We all have places we need to be, and often we bend the rules in order to get there. Maybe your alarm didn’t go off and now you’re late for work, or an accident caused you to be late for picking up your child or construction delayed you on your way to the airport. Without really considering what you are doing, you may be making decisions that could be labeled as driving aggressively. For some reason, humans think that driving faster or less courteously will give us back the time we lost to get where we need to go. However, aggressive driving has the potential to do just the opposite. According to the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association (RMIIA), a vehicle-related injury occurs every 14 seconds in the U.S. The Insurance Information Institute reports that aggressive driving behaviors were involved in almost 52 percent of fatal crashes in 2012. While there’s no accounting for every situation, certain behaviors frequently contribute to crashes. For example, of the 45,337 drivers who were involved in fatal crashes in 2012, 9,320 had reportedly been speeding; 3,431 drivers were swerving; 3,211 did not yield the right of way; 3,119 were distracted; and 1,820 drivers disobeyed traffic signs, signals or officers.
- Blocking traffic
- Eye contact
- Gestures
- Headlight use
- Horn use
- Lane blocking
- Parking
- Signal use
- Tailgating
- Stay out of the left lane and yield to the right for any vehicle that wants to pass.
- Keep a safe distance from the vehicle in front of you.
- Don’t switch lanes without signaling your intentions, and be sure to turn your directional light off after you have switched.
- Park between the lines, and always look before backing up by turning your head, not just relying on your backup camera.
- Try to keep everything in perspective. It’s not worth getting overly emotional, making rude gestures, flashing your lights or blaring your vehicle’s horn over something that is actually quite trivial in the grand scheme of things.
