A passenger may observe the same rudeness, feel frustrated by the same traffic, be startled by the same aggressive conduct of other drivers, but watch with amusement or fear as the driver gets angry. It is facile to explain such outbursts while driving as revealing deep-seated hostilities, universal aggressive drives or angry forces that are built into people by some presumed character of their culture, such as its competitive nature. Offended drivers search to find a way of forcing the offender to acknowledge their existence, and work hard to have their intentions recognized. One reason we get angry, Katz said, is we resent that we must give so much importance and energy to petty interactions with strangers in other cars. Rude and inconsiderate drivers do not injure only by showing disrespect, but also by undermining our ability to be in two places at once.
Many people develop what they regard as shrewd ways of moving around society.
When we are cut off by another driver, what can be cut off is an overall game plan. Angry drivers are angry that they must give so much importance to working out the relationship between their petty interactions with other drivers. It's not simply that other drivers impede one's progress to a given destination, but that driving interactions crystallize a challenge common to all of social life. An unpleasant interaction with another driver may interrupt a joyful memory or a phone conversation with a friend, or may break the flow of strategic maneuvers that had been making the trip a testament to one's extraordinary urban cunning, and require one to grip the steering wheel tightly. Getting stuck in traffic makes it painfully clear that I am not the master of my destiny that I thought I was.