Aggressive Driving
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T H E CQResearcherPUBLISHED BY CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY INC. Aggressive Driving Can road designers and police calm motorists down? he explosive anger that leads drivers to sometimes deadly road disputes, often termed “road rage,” has dramatized the rise in aggressive driving. Two-thirds of last year’s Tmore than 41,000 auto deaths are blamed on aggressive I driving — such as speeding, cutting off other motorists N and tailgating. In several states, police are beefing up THIS ISSUE S THE ISSUES ........................... 651 enforcement, and legislators are calling for tougher I BACKGROUND ..................... 660 penalties. Several cities are installing traffic-calming D CHRONOLOGY ..................... 661 measures like narrowed streets to slow down drivers. But E CURRENT SITUATION ........... 664 citizens in much of the nation must battle entrenched AT ISSUE ................................ 665 state highway bureaucracies, whose road standards make OUTLOOK............................. 666 roads as fast as possible for cars — often at the expense BIBLIOGRAPHY .................... 668 of walkers, bicyclists and livable communities. THE NEXT STEP .................... 669 CQ July 25, 1997 • Volume 7, No. 28 • Pages 649-672 Formerly Editorial Research Reports AGGRESSIVE DRIVING T H THE ISSUES OUTLOOK CQE Researcher July 25, 1997 • Is aggressive driving a Legislative Initiatives Volume 7, No. 28 651 major safety hazard? 666 State and federal laws • Do government focus on punishing bad EDITOR transportation policies drivers, but some experts Sandra Stencel favor motorists over call for more emphasis on pedestrians? motivating young drivers MANAGING EDITOR to be courteous. Thomas J. Colin ASSOCIATE EDITORS BACKGROUND Sarah M. Magner SIDEBARS AND Richard L. Worsnop Societal Stress GRAPHICS 661 Aggressive driving has STAFF WRITERS been blamed on competi- Charles S. Clark 653 ‘Calm’ Streets Energize Mary H. Cooper tiveness in the workplace West Palm Beach Kenneth Jost that stressed-out workers Scrapping traditional traffic David Masci carry over to the high- engineering is bringing way. downtown back to life. EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Vanessa E. Furlong Lowered Inhibitions Rural Virginians Save 655 Their Country Roads 663 The anonymity of the PUBLISHED BY Residents rejected “improve- Congressional Quarterly Inc. wide open freeway and ments” proposed by the the car itself help to lower highway department. CHAIRMAN motorists’ inhibitions Andrew Barnes against behaving aggres- Five Tips for Non- 658 VICE CHAIRMAN sively. Aggressive Driving Andrew P. Corty For starters, plan more time Postwar America for trips. PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER 663 Street-design standards Robert W. Merry for new subdivisions that Chronology 661 Key events since 1896. EXECUTIVE EDITOR would permit rapid David Rapp evacuation before a How Holland Calmed nuclear strike contributed 662 Things Down to fast, aggressive driving. In the 1960s, residents Copyright 1997 Congressional Quarterly Inc., All concerned about speeding Rights Reserved. CQ does not convey any license, caused a revolution. right, title or interest in any information — includ- CURRENT SITUATION ing information provided to CQ from third parties — transmitted via any CQ publication or electronic At Issue transmission unless previously specified in writing. Traffic Calming 665 Is aggressive driving a major No part of any CQ publication or transmission may 664 Communities throughout be republished, reproduced, transmitted, down- safety problem? loaded or distributed by any means whether elec- the country are embrac- tronic or mechanical without prior written permis- ing efforts to slow traffic sion of CQ. Unauthorized reproduction or trans- FOR FURTHER mission of CQ copyrighted material is a violation down, and the engineer- of federal law carrying civil fines of up to $100,000 ing establishment is RESEARCH and serious criminal sanctions or imprisonment. starting to pay attention. Bibliography Bibliographic records and abstracts included in 668 Selected sources used. The Next Step section of this publication are the New Police Tactics copyrighted material of UMI, and are used with 664 permission. Red-light cameras and The Next Step other automated enforce- 669 Additional sources from The CQ Researcher (ISSN 1056-2036). Formerly ment techniques are current periodicals. Editorial Research Reports. Published weekly, except Jan. 3, May 30, Aug. 29, Oct. 31, by being used increasingly to Congressional Quarterly Inc., 1414 22nd St., N.W., zero in on aggressive Washington, D.C. 20037. Annual subscription drivers. rate for libraries, businesses and government is $340. Additional rates furnished upon request. Periodicals postage paid at Washington, D.C., and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The CQ Researcher, COVER: A RED-LIGHT CAMERA IN SAN FRANCISCO CAPTURES A STATION WAGON 1414 22nd St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037. AFTER IT RAN A RED LIGHT FIVE SECONDS AFTER THE LIGHT TURNED RED AND HIT A CAB AT 30 MPH. (INSURANCE INSTITUTE