The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has a new spin on the dangers of aggressive driving:
Hypocrisy.
Aggressive driving is a mushy name, but we understand what it means: speeding, tailgating, side-swiping, driving erratically, cutting in and out of traffic, not bothering with turn signals, sometimes rising to the level of road rage.
What's at stake goes beyond mere bad manners. Aggressive driving behavior was involved in 56 percent of the nation's fatal crashes between 2003 and 2007, the AAA Foundation says.
A new AAA report finds that we recognize what's wrong about aggressive driving when others do it -- but many of us admit we do the same things.
For example:
Despite rating aggressive driving as a serious or extremely serious traffic safety problem, nearly half of those surveyed reported exceeding the speed limit by 15 mph on major highways in the past 30 days, and 15 percent even admitted exceeding the speed limit by 15 mph on neighborhood streets.
Drivers also admitted to performing numerous other potentially-aggressive acts, including speeding up to beat a yellow light (58%), honking at other drivers (41%), pressuring other drivers to speed up (26%), tailgating (22%), and deliberately running red lights (6%).
Are you an aggressive driver? Someone who has had a scary experience with an aggressive driver?
Or both?
Want to talk about it? Please call me at 919-829-4527 or e-mail me. Don't forget to include your name and daytime contact info.
Bruce Siceloff reports on traffic and transportation. A News & Observer reporter and editor since 1976, he took over the 
