Overview

• A national AAA Foundation survey of more than 3,000 drivers reports 96% admitted to aggressive behaviors and 92% to actions that put others at risk, often to save time or avoid perceived danger.
• The study identifies a contagion dynamic in which seeing aggressive behavior increases the odds that drivers will act aggressively themselves.
• Eleven percent of respondents acknowledged violent acts such as intentionally bumping another car or confronting another driver.
• Compared with 2016, cutting off is up 67% and honking in anger up 47%, while tailgating is down 24% and yelling at other drivers is down 17%.
• AAA notes perceptions and self-reports of greater aggression among drivers of sports cars, large trucks and motorcycles, and it urges non-engagement, giving space and calling 911 if threatened; local coverage also cites Maryland’s highway gun-violence initiative with 225 firearms-related cases investigated, 90 guns seized and 78 arrests.