IN TOUCH WITH YOUR INNER BEAST? : STUDY LINKS HORN-HONKING DRIVERS TO ANIMALS' TERRITORIAL BEHAVIOR.

Byline: Shankar Vedantam Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

The next time someone honks at you when you're three microseconds late in responding to a green light, or a car swerves in front of you because you overtook it three miles before, don't get upset. Settle back in your seat and quietly say: ``You animal, you.''

The word is out: Aggressive driving stems from the animal within us. Blasting horns when someone jumps a stop sign is the equivalent of bared teeth. Stepping on the gas to prevent another car from getting into the same lane is - well, you know - how dogs react to lampposts.

``There is something in driving which allows people to live out personalities they might not show otherwise,'' said Stephanie Faul, a spokeswoman for the American Automobile Association's Foundation on Traffic Safety. ``You feel invulnerable, and you're not dealing with other human beings; you're dealing with other cars.''

As reports of aggressive driving mount, psychologists and traffic planners are figuring out ways to ease tempers behind the wheel. Surveys conducted by AAA suggest that many people think aggressive driving is more of a danger on the roads than drunk driving.

In Washington in April, two drivers in a screaming rage at each other lost control of their cars, crashed over the median into oncoming traffic and caused a four-vehicle crash. Three people died.

On an August night last year in Detroit, 6-foot-1 Martell Welch Jr. flew into a rage when the car behind him bumped into his car twice on a crowded bridge. He pulled 115-pound Deletha Word from her car, tore at her clothes and beat her. When he came at her again, she leapt to her death into the Detroit River 30 feet below.

In a British Automobile Association study last year, researchers first suggested that animalistic territorial behavior is part of aggressive driving. They reported that 62 percent of drivers had been tailgated, 59 percent had headlights flashed at them, and 48 percent received obscene gestures.

Aggressive driving ``probably does relate to a personality type,'' said Col. David Mitchell, superintendent of Maryland state police. ``It doesn't relate to gender. We see men and women, young and old, engaging in aggressive driving.''

Along America's interstates, city streets and rural byways, scenes of violent aggression play out every day. With the advent of guns as a common American amenity, the risk of aggressive driving has escalated from a honk to a bullet. Most incidents are less serious, but all of them point to meaner roads.

``There have always been aggressive drivers,'' said Faul. ``As soon as you had two cars, one of them wanted to go faster.

``I think one of the problems these days is that there is more traffic, so your opportunities for aggression are greater,'' she said. ``I am not a very angry person, but when I am on I-66 west on a Saturday morning, I feel like getting out of my car and screaming.''

Traffic congestion may intensify animal aggression. When the number of cars vying for the same amount of road increases, drivers feel their space threatened and raise their hackles.

Washington's 66-mile Capital Beltway, for example, was designed to handle about 350,000 vehicles a day. More than 700,000 vehicles now log 8 million miles of travel on it every day.

``You have so many people giving people digital salutes,'' said Lon Anderson, spokesman for AAA Potomac. ``Washington residents see aggressive driving as worse than drunk driving.''

Not surprisingly, regional variations in aggressive driving are reported.

``In Boston and New York, people will honk at you before the light turns green,'' said Robert A. Baron, professor of psychology at Rensselaer Polytechnic in Troy, N.Y. ``In Indiana, one of our researchers sat in his car at a traffic light when the light turned green. We found the typical person in Indiana didn't honk for 10 to 15 seconds.''

Aggression on the streets may also symbolize a more general pattern in American life: Everyone wants to get his own way. Now.

``We aren't raised to be patient,'' said Faul. ``I get angry at my computer when I wait for it to boot.''

Yet, say psychologists, the most effective weapon against losing your cool behind the wheel is counting to 10. Rage is all about adrenaline and cutting loose, and patience is the opposite.

``When little kids are upset, we distract them,'' said Suzanne Stutman, a therapist with Washington's Institute for Mental Health Initiatives. ``With big kids like us, we can distract ourselves as well. Count to 10 first. Talk to yourself. Put on some music.''

Therapists give other tips to avoid aggressive drivers and control your own temper. Plan journeys to avoid rush hours. Make sure your seat is comfortable, the windshield is clean, and the radio is tuned to a favorite station. If you storm out of the house or the office in a bad mood, wind down before starting out.

``One thing drivers can do is to plan for a little more time on the road,'' said Jeffrey Spring, a spokesman of the Automobile Club of Southern California, an affiliate of the national AAA.

``They should plan realistically how much time it takes to get from one place to another. Aggressive driving only nets them a few seconds of time,'' he said.

``If they actually drive calmly and within the rules, the time difference isn't significant, but the potential for crashes and inciting other drivers is increased significantly.''

Empathy helps, too. Someone who swerved in front of you without warning might just be having a bad day.

But that isn't easy, especially because driving itself can be depersonalizing. Psychologists say that people who are courteous pedestrians can become maniacs behind the wheel.

``The person in the other auto becomes an object,'' said Michael Benjamin, a Washington psychologist.

Faul added: ``You don't think, there's a 37-year-old woman with three children who's worried about her husband. You think, `There's a Ford Taurus that cut me off.' ''