How great on a bright and sunny day with no place to go, to jump in the car and point it out of town. With the windows down, the cruise set and the steady sound of rubber rolling over hard top it's hard to imagine being shot for making someone mad. These past years have coined the phrase 'road rage' and you may be well acquainted with it already by being its source, its victim or both. Speaking from an attitude adjustment, I have regrettably been both. There is freedom and wisdom though and to this end I'll back seat drive.

Most of us recognize road rage as the severe outbursts of violence we read about in the paper and see on the news. An old man is shot for driving slow, a driver is killed by another driver in an argument or someone is purposely cut off the road. These are all examples of what we know to be road rage. What most of us probably have not considered is about how close to home road rage hits. In doing some research I found that numerous authors link road rage closely with aggressive driving and that we can trace it to our driving attitudes well ahead of experiencing rage.

I used to think that if someone was obviously angry with my driving, the only response fitting for me to give them was the same back, especially if I thought I was right and they were wrong. Somewhere along the line I became afraid of the reality of inciting a total stranger to wrath and I began to reconsider how I would deal with other drivers and people overall. I had a problem though, and if you are reading this, chances are you have struggled with this problem too. Being right, I felt justified in letting steam vent in the direction of a driver who did dumb things, especially if they did dumb illegal things and they were swearing at me in the process. This comes naturally, and is the normal response when angry and defending oneself. It's stupid though if a person stops rushing long enough to think about it. I can't remember any time blowing the horn, giving a rude wave, or otherwise correcting a total stranger on the highway and seeing them respond in an appreciative manner that left me confidant that they had seen the error of their ways and learned a much valuable lesson in road manners.

Realizing that I wasn't trying to teach anybody road manners but I was a jerk that only time and circumstances kept someone from shooting my self-righteous soul was a tough pill to swallow. This is the challenge of dealing with road rage, overcoming the power of seeing ourselves as highly right rather than highly idiotic. We tend to argue the excuses that keep ourselves deaf to sense and self restraint at the cost of general safety for the public. It may be surprising for an aggressive driver to wonder why for all the bad attitude we have against bad attitude things don't improve.

Here are some pointers for steering clear of road rage:

Steer clear of aggressive drivers. Their stupidity regarding how to deal with their own emotions and their lack of self-control coupled with a truck, car, gun or bigger body than yours is what makes them dangerous.

Steer clear of the prideful need to correct them. No returning the rude salute, honking the horn, or expressively hating them. Don't stop to argue with or allowing them to engage you into battle because they love to hate. To avoid being incited into a high speed chase, getting stopped at a light, being beaten verbally and physically, coerced off the road, or shot at, don't set them straight. Realize this is a rage looking to happen.

Think about what you don't know. This certainly is a twist for those of us who tend to think we are right all of the time. A fellow I know caught a rude driver at a light and went to his car to tell him so. Bending over to yell at the other driver landed him a broken nose. Thinking about what you don't know like: is this person tougher than I? Carrying a firearm? Looking for someone to vent on? Count to 10 (or whatever number your life is worth to you). This leads to the next burden, take the pain. If you receive sign language, swallow it. If the kids are looking at you like you're a disappointing wimp explain to them (or yourself) that we need to feel sorry for people who are less fortunate than ourselves, that having a disease that propels you to run through life uncontrollably spewing attitude on others is a lot like having cancer, only worse. Explain to them (even if they are not in the car so that you can keep a focus on your priorities) that just like we would not consider injecting a cancer victim with more cancer cells neither can we fix a bad attitude problem by adding more bad attitude to it. This person needs a soul doctor.

Love this person. (What?!) The cure for rage is to defuse it, by learning to care about other drivers as much as we care about ourselves we develop a climate that is safer for driving and we individually do our part by driving in a relatively blameless manner. Set your heart to have their best interest in mind and not your selfish (self-righteous) rights to enforce at their expense. This I have found does produce (more so) an appreciative respect. (Though seldom a thank-you which I try not to require from people anymore.)

If you are going to fight against the stupidity of others and need to 'vent the fury' do it constructively. Write an article, teach your kids, get active in a community awareness... don't beak off to someone endangering them, yourself and who ever else is in proximity of the action.

• Don't take offenses personally. They don't know you, you don't know them (and if they are rude why would you want to?) Say in your mind 'whatever' and keep going.

• Follow the laws of driving and keep from being an annoying driver. Dim your lights, keep your space, stop at intersections, get rid of judgmental thinking and hating other drivers. Aggressive driving is not just about speeding but a matter of anger and self-righteousness and may be found in a "poky Joe" who forces people to slow down.

• Be alert! Understand that some people on the road need more space for errors, and that rush hour traffic isn't the Indy 500 professional drivers only club but a mix of people from all areas of life.

• Take care of the issues in your own life. This means getting your head together enough to leave early so it's not a rush where you find yourself yelling at the little old lady to drive faster.

While road rage exists, so also does road bliss.

There are still drivers who are not willing to let the knots in life tie them up. It may be you travelling with a window open, a destination in mind, a song, a smile and a wave. Just like the wipers keep the rain from blurring your vision, so does right thinking clear the rain of someone's attitude from blurring the vision of the road you are on. Remember that your courtesy on the road affects other drivers just the same as your discourtesy can.