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Do you lose your cool when other drivers cut you up and box you in? Here are some tips on how to cope with aggressive drivers.

What Is An Aggressive Driver?
An aggressive driver is one who refuses to stop at red lights. They break the speed limit, tailgate and meander in and out of traffic. They change lanes repeatedly in an unnecessary and unsafe manner, make hand and facial gestures at other drivers, and honk and flash their lights at other vehicles.
As they tend to drive too fast, this leads to them following the car in front too closely, changing lanes a lot and without indication, overtaking on the hard shoulder and verbally or physically jeering drivers who happen to be in front of them. Sometimes this leads to violence and road rage.

Tips For Coping With Aggressive Drivers
Drive conscientiously. Avoid situations which may aggravate other drivers.
Avoid tailgating.
Limit inappropriate hand and facial gestures.
Don't be tempted to use your horn at aggressive drivers. This only serves to draw their attention to you. Even a polite beep can be misconstrued.
Avoid making eye contact with aggressive drivers and be sure to leave them lots of room.
Distance yourself as much as possible.
Do not attempt to match their speed. This will only anger them further.
Wear your seat-belt in case you need to make sudden adjustments and it will protect you in an accident.
Inform the authorities of aggressive drivers. Report the vehicle description, registration plate details and location, along with the direction that they were heading in if possible. The colour and make of the car is also helpful, as is anything identifiable about the driver. This could potentially avoid a major accident.
If an aggressive driver is later involved in a crash, stop a little way from the scene and let the police know about the inappropriate driving that you saw when they arrive.
The Suzy Lamplugh Trust - the leading authority for personal safety- advises doing the following: "To put off a driver who is following you, a mobile phone or even a toy phone can be useful. Give the driver the impression that you are calling 999 and reading their license plate number to the police on the phone. There is a good chance they will stop pestering you." For more information, visit Suzy Lamplugh Trust .
How To Avoid Being An Aggressive Driver
Limit stress whilst driving - play calming music, plan ahead, and leave plenty of time to get to your destination. As the saying goes, better late than never.
Make sure to be polite, even if other drivers are not, in order to steer clear of arguments.
If another driver offends you, take a deep breath and let them past.
Ensure a gap of at least 2 seconds between yourself and the car in front in good driving conditions. When the car in front passes a fixed object such as a signpost, you should not pass the same spot for at least 2 seconds. In poorer driving conditions, increase this to between 4 and 10 seconds.

So your suggesting that i pretend to use my phone whilst driving? Ok, and i presume the 3 points and the fine for using a phone whilst driving is pretend too?

If you read the law-if you feel under direct threat-you can use a mobile whilst driving.It is a VERY grey area though

All the above sounds a little bit like letting them get away with it to me but I agree with what you say. My theory is if you are not prepared to back up your actions outside of the car don't start or be aggressive while inside your car.

Its a little bit like the internet, too many people are happy to be aggressive while behind a keyboard but face to face they would be different. Same in a car, people are too quick to throw up hand gestures, shout or tailgate but in a similar situation out of the cars face to face they wouldn't say a word.

And no I don't jump out of my car and try fight anyone who cuts me up, I drive by my own theory and think before I engage in any road rage

Good advice there from Dupleman
I would just like to add that if someone decides to gesture to me then a quick tap of the brakes usually makes them back off.Most gesturers are cowards who wouldnt do it to your face so the idea that you are going to stop makes them think twice.Of course this didnt work in the case of Steven Lawrence who was stabbed to death during a road rage attack so probably best to just carry on and not engage others

i cant help but feel that smiley at the end of that sentence is a little ill fitting as for people driving, bring me your gestures, see how many cares i give

