The Age of Rage: Road Rage and Aggressive Driving

Web Site Investigation for 15 minute Oral Presentation

When, Where, Why and

Who Drives Aggressively

AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety

By Linda Ure

January 22, 2001

I selected the web site for the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety to present as an 15 minute oral report. I went to the home page of the AAA Foundation for traffic Safety found at: http://www.aaafts.org/text/research/agdrtext.htm and found a header banner depicting car keys overlaying a traffic "spaghetti bowl", a mountainside road construction project, and a stack of books for laws concerning traffic safety and enforcement.

The featured site was focusing attention on three studies prepared to address Aggressive Driving, Road Rage and Driver Aggression that were prepared for AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, located at 1440 New York Avenue, N. W., Suite 201 in Washington, D. C. 20005. Their contact telephone number is 1-202-638-5944. These reports were prepared for posting in March of 1997.

The site would prove to be fairly easy to navigate as the entire file could be either scrolled through about 40-45 pages (depending on your personal printer), or navigated by a "click-on" menu that would deliver the reader to the portion of the site of specific interest. These "click-on" headings were to first offer the three reports: Aggressive Driving by Louis Mizell, Bethesda, MD; Road Rage by Matthew Joint, MSc, BSc, MCIT UK and lastly: Driver Aggression by Dominic Connell, BSc and Matthew Joint, BSc, MSc, MCIT. All three of these reports were prepared for: AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, 1440 New York Avenue, N. W., Suite 201, Washington, D. C. 20005 (1-202-638-5944) in March 1997.

The next page of the site was a "Contents:" navigation menu. This menu include information "About the Sponsor", and "A Message From the Sponsor."

Following was a navigation button to the first of three reports. "Aggressive Driving" to include separate navigation for it's "Introduction", and three portions of the body of the paper entitled "Incidents of Aggressive Driving", "Vehicles of Mass Destruction" and "Advice for Motorists."

The second report presented was on "Road Rage." Its components were linked to "What is 'Road Rage'"?, "What Causes 'Road Rage'"?, "How to Avoid Succumbing to Road Rage" and the "Survey in Detail."

The third report encompassed "Driver Aggression" with a link to the "Background" and a body of the paper in two parts: "Driving and Aggressive Emotion" and "'Cures' for Road Rage." This body was followed by a complete "Appendix."

The sponsor for the web page is AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

Founded in 1947, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety is a not-for-profit, publicly supported charitable research and educational organization dedicated to saving lives and reducing injuries by preventing traffic crashes.

The reader is told that: "Funding for this study was provided by voluntary contributions from motor clubs associated with The American Automobile Association and The Canadian Automobile Association, from individual AAA club members, and from AAA-affiliated insurance companies.

I am such an AAA club member, therefore I helped fund this study.

The sponsors message followed:
The study was commissioned after the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety observed a growing concern with the problem of aggressive driving.

A 1995 study performed by the Road Safety Unit of the Automobile Association of Great Britain found that 90 percent of the drivers surveyed had experienced "road rage" incidents during the preceding 12 months. In this study, 60 percent of drivers admitted to losing their tempers behind the wheel during the previous year, and one percent claimed they had been physically assaulted by another motorist.

In early 1996, the AAA Potomac Club commissioned a study from The Gallup Organization to investigate driver concerns. The study found that Washington area motorists felt more threatened by aggressive drivers than by drunk drivers; 40 percent of the respondents said that aggressive drivers "most endanger highway safety," while 33 percent identified drunk drivers as the primary risk.

After the AAA Potomac survey had been completed but before it was published, two aggressive drivers caused a disastrous fatal crash on the George Washington Parkway near McLean, Virginia, a tragedy that further focused public attention on the problem. The Foundation realized that although the topic of aggressive driving seemed of great concern to motorists, there was little real knowledge of the extent of the problem or of any trends in the phenomenon. Thus the Foundation set out to determine a true picture of the extent of aggressive driving behavior. Was it occasional or frequent? Was the trend holding steady, decreasing, or increasing? What were some of the factors at work in aggressive driving incidents?

