The cause of road rage is no major scientific secret. American drivers can be rude, obnoxious, selfish and downright dangerous. Just driving down any major thoroughfare in the country can turn Mother Theresa into Leona Helmsley.

Sometimes it is a combination of smaller causes that can create this big problem. Here are some of those.

1. You’ve got both hands on the wheel, a steaming hot cup of coffee in your lap and a speed bump in front of you that looks like Rush Limbaugh is lying across the middle of the highway.

2. You’re listening to the only radio station in the world that still plays that ‘Barbie Girl’ song.

3. The driver in front of you is reading the newspaper, making a cappuccino and folding her laundry.

4. The entire police force has been trying to get you to pull over for 20 miles because of a stupid broken tail light.

5. You realize you’re over 50, single and driving a used Geo.

6. Sure, the other cars are getting out of your way, but it’s only because the kids crying in the backseat make the other drivers think you’re in an ambulance.

7. You live in California.

8. You missed your flight just as you drove through the security fence and fishtailed your car across the runway.

9. After narrowly missing the car in front of you and spinning out in the middle of the freeway, you realize the hot blonde in the other car you were flirting with is a golden retriever.

10. Your driving instructor asks if you don’t mind driving by his friend’s place so he can drop off some bags of unmarked bills and cocaine labeled “Potatoes” in Sharpie.

11. You realize that you’re going 88 miles per hour and haven’t gone back in time.

12. The ferret in your pants may be a great way to get up and move in the morning, but once it builds a nest, it really doesn’t want to leave it.

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