You probably know the term “road rage.” Generally speaking, it means losing your temper while driving. It can take many forms.
For instance, you might yell at someone or gesture out the window at them if they cut you off in traffic. You may even chase after a vehicle if you feel the driver did something you didn’t like. In more extreme cases, you might even get out of your car and have a fistfight with another driver in the street or a parking lot.
Road rage can permanently change your life, whether you’re on the receiving end or you’re the person who lost your temper. Let’s discuss that right now.
Why Do Judges Crack Down on Road Rage Drivers?
Aggressive driving or road rage causes 66% of traffic fatalities. When you think about that, it makes sense. If someone loses their temper while driving, they’ll more likely do something reckless that can injure or even kill someone.
When someone shows up in court following a road rage incident, it’s no wonder that most judges look at that behavior harshly. They know that even if this driver didn’t injure or kill someone, they could easily have done so.
Now, let’s go over how road rage can change your life if you’re on the receiving end.
You Might Sustain Serious or Permanent Injuries
If someone hits your vehicle with their car during a road rage incident, they might injure you badly. They might hit you in such a way that you sustain a TBI. You might sustain whiplash or break some bones.
If that happens, you might eventually recover, but you may not. Perhaps you can’t walk anymore, and you must use a wheelchair. Maybe you sustained a TBI that’s so severe that you can’t speak clearly or understand language anymore.
You may walk with a cane if you don’t get your full motor skills back. You might have severe headaches frequently if you sustained a head injury.
You Might Not Work at Your Old Job Anymore
With the injuries we just described, perhaps you can’t work at your old job anymore. Maybe your injury prevents you from doing the work that you once could.
Perhaps you can work from home if your boss allows that or if the work that you do permits it. You might have a job where that’s not possible, though. You may have a position that requires your physical presence at a brick-and-mortar location outside your home.
If so, maybe you must give up your career entirely. You might look at getting into a different career, but you may feel some sadness or depression following the news that you can’t do the same job you once could.
You Might Serve a Lengthy Jail Sentence
Maybe you initiated a road rage incident. If so, your life can certainly change permanently after that as well.
Following a conviction, you might face a lengthy jail sentence. A judge might see that you got out of your car and punched someone, or maybe you hit them with a bat or a tire iron. Perhaps you even shot and killed them. These incidents happen far too often.
How long you must stay in jail depends. If you punched someone, you might get a few years behind bars. If you shot and killed them, though, you can easily get multiple decades in jail from a judge who has little compassion for you following your actions.
You Might Face a Civil Action
You may also face a civil action following a road rage incident. Perhaps you must serve a long prison sentence, but that comes from criminal charges. The victim or their family might bring civil charges as well.
They might sue you if the victim can’t walk anymore or they can no longer communicate. They may sue you for millions, and if you lost your temper and severely injured the other driver or one of their passengers, you have little defense.
You can lose everything you have and end up in jail on top of that. If so, your entire life fell apart because you made a bad decision.
Whether you’re on the receiving end or the person who lost their temper and did something foolish, road rage incidents can change lives. You should remember that when you’re on the road. Don’t lose your temper, and take a deep breath if someone cuts you off or does something else you don’t like.
