As Americans we love our cars, trucks, SUVs, and motorbikes for many different reasons. One major reason is that they are an easy and convenient mobility; a personal mode of transportation. It is rather hard to imagine what this county would be like without all the roads and vehicles on them. This is abundantly evident in Arizona, where the majority of us drive to most all of our activities from going to work or taking the kids for an ice cream. We jump into our vehicle and go. However, a curious thing often happens when we get in our car, truck and SUVs. We sometimes change turning into someone different when behind the wheel of our vehicle. We can become inconsiderate and aggressive to other drivers; at times even becoming rude, crude, …show more content…
They are failure to yield the right of way, reckless, carless, erratic driving, failure to obey traffic signs, and other traffic control devices, and making improper turns (AAA Foundation (2009). Arizona law makers took notice of the dangers that are created by aggressive drivers. The lawmakers amended the “Reckless Driving Section and amended the name of the statute 28-695 to Reckless and Aggressive Driving. Arizona statute defines aggressive driving as a situation in which a person commits a violation of speeding and at least two other traffic violations (i.e., failure to obey traffic control devices, improper passing, driving off the pavement or traveled portion of the highway, following too close, failure to yield right-of-way, or driving in a way that is an immediate hazard to another person or vehicle).” (ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY , para. 2). This was an important step allow law enforcement a tool to make the roads safer. The serious problem is we should be trying to be safer on our own. The question that should be asked is why are so many people are compelled to be dangerous drivers? It could be that there is a sense of invincibility when they are in control of a big powerful machine. This is often the case with younger male drivers, who enjoy the thrill of dangerous driving. In other instances normally calm, law abiding drivers snap in a fit of rage. This road rage can turn a driver from calm to instantly a monster behind the wheel,
Staying calm is very important. Aggressive drivers tend to make rude gestures and yell obscenities, but do not let this bother you. Paying attention to them will only divert your attention away from the road. Also, do not become frantic if something unexpected happens. Remaining calm will help you think more clearly and
However congestion present on the road increases the number of these incidents. This anger that these ragers bring to our roadways cause accidents in which many cases turn out to be fatalities. When someone gets cut off while driving it shows the lack of responsibility they actually have. Stress is also related to these drivers who take out their anger on others. Such aggression involves shouting obscenities, and vulgar expressions that include the ever so popular
According to the results from the 2009 AAA Foundation’s Traffic Safety Culture Index published on April 2009 and accessed on May 16, 2016, “78 percent of respondents rated aggressive drivers as a serious or extremely serious traffic safety problem. However, many of the same people reported driving in ways that could be classified as aggressive.”
The Saturday night party was the place to be. Anyone who is anyone was there. John’s curfew is midnight and its 12:05. Mark had been doing quite a lot of drinking and he was John’s ride home. John questioned whether or not he wanted to get in the car with Mark, but thought about how mad his parents were going to be. He was already five minutes late. Saying to himself “Just this one time,” he decided to get in the car. John never made it home that night. Mark had rolled the car off the bridge one mile away from his house. John lost his life all because he was afraid of getting grounded. There are many situations similar to John’s, and in a lot of them, no one survives. Because of all the death and tragedy as a result of driving under the
In 2016, 3,450 people were killed due to distracted driving accidents. Along with that, in 2015, over 391,000 people were injured, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (Distracted Driving). Distracted driving is classified in three ways. Visual, which involves doing anything that is taking your eyes off the road. Manual, which is caused by taking your hands off the steering wheel. Lastly, cognitive, when your mind is distracted from your main task of driving and you are not giving your full attention to the road. Due to the increasing technology in our day to day lives, it is more common to find drivers distracted by cell phones rather than anything else. This is why it is critical that more laws are implemented to
People when they’re driving on the road aren’t very smart. Like c’mon you’d think that they’d be able to look out for themselves and others on the road without hurting other people. Why do people have to be so dumb when it comes to their driving? What is it a top priority to be texting your mom while you’re driving in the car with your best friend? No you’re just gonna end up getting both of you killed!
