likely to say it’s a necessity. With the many people working and commanded to return to the office, even the commute system is straining to maintain the business world’s volatile schedules with their overcrowded transports. While many of these public transportations are what makes sure that the company stays in business, these are the bane of many private drivers (most of whom are working parents) who find themselves frustrated, furious, and possibly in a murderous rage on the road because of the many things to process.
The 20 other drivers and their personalities on the road alongside the traffic, watch their gas gauge drop like a rock in water (because a car burns 18% more gas in stand-still traffic), and then surrender to the possibility of getting their salaries deducted because of being late after bringing their kids to school — it’s a lot to take in.
And as our blood starts to boil, here are some ways to prevent it from doing so to prevent succumbing to road rage.
1. Make sure you have an updated Spotify playlist downloaded
Music has a great impact on our mood while driving. But not everyone responds to the various genres of music the same way. For many who drive through the most traffic-laden places in the metro, nu-metal, rock music, and even J-Pop fill up their playlists while keeping a few “feel-good” songs to make sure the aggression goes elsewhere. The riffs and growls in the metal songs allow a bit of head-banging to unleash the pent-up aggression that distract from the possible road rage.
Others, however, may find comfort in Church music or the classics. But the important part is that your driving playlist needs songs that motivate you, keep you awake, and trigger other wholesome emotions.
2. Assume that everyone driving on the road is armed with a weapon
To keep the mess to a minimum, car owners usually keep their tool kits and hardware for their cars in the trunk. But these tools like tire wrenches, carjacks, and even jumper cables, because they’re made with materials that can tolerate the car’s heat from the engine and various environmental factors, are sturdy enough to serve as a weapon to inflict trauma amidst a person’s road rage. By assuming everyone has a weapon, it also helps us remember that our kids are defenseless and we ourselves don’t know if the driver will come out with a gun or how trained the individual is.
Most recently, this happened in Quezon City when a former cop pulled out a gun against a cyclist reportedly in a fit of rage. Currently, there are case proceedings as the video became viral.
Barely three weeks later, another similar incident occurred when a member of the Pasay Police Force grappled an armed motorcycle rider.
3. Know your traffic windows
Knowing when it’s the least traffic gives us a little breathing space to drive calmly and happily because there are fewer people on the road. We usually define these windows as the times when public transport is the most active in picking people up from the sidewalks. Because some areas of the metro are not commuter-friendly, public transport tries to adjust by closing in as much as they can on the potential passenger before zooming off.
4. Eat a heavy meal
A full meal before heading out at least tempers our rage a little bit by making sure our brains and bodies have enough calories to burn while driving. The common misconception most people have about driving is that they think there’s not much to do except go through the streets, forgetting that we’re also trying not to bump other cars, make sure that the car’s not breaking down when we get there, and ensuring that everyone feels safe when we drive. We’re in a state of high stress, since we’re in a fight-or-flight state of mind, we’re burning more calories because of the adrenaline powering us through it.
But do avoid eating meals that have a lot of sauce or soup. We might end up looking for a bathroom on the way!
5. Know at least three different ways to get to the destination
While there is the fastest way to get to a place, it may also be the most common way to get to a place, reducing its pace to the slowest. Knowing all the side roads also helps reduce road rage since there might be fewer people around. However, there are cases that these side-streets may take us into crowded barangays or skinny alleyways but it’s well worth it if the traffic is much less and prevents us from burning more gas. And although we have Waze and Google, Waze, being community-based in updates, may not always be fully-updated to provide the proper information.
Road rage can make us do something we regret
Screaming and dropping the f-bomb and its variations in different languages (in hopes of sparing our kid’s innocent ears), resisting the urge to drive like we’re in a scene from Fast and the Furious to chase the driver who offended us on the road, we would do these if we were alone especially if we’re that confident in our car and skill. But so long as we have passengers, we have the responsibility as drivers to keep them safe.
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