You Might Not be Experiencing Road Rage but Something Else

I consider myself to be a pretty calm person.  It usually takes quite a bit for me to get really angry or upset.  However, I have more of a short fuse when it comes to driving.  I wouldn’t say that I have road rage.  Maybe more of road anger?  Anyway, there is a new word to describe said road rage.  Plus, as an added bonus, it very well may be genetic.

For starters, the term “accelerousal” is used to describe your behavior during accelerated events.  In layman's terms, you are more likely to get upset in quick moments of stress.  Like having to slam on your brakes because someone was too busy scrolling Facebook instead of driving and they cut you off.  I’ve seen it happen too many times.

Get our free mobile app

So, why do people think it may be genetic?  Well, that has to do with the fact that researchers consider “accelerousal” a human characteristic.  This is based on the fact that most people tend to get upset while driving on a consistent basis.  Hence the characteristic part.  Which means that most characteristics are genetic.  Make sense?  Don’t worry I had to think it out too.  Just know that you can thank your mom or dad for having a short fuse when you hit the road.

For me, this kind of makes sense.  I am usually a bit tenser when I drive and, as my fiancé puts it, too passive.  So, I tend to react a bit differently when things go wrong.  If someone does something stupid in front of me, I have no problem yelling or saying something that I shouldn’t.  That I can relate to my mom.  On the other hand, my dad is a bit more laid back and, at times, I tend to just go with the flow and won’t try to squeeze my way in front of someone or really speed up for the sake of making a pass.

Either way, I think we can all agree that bad drivers make us all crazy and they should be the ones who get called out.  Leave us accelerousals alone.

Source: Studyfinds.org