The Foundation approached Louis Mizell, owner of a corporation that maintains databases of crime reports in Bethesda, Maryland. Mr. Mizell was commissioned to research all incidents of violence that involved traffic altercations and use of vehicles as weapons. These incidents included only the most violent confrontations -- those so extreme that they resulted in a police crime report or a published newspaper article. They undoubtedly represent a small fraction of the total number of such incidents.

I selected the following two of the three articles:

Aggressive Driving

A Report by Louis Mizell, Inc. for the
AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety
1440 New York Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005
202/638-5944

Aggressive Driving

A Report by Louis Mizell, Inc. for the
AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety
1440 New York Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005
202/638-5944

I will begin with "Aggressive Driving" by Louis Mizell.

Mizell drops the reader into a vat of horror stories:

1. Donald Graham killed another motorist with a cross-bow.

2. Milton Hall killed a college student unable to disarm his jeep anti-theft alarm.

3. Narkev Terry and Billy Canipe, vehicle dueling on the Washington Parkway, kill all but one of four drivers and Terry is sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Mizell's report continues, " An average of at least 1,500 men, women, and children are injured or killed each year in the United States as a result of 'aggressive driving.'"

A review of 10,037 incidents gathered by Mizell & Company from newspapers, police reports, and insurance reports clearly illustrates that anyone can be targeted and victimized.

No one profile has been identified as "Aggressive Driver."

The majority of aggressive drivers are relatively young, relatively poorly educated males who have criminal records, histories of violence, and drug or alcohol problems. Many of these individuals have recently suffered an emotional or professional setback, such as losing a job or a girlfriend, going through a divorce, or having suffered an injury or an accident.

But hundreds of aggressive drivers -- motorists who have snapped and committed incredible violence -- are successful men and women with no known histories of crime, violence, or alcohol and drug abuse.

The traffic incident that turns violent is often "the straw that broke the camel's back." As with most human behavior, there is a stated and unstated, a conscious and unconscious motivation for most traffic disputes.

Incidents of Aggressive Driving:

"Aggressive driving" is defined for this study as an incident in which an angry or impatient motorist or passenger intentionally injures or kills another motorist, passenger, or pedestrian, or attempts to injure or kill another motorist, passenger, or pedestrian, in response to a traffic dispute, altercation, or grievance. It is also considered "aggressive driving" when an angry or vengeful motorist intentionally drives his or her vehicle into a building or other structure or property.

The breakdown of known incidents of aggressive driving that occurred from January 1, 1990 to September 1, 1996 is as follows:

1990 1,129
1991 1,297
1992 1,478
1993 1,555
1994 1,669
1995 1,708
1996 1,201*
TOTAL 10,037

*If the number of aggressive driving incidents for the first eight months of 1996 continues at the same rate, there will have been approximately 1,800 incidents of aggressive driving reported in the United States by the end of 1996.

What are the reasons for these violent Traffic Disputes? Mizell tell us that:

Motorists involved in fender-bender collisions and silly traffic disputes are increasingly being shot, stabbed, beaten, and run over for inane reasons.

And Mizell follows with many instances of this bizarre behavior.

All of the following "excuses"resulted in death or injury:

"It was an argument over a parking space..."

"He cut me off"

"She wouldn't let me pass"

A driver was shot to death "because he hit my car"

"Nobody gives me the finger..."

A shooting occurred "because one motorist was playing the radio too loud."

"The bastard kept honking and honking his horn..."

"He/she was driving too slowly"

"He wouldn't turn off his high beams"

"They kept tailgating me..."

And then there are the Weapons used by Aggressive Drivers:

Firearms, knives, clubs (to include baseball bats, tire irons and jack handles, crowbars, lead pipes, batons, 4X4 timbers, canes, tree limbs, wrenches, hatchets and golf clubs), fists, feet, rocks, coins, soda cans, garbage, eggs, snowballs, water pistols, burritos, hamburgers, defensive sprays [mace], and their vehicles.

Domestic violence spills over on to the roadways. Some are displays of racism. Some are attacks on property, both private and public.

Some deliberately drive into crowds.

There is an increase in intentional attacks on law enforcement personnel.

Perpetration are women not just men.

Even vehicles of Mass Destruction:

Bulldozers

Tanks

Tractor-Trailers

Advice to Motorists: Mizell says;

Motorists would be well advised to keep their cool in traffic, to be patient and courteous to other drivers, and to correct unsafe driving habits that are likely to endanger, infuriate, or antagonize other motorists. Be aware of the behaviors that have resulted in violence in the past.

