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Road rage can be considered mental disorder

Posted at 5:32 PM, Mar 24, 2016
and last updated 2016-03-24 18:08:23-04

A new survey says the Tampa Bay area is the 15th worst region in the United States. With the amount of traffic problems, you're likely to see more aggressive drivers because of road rage. 

Road rage can be labeled as a disorder for some people. According to the Mayo Clinic, intermittent explosive disorder (IED) is characterized by irrational, explosive anger and frustration. 

"These people have poor coping skills, poor anger management skills, and they blow up without thinking or coping," said Dr. Stacey Scheckner, psychologist with Happy Counseling. 

Road rage can be characterized as the over-honking, tailgating, and cussing. But, the aggressive behavior that turns violent like an assault falls under the intermittent explosive disorder.

As for being one of the worst areas for congestion, that's according to the Dutch navigation and mapping company TomTom, in its annual report compiled from 14 trillion GPS reports. 

It may be surprising, but, this is actually better than last year when Tampa Bay was listed as 11th worst in the nation. Miami is the only other area in Florida ahead of Florida. It’s ranked seventh worst in the nation. Orlando is ranked 16th.

Here the top 15 areas in the nation for traffic congestion, according to TomTom.

1.Los Angeles

2. San Francisco

3. New York City

4. Seattle

5. San Jose

6. Honolulu

7. Miami

8. Washington D.C.

9. Portland (Oregon)

10. Chicago

11. Houston

12. Boston

13. Atlanta

14. San Diego

15. Tampa Bay