Squabbling kids driving parents to road rage: Study

A new research has revealed that squabbling children in the back seat of the car is the main reason behind road rage.

According to an online survey conducted on 1,000 British drivers carried out by used car supermarket carcraft, women admitted to being much less tolerant than men about traffic jams, weaving motorbikes and rudeness, with men more likely to exercise kindness to others by giving learners and old people a wide berth.

“Having the kids in the car is distracting and, like being on the phone, may affect reaction times to stimulus on the roads,” the Daily Mail quoted Mike Guttridge, a psychologist as saying.

“We’re all naturally protective of our families, so if we are the victim of bad driving, or just running late and a bit stressed, we may have an adrenalin surge, which is expressed as road rage.

“Women tend to be less aggressive than men, so it’s no surprise that female road rage is triggered by a protective, ‘lioness’ instinct,” he stated.

“The results of the survey weren’t entirely surprising as most parents will know that driving the kids can really drive mums and dads round the bend!, Julia Dallimore, head of marketing at Carcraft said.

“The good news is, Britain does seem to be driving happy, with physical acts of road rage very rare and only 4 percent of drivers claiming to experience road rage on a regular basis,” she added.