The second most commonly given reckless driving ticket is Virginia Code § 46.2‐852 involving any behavior of a driver that puts life, limb, or property in danger. General reckless driving citations may be given to distracted drivers, those that tailgate, speeding violators, or those drivers expressing road rage. In Virginia, these actions are considered criminal. Obviously, the general reckless driving ticket will apply to a variety of situations, and is a catch-all terms. Officers regularly assign this code in the following
Hostile driving is the number one leading cause of deaths due to aggressive driving on our roadways today. In society today we find many hostile drivers with their eyes looking off the road, onto their phones and their foot laying on the gas pedal. In society today, it is hard not to feel like the drivers on both sides of the roads have become more territorial, more aggressive, more controlling and just plain awful when they get behind the wheel. This type of action is known as “road rage” a sign of a common anger issue. So now it brings us up to these questions: Is hostile driving a safety concern? What causes road rage? Is road rage a gender problem or is it both? Is aggressive driving bad for a person’s health? What can we do to reduce the problem of hostile driving? Road rage is becoming a major safety issue in which it is affecting the roads that we travel daily. By understanding these types of questions, it will not only save lives but reduce safety issues on our roadways.
also putting other people’s lives in danger that are on the roads. As stated in
(2011) investigated the psychosocial factors involved with risky driving patterns associated with adolescent novice drivers. Simons-Morton et al. (2011) installed computerized recording systems in the vehicles of newly licensed adolescent drivers that measured their driving patterns, and the traits of their passengers. The results indicated that accidents and near accidents were significantly lower when in the presence of responsible adult passengers, and significantly higher when in the presence of fellow adolescent passengers (Simons-Morton et al., 2011). In addition, the results indicated that adolescent risky driving was significantly lower when in the presence of responsible adult passengers than when in the presence of fellow adolescent passengers (Simons-Morton et al., 2011). Lastly, Simmons-Mortons et al. (2011) found that overall risky driving was highest when newly licensed adolescents had risky friends as passengers. With the use of confederates and a driving simulator, a similar study by Quimet et al. (2013) proposed that adolescent drivers would participate in more risky driving patterns when in the presence of pro-risk-taking passengers than when in the presence of non-risk-taking passengers. However, the results were mixed in that safe and unsafe driving characteristics were found in all conditions and no significant difference was found between the driving patterns of adolescents, regardless of the traits of the confederate passenger (Quimet et al., 2013). A common limitation related to both of these studies is that the sample size was quite small only possessing about 40 participants. This may make the findings difficult to generalize to the population. Another limitation that may make the findings difficult to generalize to the population was found in the latter study with Quimet et al. (2013) in which the researchers only utilized male volunteers. Also, the use of only one passenger in both of these studies may
When one starts to drive, he can discover many different people. He begins to realize there are “types” of drivers. Once one categorizes these people, it can become easy to loathe sharing the road with certain drivers. Sometimes it is hard because they are irresponsible; other times it is because they drive as if they don’t have anywhere to be and make the road congested. They worst of all types of drivers are those that drive at 100 mph in areas where no one should be going over half that. Ideally, one would want to avoid the reckless “Road-ragers,” the overly-careful “Sunday Drivers,” and the speedy “Dragsters,” at all costs.
Tailgating – This is probably one of the greatest offences. Some drivers are extremely impatient, some people do it without knowledge, just following traffic they get a bit close, but then they back off as you accelerate way. Drivers who tailgate intentionally are the most dangerous. They sit behind another vehicle flashing their headlights in an effort to move him/her, but of course there is nowhere to go as they are in the process of overtaking and there is no room to pull on to the left. To this kind of driver, the two second rule means that they can just about cope with another vehicle in front of them before they decide to threaten them by driving inches away.
In society today driving a car or truck brings a lot of different emotions to the driver. First, the driver feels in control. they feel as if they're better then others for having such power in there hands. also feeling free to do whatever they wish with the vehicle. In addition, driving brings out rage,anger, and fustration. first comes the fustration of you not liking how slow the person is going in front of you or how the person behind you is riding your butt. second comes anger, you yell at the passing car, make hand gestures. then come the rage, you swerving in and out of cars; speeding upand slowing down, around the cars that were making you mad. you just cant control yourself anymore and the rage takes over the car. Finally, it helps
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) defines aggressive driving as "the operation of a motor vehicle in a manner that endangers or is likely to endanger persons or property"a traffic and not a criminal offense like road rage. Examples include speeding or driving too fast for conditions, improper lane changing, tailgating and improper passing. Approximately 6,800,000 crashes occur in the United States each year; a substantial number are estimated to be caused by aggressive driving. 1997 statistics compiled by NHTSA and the American Automobile Association show that almost 13,000 people have been injured or killed since 1990 in crashes caused by aggressive driving. According to a NHTSA survey, more than 60 percent of
Many drivers young and old seem to be getting worse and worse at judging distance. I cannot count how many times I have been tailgated, illegally passed had a close call T-boning, or high beamed all form motorists who cannot judge distance. Tailgaters seem to be the most dangerous drivers of all. When a tailgater gets behind you on a wet road your best bet is to pull off and let them pass because tailgaters are where 50 car pile-ups come from. Most T-bone collisions could be avoided if drivers would allow larger gaps when pulling out of a store or going though and intersection.