Delivery man beaten to death in Delhi road rage case: What makes drivers so angry?

Another day in India and another incident of road rage. This time, a 39-year-old Delhi delivery worker was beaten to death – allegedly by two young men on Saturday night for not giving way. The victim was identified as Pankaj Thakur, who worked as a shop helper and also delivered groceries on a part-time basis, police said. The police have arrested the accused Manish Kumar (19) and 20-year-old Lalchand. Such cases have seemingly become ubiquitous in India. Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari told the Lok Sabha in March 2022 that as many as 215,000 cases of road rage and rash driving were reported in 2021. That figure was a jump from 1.83 lakh cases in 2020 – which in turn rose from 1.55 lakh cases in 2019. Let’s take a closer look at road rage and the worst incidents in the country: What is road rage? As per New Indian Express, experts call road rage a ‘sudden expression of anger’. This can be a response to fellow motorists or pedestrians. People involved in such incidents suffer from anger and impulse control issues, experts say.

This can result in belligerent, and violent behaviour.

Experts say this is a “psychological disorder” wherein the motorist already suffers high levels of anxiety and stress – and any adverse incident pushes them over the edge. Dr Ravindra Munoli, associate professor, department of psychiatry, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, told the newspaper both men and women and people of all ages can suffer from road rage. [caption id=“attachment_12499202” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The problem of road rage seems to be worsening in India. AFP[/caption] “Road rage is linked to a primitive brain-hormone response lacking rationalisation as well as emotional intelligence. That pushes the affected individual to feel the need to dominate over others, leading to aggression or anger,” Munoli explained. However, the American Psychological Association (APA) says young males are most likely to be involved in such incidents. The APA quoted studies as saying that those who abuse drugs and alcohol are also more likely to experience road rage. The website quoted counseling psychologist Jerry Deffenbacher of Colorado Stae University as saying ‘high-anger drivers’ identified themselves as

• Engaging in antagonistic and belligerent thinking
• Taking more chances while driving
• Exceeding the speed limit, switch lanes quickly
• Are more likely to abuse others and honk
• Are angry in general
• Displaying anxiety and impulsiveness
• Acting out

The advent of technology has added one more act to this list of behaviours – texting while driving. NBC quoted PR firm Farah and Farah as saying that a survey found that 60 per cent of people consider texting while driving a form of road rage. Matt Gillespie, a project manager at the PR firm Fractl, who worked with Farah and Farah on the survey. “Years ago, the term ‘road rage’ only centered on outlandish driving behaviors — like getting out of your car to fight — but there are many other types of behaviors that may not feel aggressive to the people doing them, but are felt as aggressive to others, and ultimately that’s dangerous,” said Gillespie. “We were interested in the whole aggregate of driving behaviors, specifically in how they correlate with accidents — whether they look like road rage or not.” How can it be avoided? According to WebMd, road rage can be avoided by:

• Sleeping enough
• Avoiding booze
• Leaving for your destination early
• Playing relaxing music
• Being aware of yourself
• Keeping pictures of loved ones handy
• Thinking of the consequences of your behaviour

Worst incidents of road rage Journo killed for overtaking: In January, a journalist was killed by three men in Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh. Sudhir Saini, the journalist was on a motorbike when he overtook a vehicle. Angered over this, the men stopped the journalist and beat him up. Saini was taken to the hospital where he succumbed to injuries. Student ‘run over’ for objecting to smoking: A young Sikh student was killed in September 2017 for reportedly objecting to a man for smoking in public. According to reports, Gurpreet Singh was near AIIMS in the Capital, eating his dinner when a man came and started smoking on his face. Gurpreet objected to the man blowing smoke on his face and asked him to not do so. The man, who was reportedly inebriated, then threatened Gurpeet and later hit Gurpreet’s bike with his car. Three days after the incident, Gurpreet Singh succumbed to his injuries. [caption id=“attachment_12499622” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Graphic: Pranay Bhardwaj[/caption] Stabbed to death: Pawan Kumar, 26, an employee of a travel firm was stabbed to death by a trio on a busy Bengaluru road on 18 September 2017 in a road rage incident. Pawan kept laying in a pool of blood for nearly half an hour, but no one helped. Army officer kills civilian: This 2018 case became big headlines owing to the accused being from the Army. Chandigarh’s Sector 37 resident Parveen Yadav died when he got involved in a scuffle with Col Manvir Singh Bains. News reports had then said that the two parties were in a spat on the dividing road of Sectors 34 and 35, Chandigarh after their two vehicles brushed past each other. Bains reportedly lifted him up by the collar during the argument; Yadav fell unconscious on the spot and was declared dead when he was taken to hospital. Bihar MLC’s son kills boy: Rocky Yadav, the son of a Bihar politician, in May 2016 opened fire on Aditya Sachdeva, a 19-year-old who was driving a Maruti Swift borrowed from his father to celebrate the end of his exams. As per an NDTV report, when Sachdeva overtook Yadav’s car, he beat up Sachdeva and furiously asked him, “Don’t you know who I am?” Yadav was handed down the life sentence and his mother, Manorama Devi, was suspended by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar from the party. Murder over public urination: A 33-year-old e-rickshaw driver, Ravinder, lost his life in 2017 when he was beaten to death with brass knuckles and bricks wrapped in towels by a group of Delhi University students. The reason: He had stopped two of the students from urinating in the open at north-west Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar. Parking’s a real pain: In February 2014, two brothers, Shadab Singh and Kaptan Singh, were shot dead by a man Rahul Dabas over an argument about parking space in Bawana area in outer Delhi. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.