The United States (U.S.) is confronting a large quantity of road rage incidents, and last year marked one of the worse years on record for road rage shootings across the country.

NBC News said disclosed this on Wednesday.

“The more drivers engage in aggressive ‘anger rumination,’ the more upset they become, and the more they engage in dangerous driving behaviours,’’ said the report published Sunday.

Brad Bushman, a social psychologist and communication professor at The Ohio State University, believed that there were two related factors for the uptick in road rage.

The first is frustration. “Frustration is defined as blocking goal-directed behaviour.

“The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has blocked many goals for many people,’’ the report quoted Bushman as saying.

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The second factor was also related to COVID-19, but in a different way, which was combined with a dramatic rise in gun sales across America over the past few years.

“Although guns don’t directly cause aggression, they dramatically increase the likelihood that any situation involving conflict will be fatal,’’ Bushman said.

Bushman’s analysis makes sense, the report noted, adding that human beings have a built-in emergency system.

“This has likely been inflamed by pandemic-related isolation, the disinformation that has spread on social media, and our nationwide access to lethal weapons,’’  he was quoted as saying.

(Xinhua/NAN)