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Notes -
I once read a theory about road rage. If you're walking on the footpath and someone walking the other way bumps into you, they will usually acknowledge their error in some way. They may not actually say "sorry" or "excuse me", but they will at least raise their hand, make an apologetic facial expression, or make some kind of gesture to indicate they know they're at fault. Whereas if someone knocks into your shoulder without even acknowledging their error, we tend to interpret it (understandably) as a personal insult, and react accordingly.
When driving a car, you often can't see the faces of the drivers in the other vehicles (and vice versa). The person who cut you off in traffic may not have intended to do so and may feel very embarrassed about their error, but there's often little they can do to signal their remorse other than maybe sticking on their hazard lights for a second, which you may not even notice. What this means in practice is that drivers are far more likely to interpret mishaps on the road as deliberate personal slights about which the perpetrator feels no remorse, rather than unfortunate errors made in a split-second by flustered drivers who feel embarrassed by their own carelessness.
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