Rash driving is actually a disease, according to a doctor in China, who is now attempting to cure his country of it.
Dr Jin Huiqing has spent nearly three decades trying to figure out why some motorists seem more accident prone than others. He has studied records of thousands of Chinese buses, vans and taxi drivers, put dozens through neurological tests and examined hundreds of blood samples.
And, since last year, he has been trying to find gene markers for bad drivers, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported.
"Cars can be fitted with the highest levels of equipment: safety belts, air bags, and so on. Roads can be more regulated. But people, how can you help them become better? People still need to be controlled, they must face restrictions," he said.
The doctor tries to target the root cause of crashes by identifying the physical or psychological traits of poor drivers, such as risk-taking or poor response time under stress, and keeping them off the streets or ensuring they get adequate training.
The cost of traffic casualties is so high that accident-prone people should at least be barred from driving commercially, he said.
Dr Huiqing has translated his research into a lucrative business selling his road safety programme to Chinese municipalities.
Dr Jin's company, Anhui Sanlian Group, developed a three-pronged approach to road safety that involves a battery of tests to screen drivers, training with simulators and surveillance cameras to closely monitor roads for problems.
The eastern Chinese city of Jinan adopted the system and police in the provincial capital say traffic deaths have fallen by a third in the past five years.
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