NCJ Number
203572
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 18 Issue: 5 Dated: October 2003 Pages: 517-531
Editor(s)
Ronald D. Maiuro Ph.D.
Date Published
October 2003
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This study examined the victim-offender overlap around road rage, with the intent to explore the demographic profile of road ragers who were both the victims and perpetrators of road rage, and to determine if they represented a unique collection of individuals.
Abstract
In recent years, road rage has received considerable attention and scrutiny from both the media and the public. Road rage has been defined as an incident where a driver or passenger attempts to kill, injure, or intimidate another driver, passenger, or pedestrian or damage their vehicle. The purpose of this study was to examine the victim-offender overlap around road rage. Drawing from the literature on violent offending and victimization, it was hypothesized that the victims of road rage and road rage offenders were more likely to be male, young, and reside in urban environments, and that these differences would be consistent regardless of the severity of road rage. Participants of the study consisted of 2,610 Ontario, Canada residents selected from all regions of the province. Road rage indicators were adopted from a classification of road rage behavior developed in 2002. Two sets of four indicators were used, one set directed at experiences of road rage victimization and the second set focusing on road rage offending. Five demographic measures, gender, age, marital status, educational attainment, and geographic locale, were adopted to test for variations in road rage victimization and offending. In regards to the demographic profile of road rage victims, offenders, and victim-offenders, the results were inconsistent with the violence literature. Studies of involvement in crime and violence find that males are substantially more likely than females to be criminally involved and to be the perpetrators of violence. Consistent with these results, it was found that road rage offending, both verbal-gesturing and physical-threats was the practice of males. Males were almost twice as likely as females to participate in road rage as perpetrators. Research also suggests that victims of violence are also more likely to be male. However, in looking at road rage victimization, and controlling for other factors, male and female motorists were equally likely to be the victims of verbal-gesturing and physical-threats of road rage. Future research is suggested in the use of a larger sample of motorists and to analyze other characteristics and behaviors that may be linked to road rage. References