PSY 409a
Overview of Road Rage and Aggressive Driving and Lecture Notes
By Samantha Sovde
Instructions for this activity found at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy26/g26-oral1.htm
Instructor: Dr. Leon James
I. The War Against Aggressive Driving
A. Direct and Indirect Cost
1. Fatalities are about 425,000 per decade.
2. Injuries are about 35 million per decade.
3. Dollars reach about 250 billion per year.
4. Breeding the next generation of aggressive drivers.
5. In
March of 1999, Riverside-San Bernardino,
B. Congressional Hearings
1. In 1997, the total number of highway deaths increased slightly in each of the last four years.
2. These trends continued throughout the late 1990s and the nation’s media declared that aggressive driving had replaced drunk driving as our worst highway problem.
3. The federal government has defined aggressive driving as driving behavior that endangers or is likely to endanger people or property.
4. This definition has introduced two ideas about driving and law enforcement.
a. Many common driving behaviors are now defined as crimes – misdemeanor or felony.
b. The government’s definition of aggressive driving – that offenses can be defined by a driver’s mental state – has not yet been debated in public.
C. Federal Agencies Unite Against Aggressive Drivers
1. The Department of Transportation proposed the National Economic Crossroads Transportation Efficiency Act of 1997 that provides for the development of comprehensive state and community programs aimed at combating aggressive driving.
2. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials assembled a group of national safety experts in driver, vehicle, and highway issues from various organizations representing the private and public sectors also in 1997.
3. The NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) has issued an aggressive driver advisory telling motorists what to do if confronted.
D. Aggressive Police Initiatives
1. Legislation covering driver behavior has increased seat belt usage and has imposed stiffer penalties for driving under the influence.
2. Reducing the incidence of aggressive driving behaviors reduces the psychological, physical, and financial burden society bears.
3. The
Roadwatch Program was started in 1993 in
4. Citizens report aggressive driving behaviors on special forms and if more offenses follow then police take action.
E. Aggressive Driving Bills
1. Terminology need to be specific in order for law enforcement officers to identify the aggressive driver’s behavior.
2. Speeding, following too closely, unsafe lane change, driving while intoxicated, reckless, careless, or inattentive driving, etc.
3. To avoid potential abuse by police and in courts, various mechanical schemes will arise to define specific behaviors that are not subject to interpretation by officers.
4. The language of these offenses must always be behavioral, describing the observable behavior of drivers, not their intentions or motives.
F. Traffic Enforcement Education
1. Police departments everywhere are starting to enforce the law while educating motorists at the same time.
2. The California Highway Patrol has started a campaign using billboards and public service announcements to remind motorists of the importance of following the rules of the road.
3. The
II.
Lecture Notes Item 13:
A. International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Resolution on Aggressive Driving
1. Where traffic crash statistics show that aggressive driving habits are simple factors in a significant number of traffic deaths and injuries, the IACP urges all law enforcement agencies to adopt strategies to curb the incidence of aggressive driving.
2. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is encouraged to find incentive programs that give additional highway safety funds for traffic enforcement efforts to jurisdictions with laws that allow law enforcement to use technology.
3.
B. The definition of Aggressive driving is driving under the influence of impaired emotions such as
1. Impatience and inattentiveness
2. Power Struggle
3. Recklessness and Road Rage
C. Law enforcement has employed traffic patrolling from the air to try and gain control of the aggressiveness on the highways.
D. To support the concept of life-long driver education the three Es need to be followed.
1. Engineering, enforcement, and education
E.
1. Law enforcement education
2. Public schools
3. Driving schools
4. Court mandated classes
5. Quality driving circles
6. Public information programs
Related Links:
NHTSA http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/
This website is the official National Highway Traffic Safety Administration webpage where anyone can find out more information about traffic safety such as what the government is doing to improve roadways and possible future and current traffic issues. This website also goes over such information that covers issues like traffic safety, vehicles and equipment, as well as laws and regulations.
Teen Driving Bills http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61370-2005Apr17.html
This article is from the Washington Post online about how
law makers are finally being able to enforce teen driving bills when it was
recently tolled that some nineteen deaths in this past year in the
California Highway Patrol http://www.chp.ca.gov/
This is the official website for the California Highway Patrol. This site allows anyone to find out more information about the local offices in California, traffic incidents and other news, the local communities, as well as other related sites that might help is research. The traffic information link allows people to see where the traffic is, how far it’s backed up, and any details about what might be causing the incidents as well.
My Homepage:
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409as2007/sovde/sovde-home.htm
Class Home Page:
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy26/classhome-g26.htm