FOR HIGHWAY SAFETY) 650 CQ Researcher Aggressive Driving BY SARAH GLAZER years, Blumenauer helped initiate THE ISSUES programs like ‘‘skinny streets,’’ which narrowed existing streets to slow down traffic in residential areas. t’s rush hour in rural Brewster, In lower Westchester County’s N.Y., and Manhattan-bound com- affluent neighborhoods, where I muters are backed up for three miles Manhattanites seek to escape city on the two-lane road out of town. hassles, many parents won’t let their State Trooper Alan S. Kurlander children walk or bike to school be- sees so much aggressive driving as cause of dangerous drivers. he cruises the scene that he could When a pedestrian advocate asks write out tickets all morning. Within civic association audiences how many five minutes, he spots two typical members walked or biked to school violators — a red Blazer weaving as children, three-quarters typically onto the right shoulder and a white raise their hands. But when he asks Camry crossing the center line — how many of their children walk or cutting ahead of other drivers. bike, the proportion usually drops to You can feel the anxiety building as a handful. the stalled commuters count the min- ‘‘We’ve lost control of our commu- utes until they can floor it on I-684. pulled over to continue a feud was nities and neighborhoods to the mo- Troopers say the 55 mph Interstate has slashed with a knife. tor vehicle,’’ says Bill Wilkinson, ex- become a ‘‘racetrack,’’ with motorists Aggressive driving has suddenly ecutive director of the Bicycle Fed- clocked at speeds over 100 mph. come into the public spotlight as eration of America and head of its Harried commuters, many of them communities across the nation com- Campaign to Make America Walkable. escapees from the city, treat their In- plain about drivers who drive too ‘‘There are places where you can’t terstate drive like a subway ride. fast, weave crazily and become en- cross the street without a car.’’ ‘‘Every day, I see people shaving, raged when they’re passed. Aggres- Americans are more likely to get putting on nail polish, lipstick, sive driving was involved in two- killed by a car while walking than eyeliner and reading the paper while thirds of last year’s auto deaths, the they are by a stranger with a gun, they’re driving,’’ Trooper Darren National Highway Traffic Safety Ad- concluded a recent report by a coa- Daughtry says. He has seen speeds ministration (NHTSA) estimates. lition of environmental and pedes- around bucolic Brewster escalate dan- At recent House Transportation trian/cycling groups. 1 gerously over the past few years as subcommittee hearings on the phe- One reason for the increased danger downstate urbanites have poured in. nomenon. Chairman Bud Shuster, R- to pedestrians is that residential areas Typical excuses for irresponsible Pa., said that the solution is wider, since World War II have been designed driving — ‘‘Another guy cut me off,’’ straighter roads and more of them. * around the car. The study found that ‘‘I’m late for work’’ — and a sense of Traffic has increased by 35 percent the five deadliest places for pedestrians self-righteous entitlement have grown since 1987 while construction of new are highway-dominated cities: Fort Lau- too, troopers say. ‘‘Nobody wants to roads has grown only 1 percent, ac- derdale, Miami, Atlanta, Tampa and be responsible for their actions,’’ says cording to the NHTSA. Dallas. The safest cities are those where Sgt. Michael Gadomski. ‘‘Civility is But subcommittee member Earl walkers dominate, such as Pittsburgh, going down the tubes.’’ Blumenauer, D-Ore., said that build- Milwaukee, Boston, Rochester, N.Y., The stories are almost comical, but ing more roads would be the equiva- and New York City.* the consequences are not. In local lent of ‘‘giving a wife-beater more ‘‘We see a clear demarcation be- incidents reminiscent of nationally room to swing.’’ As Portland’s com- publicized ‘‘road rage’’ explosions, missioner of public works for 10 * The report compared pedestrian fatality rates with two female motorists staged a high- the level of pedestrian activity in each city. Because speed passing duel, then stopped to the government does not track the miles walked in * Hearings were held July 17 before the each community, the report used U.S. Census data continue the fight, one wielding a Subcommittee on Surface Transportation of the on the percent of people in each community who baseball bat; another motorist who House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. walk to work as a surrogate for walking activity. July 25, 1997 651 AGGRESSIVE DRIVING tween older cities and those that grew modernize the roads. 2 islation allowing the cars of repeat up around the auto since World War ‘‘From a safety perspective, the drunken drivers to be confiscated. II and now exhibit the auto-depen- wider roads of the Interstate system More recently, Portland has initiated dent sprawl that makes them more have much lower crash rates than other programs to impound cars of motor- dangerous,’’ says James Corless, a roads,’’ says Mark Lee Edwards, AAA ists driving with a suspended license spokesman for the Surface Transpor- managing director for traffic safety.