Road rage in Sri Lanka: prevalence and psychiatric distress

Abstract

Introduction Road traffic accidents are a major public health concern in Sri Lanka. Aggressive and reckless driving is an important contributor to the high rate of road traffic accidents.Objective We studied prevalence, nature, determinants and associated psychiatric morbidity of road rage among motorists in Sri Lanka.Methods Data were gathered from 238 randomly selected motorists in Sri Lanka using a modified questionnaire regarding road rage and the 6-item version of Kessler's psychological distress scale.Results While 98.7% participants reported being victims of road rage, 85.3% were involved in offending behaviour. However actual physical assault (0.8%) and damage to vehicles (2.5%) were rare. Male gender, young age, increased traffic density and driving a three-wheeler or bus were associated with daily road rage victimisation and perpetration. Psychiatric distress was associated with being a victim of road rage. Conclusions High prevalence of road rage in Sri Lanka

A comparative study of subjective experiences related to driving among outpatient psychotropic users and controls in Ragama, Sri Lanka

“…A recent study on Sri Lankan drivers reported a high prevalence of road rage and significant associated psychological distress among them (12). But there are no published studies on drivers with psychiatric disorders treated with psychotropics for Sri Lanka.…”

Demographic factors, patterns, and trends of deaths following road traffic accidents in the northern Sri Lanka

“…Road traffic accidents (RTA) are unintended collisions of one motor vehicle with another, a stationary object, or a person, resulting in injuries, death, and property loss. RTA is a major worldwide public health problem that kills nearly 1.25 million people and leaves 20-50 million people injured annually (1,3). WHO indicates that road traffic injuries are currently estimated to be the 9th leading cause of death across all age groups globally and predict it to become the 7th leading cause of death by 2030 (4).…”