Columnist Susan Snyder: A course that’s all the rage

Friday, Jan. 12, 2001 | 9:22 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Fridays, Sundays and Tuesdays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or 259-4082.

Have you ever:

Made an obscene gesture toward another motorist? Yelled at other drivers inside your car? Moved closer to a motorist who ticked you off? Openly yelled at another driver?

Or have you ever:

Failed to use a turn signal? Driven in another motorist's blind spot? Paid more attention to the cell phone or CD player than what lay ahead a block in the distance?

Come on, 'fess up.

Nobody's perfect. And that means anybody can fall prey to road rage, Las Vegas driving instructor Dan Miller says.

Miller ought to know. He's been teaching people how to drive for a quarter of a century. And come March he's teaching a Community College of Southern Nevada class on how to avoid succumbing to road rage and eliciting it in others.

"Anybody is susceptible," Miller said.

To prove his point, he pulls out a laminated newspaper clipping. It's a story about a Pennsylvania driver education teacher who was punished after he told a teen student to speed up and tailgate another driver who had made him angry.

"People make mistakes," Miller said. "Most people don't intend to cut somebody off. They make mistakes."

Mistakes that simply hack you off.

Miller calls those angry reactions "overly aggressive driving." He says "road rage" isn't accurate and doesn't help people stop.

"It puts the focus on the road and takes the responsibility off the driver," Miller said. "I don't like the term 'accident' either. Most of what we call accidents aren't accidents. Most are preventable."

But "road rage" is the term everyone recognizes. So Miller still uses it in class. And he defines it as, "instances of irrational feelings, thoughts and behavior triggered by another driver's behavior or a traffic condition." (In other words, morons and the Spaghetti Bowl.)

Miller says road rage is actually a physiological condition that raises the heart rate, blood pressure and muscle tension. It has symptoms and a progression of phases.

Impatience leads to frustration, which leads to tension, anger, acting out, violence and "Get outta my way, you idiot!"

"It can happen in a matter of moments, really," Miller says. "In less than a minute you can go from being impatient to acting out. But most of the time it builds up over several blocks."

Miller says he tries to help people learn to recognize the effects of impatience and anger in themselves before it escalates into overly aggressive driving. And he gives some pointers on how to drive defensively so motorists can do their best to avoid eliciting angry responses in others.

He also has a few ideas for making amends when you do something dumb -- by accident. A friendly shrug can work wonders to defuse a situation, as can mouthing the words "I'm sorry." (Make sure, however, it doesn't look like you're saying something else.)

"We empower them to take control of their own situations. It's a matter of taking control of your driving destiny," he said.

Miller's class is at 7:30 p.m. March 26 and costs $29. For registration and other information, call CCSN, 651-5790.