Rid road rage

That #!&!$ other driver!

Do you live in one of the nation's worst cities for road rage? If you live in a major metropolitan area on either coast, chances are you do. If you live in the Midwest or northwest, odds are that you don't.

Miami ranks as the worst city for most aggressive drivers for the second straight year in a nationwide study of driver habits followed by New York, Boston, Los Angeles and Washington.

But if road rage is a "cultural phenomenon" as one of our experts suggests, how best do we go about combating driver frustration across the nation?

The facts and remedy

When the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety studied more than 10,000 incidents of road rage and violent aggressive driving committed in the 1990s, it found that at least 218 people were killed and another 12,610 injured when drivers got angry. Many of these aggressors are males aged 18 to 26.

The AAA Web site offers a three-step plan to avoid becoming the victim of aggressive driving:
• The first tip is "don't offend," which includes cutting off other drivers, driving slowly in the left lane, tailgating and gesturing to other drivers.

• The agency then warns to "not engage," which advises steering clear of trouble, not making eye contact and getting help, by calling 911, in the event of experiencing dangerous, aggressive driving. It then asks at-risk drivers to "adjust their attitude," which involves "forgetting winning" (for the drivers to whom driving is a Darwinian survival of the fittest), or putting themselves in the other drivers' shoes.

• Finally, they recommend that, if you think you have a road rage problem, seek professional help.