Road Rage:

The Methodology of Aggressive Driving

In 1998 The National Highway Traffic Association conducted a 3 part survey to get a better grasp of aggressive driving.  Defining it may be a little easier said than done.  Many of you have visited this site looking for statistics for the number of road rage incidents or fatalities, and whatever other kinds of neat facts.  The problem categorizing aggressive driving is the fact that it is typically hidden within an accident scene.

An example would be an officer finding a automobile crashed on the side of the road.  The driver is clearly drunk.  Did he crash because he was drunk, or did he crash trying to out run an unknown vehicle in a drag race.  Another example would be when there is an accident, and the witnesses say it was the fault of aggressive driving.  Did the person driving the crashed vehicle crash because they were driving aggressively, or did they crash because they were speeding?

Over the next few weeks I will be adding new articles about this survey so please check back for more, or simply add my news feed for all updates.  To cut to the chase, I am starting with information from Section 2, Chapter 2.

Part 2.2, Drivers, Vehicles, and Roads

• 88% of drivers surveyed drive almost everyday.
• Men reported driving everyday 92% while women reported 85%.
• The age group that reported driving the most was 35 to 44 years old.
• Driving based on education reported that 78% of those without a H.S. Diploma drover almost everyday, while those with one drove 85%.
• 67% of all drivers drove with another adult daily.
• 68% of all drivers reported driving a car, while a pickup truck was reported in second with 16%.
• 30% of the vehicles on the road were manufactured in the past 4 years
• 14% of all drivers have a radar detector, the primary users are males ages 21-24.
• 86% of all driving activity was reported to be on residential or neighborhood streets.

The summary from this chapter was:

Nine out of 10 drivers drove almost every day. Two-thirds of drivers rode with other adults at least a few days a week and nearly two-fifths drove with children at least a few days a week. Cars were the most frequently driven vehicles, outnumbering all other vehicles (trucks, vans or minivans and sport utility vehicles) combined by two to one. These cars were generally newer models, with two-thirds of all cars being no more than eight years old.

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Information provided by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration