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Recognizing and Avoiding Aggressive Driving
Aggressive driving covers a cluster of dangerous but common behaviors: tailgating, weaving between lanes without signaling, excessive speeding, running yellow-to-red lights, and refusing to yield out of impatience. It's distinct from outright "road rage," which involves direct confrontation, but aggressive driving is the more common precursor — and it's a major contributor to serious crashes statewide.
If you find yourself doing any of these when running late or frustrated, the course's core recommendation is simple: build in extra travel time so you're not fighting the clock, and treat a few extra minutes in traffic as a non-negotiable cost of driving safely, not something worth risking a crash over.
Aggressive driving often escalates gradually — a single frustrated maneuver rarely feels dangerous in isolation, which is exactly why it's easy to slide into a pattern of it under time pressure without noticing.
Key Takeaways
- Aggressive driving includes tailgating, unsignaled weaving, speeding, running lights, and refusing to yield.
- It's distinct from road rage but is a common precursor to it.
- Building in extra travel time removes the time pressure that drives aggressive behavior.
- Treat a few extra minutes in traffic as a non-negotiable safety cost, not a loss.
Key Terms — Flip to Reveal
Aggressive driving
A cluster of unsafe behaviors — tailgating, unsignaled weaving, excessive speeding, running lights, refusing to yield — driven by impatience.
Road rage (distinction)
Direct confrontation with another driver, distinct from (and often preceded by) aggressive driving.
Precursor behavior
An early warning sign — like aggressive driving — that commonly leads to a more serious incident such as road rage or a crash.