Many drivers are under substance influence or mental illness - Psychologist

• Published date: 21 January 2023
• Publication title: Nigeria - The Nation

Dr Leonard Okonkwo, a Consultant Clinical Psychologist with the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, speaks some of the issues that could culminate in irrational behaviours on the roads and how to manage such situations.

Can you please explain what road rage is?

Road rage is an uncontrollable anger that people feel in response to the behaviour or attitude of other road users. They are usually expressed in the form of violence, and it usually occurs on the road as the name implies.

With the recent spate of such incidences, it might seem like road rage is on the rise; from your perspective as a psychologist, why do you think this is so?

I wouldn't really say it is on the rise; maybe the reporting is more now. However, what I can say is why do we have these incidences? I will look at it from three different angles. First, is the angle of genetics. Some people are prone, by nature of their genetic endowment, to be impatient and hot- tempered. Second, are environmental factors. There is a lot of frustration in the land; financial frustration, social frustration, all kinds. You see someone who has just been given quit notice in his rented apartment and wondering what to do next on the road. Clearly, he would be on edge. There is a lot of stress as well. Part of the environmental factors could also be because a lot of our cities are congested; and the congestion, of course means a lot of traffic, which culminates in a lot of impatience. You see people trying to cut corners, if you're not moving as fast as they want; they try to get in front of you. The third factor is the fact that many of these people are under substance abuse. And these are substance abuse that can trigger emotional responses at the slightest provocation, which will also lead to behavioural responses. The fourth, which is also very important, is that there are people with underlining psychological problem, mental illness.

How do we determine that a person has psychological problem?

To determine that a behaviour is abnormal, you look out for the five Ds: (1) Deviation or deviants, which means there is a normal way that people are expected to behave or accepted by most people; so any behaviour outside that is deviant. A normal human being, for example, will not deliberately run over another human being, reverse and run over him again to make sure he was dead. That is clearly a deviant behaviour. (2) Dangerous. When people begin to behave in a way that endangers other people, such as driving...