A list of Don'ts:

Lane Blocking

Tailgating

Signal use

Horn use

Failure to turn

Parking

Headlight use

Merging

Blocking Traffic

Car Phones

Alarms

Eye Contact

Gestures

Mizell suggest you reduce your own stress:

Alter your schedule

Improve the comfort of your vehicle

Concentrate on being relaxed

Don't drive when you are Angry

Adjust your Attitude

I would suggest Mizell is attempting to get our attention that road rage is our problem and we are the only ones who can stop it. With so many examples of aggressive driving that escalates into road rage we are advised to learn to recognize and control our aggressive behaviors on the road. It is our life that is at stake. . . the lives of our loved ones.

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The Second Report I will address is entitled "Road Rage" by Matthew Joint.

Joint begins with a definition:

"Road Rage" is a term that is believed to have originated in the United States. In its broadest sense it can refer to any display of aggression by a driver. However, the term is often used to refer to the more extreme acts of aggression, such as a physical assault, that occur as a direct result of a disagreement between drivers.

Joint explains that aggressive tailgating is experienced by 62 percent of drivers surveyed, and was the most common form of "road rage," followed by headlight flashing (59 percent), obscene gestures (48 percent), deliberately obstructing other vehicles (21 percent) and verbal abuse (16 percent). One percent of drivers claim to have been physically assaulted by other motorists.

It is likely that the cause of the road rage, speculates Joint, extends beyond the immediate incident. An individual may have had a bad day at work or troubles at home. Often it may be difficult to tackle the cause of the frustration. It may therefore lie dormant, indeed the driver may not even identify feelings of frustration.

Joint asserts that, "human beings are territorial. As individuals we have a personal space, or territory, which evolved essentially as a defense mechanism -- anyone who invades this territory is potentially an aggressor and the time it takes the aggressor to cross this territory enables the defender to prepare to fend off or avoid the attack."

According to this survey, the public appears to think that increasing levels of congestion on the roads have undoubtedly played a role in raising tempers among drivers and may partly explain why our survey revealed that the majority of motorists feel that the behavior of drivers has changed for the worst in recent years. Some Psychologists have suggested that certain drivers are more susceptible to losing their tempers behind the wheel than others. However, the AA Foundation study revealed that one of the main factors influencing driver behavior was mood. And that "unsafe drivers were more likely to be affected by the actions of other road users. However, we should not conclude that this is a predisposition that cannot be altered. Drivers can adopt simple strategies that keep frustration, anger, and rage in check.

Joint makes suggestions on:

How to Avoid Succumbing to Road Rage:

Avoid stress and fatigue

Try to disassociate yourself from problems that have no bearing on the journey. Never assume that an apparently aggressive act was intended as such.

Joint also suggest how not to be a victim:

Don't make eye contact, don't be tempted to accelerate, brake or swerve suddenly. If hassled, drive to the nearest police station, and or, lock the car doors and keep windows and sunroof only partly open. Do not be tempted to start a fight and do not be tempted to carry any sort of weapon.

On stress and fatigue, plan ahead, take breaks, carry a map, ask for directions, and keep your vehicle in good working order.

AAA surveyed 526 drivers to establish the extent to which British motorists had experienced and perpetrated particular types of aggression when driving. The Main Findings were that the behavior of drivers has changed for the worse in recent years. Almost all respondents had experienced at least one type of rageful behavior in the last 12 months. Almost half had experienced a road rage incident, and most incidents happened during the day.

Mizell and Joint are using survey statistics to shake us awake to an ever increasing phenomenon that is becoming all too common place. Aggressive behaviors demonstrated behind the wheel are only one aspect of aggressive behaviors. Other sites to visit for information can be found at the main menu for my oral reports during the semester with Dr Leon James and book Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering Clear of Highway Warfare, by Dr. Leon James and Dr. Diane Nahl, New York: Prometheus Books, 2000. Additional course structured work can be bound in Report 1 and Report 2 that investigates forms of rage in public places along with methods to reduce rageful behaviors. Enjoy our Class Web Pages and the interactive Age of Rage Message Board. See what triggers people and how they deal with rage. Click around below and learn more about THE AGE OF RAGE.

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