This is it, righteous internet rage is very similar to road rage. The main factors are:

- the lack of perceived humanity in the perpetrator, because they are in a car or at a distant computer.

- the inability to communicate directly in an interactive way, preventing initial release of the expression

- the reduction of the entirety of the person to their actions in this specific context without room for extenuating circumstances.

The last one is even worse online because of retention. A reverse lens can occur, instead of viewing the ‘bad tweet’ in the context of the person’s overall output, the overall output is viewed and scrutinized via assumptions made from the offending action.

Cars have a particular....lack of communication ability, compared to the internet.

Though a cute joke, I think there is something lost by reducing it to "people can be awful anywhere".

People interact with other drivers while on the road, it's just a different type of communication. I think some element of feeling "removed" from the situation compared to a face-to-face encounter has an effect in our interactions.

I remember reading about a study that found people were more ethical (IIRC, less likely to cheat on a quiz) if there was a pair of eyes in their visual field. Not even real eyes, just a photo.

Every time I’m berated while playing Xbox I wonder if eye contact, or even perceived eye contact, does something to our brains that makes us behave more in accordance with social norms.