Aggressive Driving Equals Bad Driving

Driver education can help reduce the number of driving related deaths by reminding drivers of the inherent danger of driving. Drivers become complacent quickly as result of mundane, repetitive trips to familiar places like work or the store. It is easy to forget that about 34,000 people are killed each year on our roads because drivers rarely witness a violent car accident firsthand. A periodic reminder that the danger still exists and there are safety measures that can be used can help reduce the number driving deaths.

A step that can be taken to reduce the number of deaths is to remind drivers that reckless driving causes almost as many deaths as drunk driving. I would like to see the messaging for safe driving focus more on the dangers of aggressive driving. We are inundated with messages about distracted driving and drunk driving, which are very important messages, but only a small fraction of the messaging focuses on aggressive driving – mostly reminding drivers to slow down.

An aggressive driving tactic that I feel is very dangerous and misunderstood by the public is tailgating, especially at high speeds in the left lane on a highway. I started driving two years ago and I noticed that tailgating in the left lane on a highway is pervasive and it is rare not to see somebody driving too close at least once every few minutes on the highway. However, I have never seen a public service announcement in my home state of Illinois reminding people to follow at a safe distance or warning people of the penalties from driving to close.

I think driver education can help prevent accidents from tailgating by clarifying the passing lane and left lane usage rules. In fact, I am not clear what the rules are in Illinois. However, I watched a viral video on YouTube of a horrendous accident where a tailgater had to swerve quickly off the road and almost jumped into oncoming traffic trying to avoid a brake check while following too closely. It was clear that both drivers were at fault, but I was surprised by how many “experts” in the comment section under the viral video were arguing over who was at fault. It occurred to me that the laws are not clear if thousands of people were making disparate comments on something that should be clear to everybody.

The comments I found most disturbing seemed to rationalize aggressive driving and some commenters even argued that roadway vigilantism was justified. In many states, the left lane is reserved for passing and the driver should move to the right lane when they aren’t passing so other drivers can use the left lane to safely pass. However, so many people confuse this rule and seem to think the left lane is the “fast lane” and drivers should yield the left lane to faster drivers even while passing slower vehicles, which is ludicrous. Also, many drivers seem to want to enforce the fast lane fallacy by tailgating to remind drivers to get out of the “fast lane”. I think it is obvious that no legislature would ever designate the left lane as a fast lane. However, so many people seem to think this is acceptable and it leads to some scary situations. I feel driver education needs to focus more on clarifying the rules on lane usage on the highway since many people seem to be confused.

I have never been in an accident as a driver or as a passenger and I have never witnessed a friend or family member drive irresponsibly. However, I did witness an accident from around 100 feet away and I was shaken by the violence and destruction caused by the accident, and this accident occurred at under 50 miles per hour. In fact, seeing this accident from up close was beneficial for me since I feel I slowed down a little and increased my following distance after witnessing the accident.

I do not have much experience driving in winter condition even though I live in a cold weather state. I will be driving more during this winter and I will take a few precautions. I will replace my tires and spend a little bit extra on tires made for winter driving since I travel on icy, rural roads. Also, I will carry a few extra things in the car including a good scraper, brush, extra windshield washer fluid, blankets, salt, and reflective clothing.

In my two years behind the wheel, I do not have any tickets are warnings. I will continue driving safely because I realize it is the one activity I do daily that can endanger another person. I wish more people would realize they are putting other people at risk by doing something dangerous while driving and the risk can easily be avoided with some simple changes.