An estimated 80 percent of U.S. motorists have engaged in aggressive driving, including tailgating, honking and, in extreme cases, ramming other vehicles when angered, according to a study released on Thursday.
The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety’s report projected that about 104 million drivers, or half of those on the road, have followed other vehicles too closely to express their displeasure or frustration. The study includes results of an online survey of 2,705 licensed U.S. drivers aged 16 and older.
A much smaller number, about 8 million, engaged in more extreme and violent driving, or “road rage,” including ramming other vehicles, the report said.
“Inconsiderate driving, bad traffic and the daily stresses of life can transform minor frustrations into dangerous road rage,” Jurek Grabowski, the foundation’s director of research, said in a statement. “Far too many drivers are losing themselves in the heat of the moment and lashing out in ways that could turn deadly.”
Incidents of aggressive driving, which the report says contributed to the thousands of fatal crashes in the United States each year, appear to be on the rise, according to the foundation.
While the report is the first of its kind released by the American Automobile Association affiliate, it has done anecdotal studies on aggressive driving in the past, using only data taken from news coverage.
The margin of error for statistics derived from all respondents is as wide as plus or minus 2.5 percentage points but larger for questions asked to only a subset of participants, the foundation said.
Male drivers aged 19 to 39 were far more likely to than female and older motorists to drive aggressively. Males also were three times more likely than females to exit their cars to confront other drivers or ram their vehicles into others.
Drivers in the Northeast were more prone to yell, honk or make angry gestures than elsewhere in the country.
Those who reported running red lights or speeding were also more likely to be aggressive behind the wheel.
(Reporting by Laila Kearney; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-roadrage-idUSKCN0ZU21Y
“An estimated 80 percent of U.S. motorists have engaged in aggressive driving,…”
Mandatory in L.A.
I used to drive ‘defensively’ (more or less) when I lived there. I was rear-ended 3 times for my effort.
I was never hit again after I started driving aggressively. Conversely, however, I never hit anyone either (although there WERE times I was tempted).
Between eating fast food, talking on your cellphone, and your girl friend bitchin’ at ya, who has time to watch where they’re goin?
When I see drivers texting and swerving all over the place, I feel like a good game of “Russian Roulette” since they’re risking my life with their lassie-fare driving attitude. A couple rounds into their trunk for a “heads up” may be one response, although, if you go that far, you may as well finish it. They’re risking my life with their unthoughtful carelessness. Here, have some “don’t give a $hit attitude” from me. How do you like me now?” And there’s too damned much of it these days.
I can relate to this article, as a “recovering” roadrage-aholic.
Most of the rage originated in the need to be somewhere, as quickly as factors beyond my control would allow. I very rarely used the horn, usually the accelerator was the “weapon” of choice. On the flip side, the biggest trigger was always someone behind me that thought they they needed to go faster than the already over the limit speed(s) I was going. When you can’t go faster due to someone in front of you and the driver behind rides your butt, honks the horn, or whatever… all the associated factors can make for a bad day.
As with most people, there always tends to be other things that add to the situation but not necessarily directly in the vehicle at that time.
I had (and to a large degree still do) many of those other things that influenced
the rage.
Millard touched on some of it, and I purposely never carried a firearm as an everyday thing, as I knew that was a recipe for disaster. Yes, before anyone
else says so… I AM crazy, but not stupid.