For some reason we are now an angry lot; shoppers, walkers, phoners and particularly drivers are all angry, with road rage topping the anger list.

We see it daily when we drive and most of us express our rage by harmless horn tooting, light flashing or finger pointing, but verbal abuse and physical confrontations have become more common.

What has happened to change driving in Perth from a routine pastime to one that delivers this level of rage? Of all the answers the one that is least likely to be correct is population growth.

Offered as the cause of everything that is wrong in Perth; population growth between 2001 and 2011 was 380,100; by way of perspective, Melbourne grew by 647,000 over the same period.

It doesn't make sense does it? If road rage were simply a consequence of size, why would driving in New York, London or Melbourne still be a relatively simple task when compared to Perth?