i cant speak for the whole country , but where i live on the kent / london border the roads are murder, i am no saint when it comes to driving but i like to think im aware of whats going on around me , if i see anyone comming behind me in a hurry im out the way , the trend seems to be sit in the overtaking lane ,fast lane and go as slow as possible now the inside lane is clear so i get behind and let them know im there not tail gateing but letting them know , now either they dont move and i undercut ,yes i know , or i move a tad closer , now i dont want to break the law , but i do want to get to work , im not talking about breaking the speed limit just getting near it , normally as i pass i get the gestures , one handed , as they are holding the phone in the other , now this isnt a one off , its like 4/5 days a week in the eyes of the law im wrong , getting to close, or under cutting , but am i , its people that drive badly that bring out the darkside in me , anyway ive had my rant

cervantes wrote:i cant help but feel that smiley at the end of that sentence is a little ill fitting as for people driving, bring me your gestures, see how many cares i give

Smiley gone.yeah after reading back it did look a bit insensitive.wasn't ment to be

Agree with Arsenal, it is the trend in the S/East to hog the outside lane when theres clear blue sky in the other lanes. For the life of me I have never been able to understand this mentallity. Sometimes you assume they will turn right at the next roundabout, but that doesn't work for me when its about a mile & a half up the road, and its not a race or used to driving on foreign roads thing, it s frankly just bloody mindedness.
As for tailgaters. I had an incident recently with a pratt of a taxi driver desperate to get down town for another fare Driving unbelievably aggressively behind my lil red Gen 2, not recognising my concerns at this & with the brake touch just escalated the situation. Eventually I had to stop at a red + the car crossing the junction was a good reason for stopping aswell. The muppet went in the back of me & slightly damaged my number plate. When confronted for details the Somalian was rude, un apologetic claimed it to be my fault
His boss got to hear of the incident & apparently gave him a dressing down, good enough for me.
Anyway I was talking to someone about the incident, they informed me that the gov't policy for this behaviour is that I should pull over and let the vehicle overtake me with the idea that if something happens as a result of there reckless driving, it would happen to someone else.

What is wrong with this country,can anyone tell me ?????

its not just outside lane hoggers that annoy me... its the "Oh look a drop of rain, poo I better put my high beams and fogs on cos its raining, although I don't need to put my wipers on yet as its not that bad" grrrr....

my brother has a good plan in place to deal with tailgaters
he's an engineer by trade, gets his hands on 100's ball bearings, anyway, he drives with a mcdonalds cup in his drivers door. Should a tailgater make the mistake of staying up his trumpet after being gently warned by the brakelight, he grabs a slack handful of ball bearings and oik's them up into the air out the window, lets just say they soon back off, the couple that have made more of it decided against it after he poured himself out of his car (he's a big fella.......6ft 5, 22 stone)
no need for it.....it must be punished

I don't ever confront anyone.there is a reason.
I'm a professional driver.
In 23 years I have seen every mistake possible.They don't annoy me they don't antagonise me.AT ALL.

My theory is i do the same back to them as they did to me. Tailgate i stamp on the brakes slow down then floor leaving van man stuck in the outside lane trying to ge his speed back up, or for reps pull in let them past and tailgate them back box them in behind lorries then show i can drive much faster than they can.

this is the bit i dont get , why stamp on brakes , why then tailgate yourself , why not just let them past ,then continue on your journey at the pace your happy with, we all see the guy in a hurry in our mirrors before he reaches our bumper, me, i look to get out the way job done ,

pg3r wrote:My theory is i do the same back to them as they did to me. Tailgate i stamp on the brakes slow down then floor leaving van man stuck in the outside lane trying to ge his speed back up, or for reps pull in let them past and tailgate them back box them in behind lorries then show i can drive much faster than they can.

I'm appalled by that statement......Your the kind of driver I steer clear of, if we all thought this way we would have had WWIII by now!

Stamping on breaks CAUSES accidents, tailgating CAUSES accidents these are the sort of comments i would expect from an aggressive driver and this thread it would seem is all about YOU then ?

I hope for your sake you Insurance company is not reading this.

