[Road-rage in the general population]

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the prevalence of road rage in the general population and the sociodemographic factors associated with this phenomenon.

Methods: A total of 2,500 interviews were carried out in the population of Castile and Leon aged 14-70 years. Road rage was evaluated in the year prior to the survey using a test with eight questions.

Results: One-third (31.1%) of the interviewees reported they had experienced a situation involving road rage during the previous 12 months (26.8% on more than one occasion). Among these episodes, 2.6% involved "serious" aggressors. In drivers, the probability of experiencing road rage increased in line with the number of kilometers driven per week (odds ratio [OR]=1.52), decreased as the age of the driver increased (OR=0.975), and was highest in men (OR=1.287), university graduates (OR=1.408), and persons living in towns with over 10,000 inhabitants (OR=1.25).

Conclusions: The results of this study show that road rage affects almost a third of the general population of Castile and Leon, which would amply justify the adoption of prevention and/or reduction measures.