Women drivers get angriest but men are more likely to act out their aggressive impulses by blowing their car horn or even chasing down and confronting other drivers.
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A recent national survey of aggressive driving behaviour which revealed these findings will now be followed with an ACT-specific one, and drivers of all ages and genders are being invited to participate.
The ACT government is funding the investigation, which potentially would provide it with the opportunity to take a law enforcement lead against road rage and aggressive driving behaviour.
In the government's latest road safety funding round, $63,000 was allocated to the Monash University's Reducing Aggressive Driving (RAD) program.
It's an academic assessment of what is an increasing issue on Australian roads, and Canberra drivers are being asked to be frank and honest in their contributions so as to better understand how to tackle it.
Researcher Amanda Stephens, who has been looking into aggressive driving for a number of years, said the ACT data could help provide valuable insights which would help frame the next steps in behaviour modification.
"To address the problem we need to properly understand it," Dr Stephens said.
"The ACT is a good starting point because despite what appears to be a less pressured and less traffic-heavy environment for driving, the problem is no worse or no better in Canberra than in much larger cities."
Road rage is one of the so-called "hot button" topics of conversation and has gathered increased impetus with the ever-increasing popularity of dash cam footage uploaded onto social media.
The vision captures drivers chasing down cyclists, motorcyclists kicking in car doors, people deliberately reserving into others at traffic lights, and angry car owners even driving into speed camera poles.
None of which surprises Dr Stephens, whose national study into The Frequency and Nature of Aggressive Acts on Australian Roads was published in January.
"We found the ACT comparable with other states and territories and interestingly, aggressive driving behaviour is linked to other risky behaviours such as drink driving," she said.
She was also troubled by aggressive driving behaviour becoming patterned because of perceived social acceptability, even though the openness of people to talk helps in collecting the data.
"When drivers respond aggressively, often they feel justified in doing so and are quite frank and open in talking about it," she said.
"In general, women drivers actually get angrier than men but are less likely to display it in overly aggressive ways.
"It's male drivers, and particularly younger males, who are more likely to chase another car."
Last month, two men were arrested over an firearms incident in Queanbeyan which was at first thought to be bikie-related but may, in fact, be a case of extreme road rage.
An 18-year-old man suffered gunshot wounds to his leg when shots were fired at a dark blue Toyota Yaris in Molonglo Street, Queanbeyan.
One of the alleged perpetrators, a 33-year-old man who fled to Queensland, was charged with various firearms and traffic offences.
His alleged co-offender, a 31-year-old Queanbeyan man, was charged with concealing a serious offence and will face court again on January 7.
Dr Stephens is encouraging as many ACT people as possible who are over 18 and hold a valid driver's licence to take part in her research, which you can find online here.
All details will remain confidential.
