Don't try reasoning with a crazed motorist sideswiping you on the road. Offensive drivers believe that road rage is your problem, not theirs—and more and more of them are women.
Professor of sociology Nancy Herman, Ph.D., interviewed 97 men and women in professions from professor to truck driver—all of whom had once committed road rage—to see why they did it. Surprisingly, 63 percent of offenders claimed that it wasn't their fault: road rage, they felt, was an inborn trait.
But most intriguing, says Herman, is the fact that women are "engaging in more road rage" as they move up in the work force. The opposite is true of men, she says; the higher they rise on the job, the less aggressive their highway behavior.
The change, Herman believes, stems from women's boost in self-perception and identity, resulting from a recent climb up the career ladder. "Women are now achieving things and are less tolerant of other people," she says. "They wonder, 'Don't you realize I'm a busy person?'"