Just let the idiots pass, the law is their to catch them and deal with it not pick up the pieces when you do the same back and my other half will testify to this after scraping up body parts from the road !!!!

I work within the M25 and central (W1) London everyday for the last year with my current job, I have had ONE hand gesture/altercation in all that time, my life is on the road, some folks are just born to recieve it.

I leave for work with plenty of time and get in early so as not to have the need to be pushing tin so to speak and again I say I am in the midst of all that is busy in central on a daily basis, yes their are always plums about I just don't get near them, not a problem for me, I think drivers who do this for a living just learn how to deal with it by in effect NOT dealing with it.

It does not effect me like some so I must be doing something right.

thedupleman wrote:I don't ever confront anyone.there is a reason.
I'm a professional driver.
In 23 years I have seen every mistake possible.They don't annoy me they don't antagonise me.AT ALL.

This

I'm with Mr Tuscan and Tricky on this one. The best way to deal with aggressive drivers is just not to deal with them - simply avoid.

We all have our testosterone fueled moments, but is it really worth your life?

I struggle to see why anyone thinks they should travel down a motorway up someone's arse or stamp on the brakes of a vehicle.
What exactly do you think you are achieving.il tell you what-
Your worse than the driver your trying to educate.......
So what if he pulled out in front of you.....so what if he overtook you....so what if he nearly killed you.HE DIDN'T.

Chill pills needed when driving.
Just remember when the coppers see you driving like a cock it's you they will stop.
Iv had people stuck behind a coach for miles.They finally overtake them slam the brakes on.my first thought.....
Your going to risk the lives of 53 kids for a few minutes hold up?

Everybody has bad days.acknowledge mistakes with a wave.And get on with life.not a competition.
Everyone has views and they all differ

pg3r wrote:My theory is i do the same back to them as they did to me. Tailgate i stamp on the brakes slow down then floor leaving van man stuck in the outside lane trying to ge his speed back up, or for reps pull in let them past and tailgate them back box them in behind lorries then show i can drive much faster than they can.

really

all i can do is quote skippy the bush kanagroo, TUT TUT TUT

i have a real problem with road rage, a problem ive been on top of for a while now but seeing drivers doing what you have just posted makes my blood boil, if i was a copper and saw you or anyone else doing this then id find enough faults with you and your car that you'd be off the road making it safer for everyone

i also agree with rik, as a rep you should watch what image your projecting

Very nice write up, you are absolutely right about avoiding, ignoring them.
Personally I don't have to much troubles with aggressive drivers because they usually are gone before you know it.
And if you do stumble uppon one just think like this, will my reaction to a person I hardly know gain me anything in my life?

It could be that the aggressive driver is a guy with a pregnant woman in the backseat and needs to hurry up!
It could be an angry father that just got a phone call from an angry teacher.
It could be somebody who woke up late and is going to be fired if he's late for work one more time.
...

If you react agressively to an agressive driver guess what that makes you?

I am not saying all aggressive drivers have legit reasons to drive in such a manner but you can't say you've never had to hurry
up and drove somewhat more 'agressively' then you do normally.

Guys i dont drive aggressively but some of the pushy bulleying prats on the road deserve to be it done back to them. Its making a point to them about it in there mind being ok for them to tailgate, cut people etc push into spaces in traffic jams instead of joining the back of the que. If i make a mistake fair enough but when im waiting for the car infront to move back to the middle lane im not letting a company car rep sit on my bumper without taking meassure to express,my displeasure of aggressive driving tatics. Returning favour highlights for these assholes. Think of it as the team america speech lol.

ive sat here for about half an hour now , writing then deleting, i dont want to get personal , im sure being an area rep for the forum is not a 50k job , but i think you should be the voice of sanity, and not the sinner, as dupes said at the beginning if they pee you off that much , report them , job done,

I know.i pay them badly.its only 45k

I've been diddled .

Seems like you've been diddled twice. ( Or is it repetetive strain )