USA Today

Stressful commutes spill over to the job: The more hassled drivers feel by their morning commute, the more verbally abusive they are to co-workers and the more they try to sabotage productive efforts.

“The most stressed commuters backbite, make cutting remarks, don’t return phone calls and do all kinds of passive-aggressive things that interfere with work,” says Dwight Hennessy of State University of New York College-Buffalo, who based his findings on a survey of 130 people.

The most aggressive people, both on the road and in the office, may be those who commute in heavy traffic and play no music or listen to relaxation tapes, the type with synthesised sounds or bird songs.

“This music seems to drive some people crazy,” says psychologist David Wiesenthal of York University in Toronto.

Deep-breathing exercises help shed tension, as does listening to one’s favourite kind of music, his studies show.

It’s not distance that drives commuters bonkers; it’s mostly congestion, says psychologist David Van Rooy of Florida International University in Miami. He tested drivers’ anxiety levels when they had six-mile or 18-mile commutes in light or heavy traffic. The more congested the road and the longer heavy traffic lasted, the more depressed, anxious and frustrated people got, he says.

Subjective feelings also were key, Van Rooy says. Those who felt the drive was problematic, even if it wasn’t, were most stressed by it.

Anxiety starts at home when drivers know they’re about to get on congested roads, he found. “We pay a price for these awful commutes,” he says.

Stressed drivers often are hurrying, and that’s what spurs aggressive road behaviour. But the hard-core aggressive driver “will tell you he’s not being aggressive; everyone else is driving too slow,” says psychologist Patricia Ellison-Potter of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.