Profiling an aggressive driver—-----—“A society that is trying to beat the clock to get to where we need to go”

Serious aggressive drivers cannot be typecast, yet crash statistics show drivers with advanced education and higher incomes are often serious aggressive drivers, according to Officials with the Smooth Operator program, a public safety campaign in the District of Columbia metro area and surrounding states that aims to combat aggressive driving.  Drivers most likely to drive aggressive are between the ages of 18 and 34, program officials say.

            Men and women are equally likely to be serious aggressive drivers, although men are more likely than women to be involved in crashes.  Findings from the NSC driver self-assessment survey were consistent with these conclusions.  According to NSC, the reason women are less likely to be involved in crashes that men is because women have more emotional intelligence and are more cautious. But recent gender studies on driving show women are becoming more aggressive drivers. Although they still act out in a more subdue manner. James recalled the story of a woman who, when angered by another motorist, admitted to flashing an obscene hand gesture but keep her hand below the dashboard.

NSC instructor Rand also sees a gender shift on the road. Although her class is made up of driver from various backgrounds and age groups, Raid said the majority of them are male; ranging from age 20 to 29, but the number of female students is increasing. She attributes the shift to women buying more powerful vehicles. 

FINDING SOLUTIONS

            The University of Hawaii’s James, co-author of the book “Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering Clear of Highway Warfare” said aggressive driving is rooted in several factors’ including the way people rationalize a situation based on their experiences in life and lessons learned from the way their parents drive.  James, a self-proclaimed “former rushing maniac,” and advocate for lifelong driver education, said parents should be mindful of the bad behaviors their children are learning from them.  Drivers also need to develop the emotional intelligence when on the road, and to be empathetic and fair-minded when judging other people’s driving behavior. Whenever something is going bad people often try to attribute the cause to someone else, he said.

            “Drivers need to ask why they are thinking this way.  The problem is that people are not taught or do not take the time to analyze their emotions,” James said.  Drivers have to train themselves to have more objective analysis.  When you’re emotionally upset, the bias gets stronger.  When we look at that, we see we make all sorts of assumptions that are incorrect.”

A more effective approach in combating aggressive drivers is through law enforcement initiatives coupled with public education, evaluation and engineering solutions.

            The underlying cause is frustration of why people drive aggressively. As a society we’re trying to beat the clock to get to where we need to go.

            A warning is that aggressive driving is also a dangerous and contagious behavior that can have a domino effect, passing from car to car down the road. 

            To help curb the problem—13 states have enacted aggressive driving legislation or have modified existing reckless driving statutes this year to include aggressive driving. Stats have shown also that there is an improvement of 25 percent in self-reported behavior.  In a recent study nation-wide—6.3 million motor vehicle crashes were reported to U.S. law enforcement authorities—resulting in 2.3 million disabling injuries and 44,000 deaths.  The nation’s cost to society was $242.7 billion—more than $800 per year for every American.

With Respect Eagle Bear     

Wisdom is-- I’ve learned that---The thing that is really hard and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.                        -Anna Quindlen Writer

Info from Motorwatch and NSC

Read  the biography of Eagle Bear