Driving me mad: why we get road rage
All In The Mind
ABC Australia
4.5 • 825 Ratings
🗓️ 24 January 2026
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Simon considers himself a calm, conscientious, conflict-avoidant type of person. But in the car, his personality flips — and it scares him.
It can be hard to admit, but many of us do experience road rage.
So what is it about being in the driver's seat that makes us so quick to anger? And does the type of car a person drives have anything to do with their propensity for aggression?
Today, we're talking about road rage; owning up to times we've lost our temper and finding out what we can do about it.
You can catch up on more episodes of the All in the Mind podcast with journalist and presenter Sana Qadar, exploring the psychology of topics like stress, memory, communication and relationships on the ABC Listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts.
Guests:
Dr Amanda StephensSenior Research Fellow,Monash University Accident Research Centre
SimonAll in the Mind listener and business owner
Credits:
- Presenter/producer: Sana Qadar
- Senior producer: James Bullen
- Producer: Rose Kerr
- Sound engineer: Harvey O'Sullivan
More information:
Estimated car cost as a predictor of driver yielding behaviors for pedestrians
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | ABC Listen, podcasts, radio, news, music and more. |
| 0:07.5 | G'day, Dr. Carl here. |
| 0:09.5 | Back in 1986, I could not wait to see teacher Krista McCalliffe on the Space Shuttle Challenger launch into space. |
| 0:16.3 | It's obviously a major malfunction. |
| 0:20.4 | We could not believe what we're seeing. |
| 0:27.2 | The Challenger legacy. |
| 0:29.1 | To hear more, search for science fiction and look out for the Challenger legacy. |
| 0:33.5 | Find it wherever you get your podcast or on the ABC Listen app. |
| 0:38.5 | Okay, I'm going to tell you a story about an experience that in its milder form, I'm going to say it's pretty universal. |
| 0:45.1 | Most of us have felt this. |
| 0:47.1 | But if things have ever escalated beyond mild and you're generally a good person, you'll know this is an experience that can also involve |
| 0:55.3 | a fair bit of embarrassment. |
| 0:57.0 | Hi, Sana, and all in the mind team. |
| 1:01.0 | I heard your call out for road rage incidents and I thought I would reach out. |
| 1:08.0 | This is Simon, and yes, I'm talking about road rage, but not when you're the victim, but |
| 1:14.6 | when you're the rager. |
| 1:15.6 | I run a small food business in regional Victoria. |
| 1:19.6 | A big part of my work is delivering, so I'm in the delivery van all the time. |
| 1:26.6 | Simon comes across as a pretty mild-mannered, even keeled kind of guy. |
| 1:31.5 | And he doesn't mind delivery driving until he hits the city. |
| 1:35.8 | And I've noticed particularly when I'm delivering in Melbourne, or actually only when I'm delivering |
| 1:40.5 | in Melbourne, my reaction to road rage just is not reasonable. I find myself |
... |
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