title: Victims of road rage: a qualitative study of the experiences of motorists and vulnerable road users.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To gain an in-depth understanding of road rage incidents from the victims' perspectives.
  
  
  METHODS
  The data consisted of 30- to 60-min in-depth semistructured phone interviews with 29 self-identified victims of road rage. Twenty of the participants were in a motor vehicle, whereas 9 were pedestrians/cyclists. A qualitative Grounded Theory approach was used to inductively code and analyze the transcripts.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Victims reported a correlation between their vulnerability and the perceived intensity/severity of the road rage incidents. The most vulnerable victims (pedestrians and cyclists) were the least likely to view road rage incidents as a random event and the most likely to feel that they were specifically targeted. Road rage incidents tended to evolve more rapidly when there was a greater real or perceived power imbalance between the victims and perpetrators. The most vulnerable victims were the most likely to have long-term physical and mental health consequences from the incident, and to significantly modify their behavior after the incident.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our analysis suggests that issues of victim vulnerability play a major role in determining the intensity, severity, and psychological consequences of road rage incidents. This seems particularly true for the most vulnerable of road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists.
authors.affiliation: University of Toronto. cavacuitic@smh.ca
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cavacuiti
authors.affiliation: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto.
authors.forename: Kari Juhani
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Ala-Leppilampi
authors.affiliation: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto.
authors.forename: Robert E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Mann
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Windsor.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Govoni
authors.affiliation: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto.
authors.forename: Gina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stoduto
authors.affiliation: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto.
authors.forename: Reginald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Smart
authors.affiliation: University of Toronto.
authors.forename: Jennifer Ann
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Locke
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000523:psychology*; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology*; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018986:Motor Vehicles; D011889:Rage; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires