Road rage is on the rise in the UK, with 80.4 per cent of drivers describing themselves as victims of it, according to a recent Gallup poll which found Britain was the world’s worst country for road rage incidents.

While it was once the ‘white van man’ who was the most common offender, worryingly, more women are taking to the roads angry.

Emma Tapping, 36, a mother of three who lets out holiday cottages in the Isle of Man, agrees a stressful life means she is less forbearing on roads. ‘I don’t have time for bad drivers,’ she says

Just this month 22-year-old Fatima Festus was spared jail after she dragged a woman from her BMW in Didsbury, Manchester and beat her up while their babies were in the cars. Festus was sentenced to a 12-month community order for the road rage attack.

Feeling aggressive on the roads is clearly not the domain of men alone. In fact, a recent study by car manufacturer Hyundai suggested road rage affected women more.

It found that women were more likely to lose their cool because of their instinctive ‘early warning system’.

‘Evolutionary theory suggests our early female ancestors had to develop an acute sense of danger for anything that threatened them and their young,’ says Patrick Fagan, a psychologist from Goldsmiths University London, who led the study.

‘That “early warning system” instinct is still relevant, as our skulls house a Stone Age brain. Women tend to score higher in neuroticism in personality tests, which means they’re more prone to irritability and stress and get angry and frustrated quicker.’

Emma Tapping, 36, a mother of three who lets out holiday cottages in the Isle of Man, agrees a stressful life means she is less forbearing on roads. ‘I don’t have time for bad drivers,’ she says.

‘I’m always flashing my lights, beeping my horn and swearing. I turned off my engine once and got out to confront a van driver at a roundabout when he was honking me to get moving.

Emma said: ‘I’m always flashing my lights, beeping my horn and swearing'

‘I had my three children in the car and screamed at him, then drove at a slow 20 miles an hour knowing he was behind me and that it would infuriate him.

‘I’ve had altercations with women, too. I had a stand-off with one. Both of us were shouting “You move!” “No, you move!” until she gave in.’

Emma’s partner, James Brown, 42, shakes his head in resignation. ‘I find Emma goes a bit over the top in the car. Often people drive badly but I don’t think it’s that big a deal. I don’t know why she gets so worked up,’ he says.

‘Once I was in the car with her when someone was driving too close behind. She stopped and got out and started mouthing off at him. I waited in the car, and when she came back, she had a go at me for not supporting her!’

Being a victim of female road rage can be particularly terrifying. Eleanor Greene, 42, a TV producer from North London, recently tried to pull out at a busy junction, but the woman driving next to her wouldn’t let her.

‘I nudged into her lane and the passenger — the driver’s daughter, in her 30s — made an offensive sign, called me every name under the sun and said I’d nearly killed her mother,’ says Eleanor. ‘I was really upset. She was so aggressive. The rage was ten times more extreme than any I’ve suffered from a man.’

Dr Lisa Dorn, Associate Professor of Driver Behaviour and director of the Driving Research Group at Cranfield University, believes female road rage isn’t necessarily about being an angry person.

Emma’s partner, James Brown, 42, shakes his head in resignation. ‘I find Emma goes a bit over the top in the car'

She attributes it to the fact that the car is often the only space where women feel they can act this way. ‘It is a unique environment where you don’t have to account for your behaviour,’ she says. ‘You can shout and swear at people and yet drive away without any repercussions. You are in your own bubble and it could be a safe way of letting off steam.’

Where you live can also have an effect on how stressed you become on the roads.

Lynn Tolmon, a 38-year-old mother of one, admits it was a factor in her recent decision to move from the traffic-congested streets of Liverpool to quiet Hayling Island in Hampshire. Her appalling road rage, she says, was something she didn’t want her 15-month-old son, Toby, to see.

‘I got road rage every time I drove, and often ended up racing or chasing cars, blocking them, or scaring people,’ says Lynn, a single, stay-at-home mother.

Lynn Tolmon said she did not want her son to witness appalling road rage

‘When I was eight months pregnant, I used my campervan to force a cyclist off the road. He was cycling dangerously — taking up too much of the road and forcing other drivers to compensate. He didn’t expect a hormonal blonde to be having none of it!

‘When he started shouting about killing me, I got out and used my baby bump to make him look bad in front of onlookers.

‘Adrenaline was coursing through my body and I was shaky afterwards, thinking about what could have happened. But I didn’t feel anyone would hurt me.’

Having her son made her realise something had to change as she was putting herself — and him — in danger. ‘My behaviour on roads was a huge factor in the move to the countryside,’ says Lynn.

‘Road rage is an epidemic up there. I’ve had men leaning in through my window threatening me because I didn’t let them out at a junction, I’ve had lorries try to force me off the road because I didn’t give way, I’ve had people damage my van because I was parked in “their” spot. I’m so glad that no longer happens.’

But aside from moving, how can you counter road rage?

‘Understanding your emotional and physical health and knowing triggers before you step inside the car is so important,’ says Dr Richard Sherry, clinical psychologist and director of London clinic Psychological Systems Ltd.

‘Your reaction is a reading of where you’re at in your body. Know how tired or stressed you are. Did you sleep well? Are you happy in your relationship? Are you dehydrated? When women are stressed, they feel it more acutely and their reactions will be more visceral.

‘If you recognise these elements, try to combat them — leave earlier, have plenty of water in the car, listen to relaxing music, try to breathe and count to ten every time a driver does something that infuriates you.’

Of course, this is more easily said than done.

‘I know it’s hard, but it’s important to remember your behaviour will have consequences,’ says Dr Sherry. ‘It could, in extreme circumstances, land you in jail.’