The Correct Answer and Explanation is:
The correct answer is True.
Driving requires a person’s full cognitive attention, clear judgment, and quick reflexes. Any condition that compromises these abilities significantly increases the risk of a crash. Driving with extreme emotions, such as intense anger, profound sadness, or even overwhelming excitement, creates a state of impairment that is comparable to the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol or while severely fatigued.
Strong emotions act as a powerful internal distraction. When a driver is angry or upset, their mind is often preoccupied with the source of that emotion, not on the complex task of navigating traffic. This emotional distress can lead to a form of tunnel vision, where the driver may not notice important peripheral information like pedestrians, changing traffic lights, or other vehicles. Judgment becomes clouded, leading to aggressive and reckless behaviors like speeding, tailgating, and unsafe lane changes, commonly known as road rage.
Similarly, deep sadness or anxiety can result in inattentiveness and delayed reaction times. A driver lost in sorrowful thoughts is mentally absent from the driver’s seat, making them slow to perceive and react to sudden hazards.
These effects are directly parallel to those caused by alcohol and fatigue. Alcohol is a depressant that impairs coordination, slows reaction time, and hinders decision making. Fatigue has a nearly identical impact, reducing alertness and cognitive function. In all three scenarios, the driver is not operating at full mental or physical capacity. Because emotional turmoil can impair judgment and reaction time just as severely as alcohol or exhaustion, the statement that it is just as dangerous is considered accurate from a traffic safety perspective.
