Background and Introduction

Statement of the Problem

Where We Are

NHTSA estimates that about one-third of traffic crashes and about two-thirds of the resulting fatalities can be attributed to driving behavior commonly associated with aggressive driving⁴ (e.g., improper lane changing, improper passing, red-light running, and speeding). In January 1999, NHTSA published a telephone survey of 6,000 drivers, age 16 and older, who shared their attitudes and experiences about speeding and unsafe driving - including aggressive driving.⁵ More than 60 percent of those interviewed perceived unsafe driving by others, including speeding, as a major personal threat to themselves and their families. Three out of four drivers believed that doing something about unsafe driving was "very important." And more than half of the 6,000 respondents admitted to driving recklessly on occasion. But while many people admit to driving aggressively at times - such as when they are late to work - aggressive drivers as a group tend to have certain defining characteristics (see sidebar).

To address the growing problem of aggressive driving and to make it more of a high-profile traffic safety issue, DOT created an Aggressive Driving Implementation Team to develop a National Aggressive Driving Action Guide. As previously stated, the Action Guide seeks to help States address the problem of aggressive driving through recommended solutions in six topic areas. In developing its recommendations, the Implementation Team gave thoughtful consideration to the variety of issues informing the aggressive driving problem, making the resulting Action Guide more "reality-based." Understanding that some States or communities would not be able to fully adopt all or any of its recommendations, the Implementation Team decided not to prescribe specific procedures for States to follow, but rather recommend best practices to counter the aggressive driving problem - from statutory, enforcement, technological, judicial, and community approaches. To this end, the recommendations in this Action Guide are model strategies, which States can begin to implement immediately.

Where We Want to Be

It is NHTSA's hope and the goal of the Implementation Team to raise public awareness of the dangers of aggressive driving and to make it a higher priority on social, political, legal, and judicial agendas. Increased awareness is needed to help ensure that law enforcement officers enforce reckless and/or aggressive driving laws, that prosecutors persistently charge violators, and that judges convict and sentence offenders. Needed comprehensive solutions require everyone to play a role in spreading the word and in providing leadership and support from the top down for ending aggressive driving on our roadways.

Both the Implementation Team and NHTSA recognize that making aggressive driving socially unacceptable will take time. They expect the broad-based Action Guide presented here to serve as an impetus and "blueprint" for legislators, law enforcement, the judicial system, and community leaders to build awareness of and seek solutions to this problem. Aggressive driving advocacy groups are urged to join with other community initiatives already underway, such as "Safe Communities," to easily extend efforts to raise awareness. Advocacy groups are essential to keep the aggressive driving issue prominent in the media and in the public's consciousness. Corporate America must also get on board and realize its stake in controlling traffic and improving congestion - two known precursors for aggressive driving incidents. In all cases, action must begin now.

How to Get There

The Implementation Team emphasizes the need for leadership and support to combat aggressive driving - from the top levels of government down to the law enforcement officers in the field. Law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, and the community must work together to support efforts to enforce existing traffic laws, prosecute violators, and appropriately convict and sentence offenders. States must continue to develop innovative enforcement programs targeting aggressive driving, strengthen reckless driving laws to provide appropriate penalties, and raise awareness among the public of the seriousness of the aggressive driving problem.

• Innovative Enforcement Programs. As of February 2001, NHTSA is aware of at least 50 active State and local aggressive driving programs across the Nation. These programs attempt to reduce the types of violations an aggressive driver is likely to commit, such as speeding, following too closely, improperly changing lanes, improperly passing, and failing to obey traffic control devices or to yield the right-of-way. For example, the New Jersey State Police started its multi-agency enforcement program after it determined that 63 percent of fatal crashes stemmed from aggressive driver violations. The Implementation Team advocates training and education aimed at encouraging officers to write aggressive driving citations.
  
• Stronger Aggressive Driving Laws. In May of 1998, Arizona became the first State to enact aggressive driving legislation. This law requires violators to be charged with aggressive driving if they commit a speeding offense and at least two reckless driving-related offenses. Since Arizona’s law passed, a number of States have attempted to pass aggressive driving legislation, but only five States have done so (see sidebar). In July 1999, Delaware passed an aggressive driving law that defines aggressive driving as conduct that violates three or more specific traffic violations. Virginia’s law does not target violators, but requires that aggressive driving instruction be part of driver education programs offered through the high school system.
  
  NHTSA and the National Conference of State Legislatures will continue to track legislation and maintain this information on the NHTSA website at www.nhtsa.dot.gov/ncls/.
  
• Increased Awareness. The Implementation Team strongly advocates making anti-aggressive driving campaigns a national priority. It views as essential the need to raise public awareness of the dangers of aggressive driving conduct and to challenge all drivers to critique their own driving behavior.

Innovative Enforcement Efforts in the States

Innovative traffic enforcement efforts can help reduce aggressive driving by raising awareness among members of the motoring public. The following approaches, used to target aggressive driving, share several key elements, summarized below.

• Using a variety of enforcement vehicles, such as aircraft, motorcycles, and unmanned control units. The Connecticut State Police use unmarked units to identify aggressive drivers and marked units to stop aggressive drivers. Aircraft are sometimes used in tandem with ground units to minimize the hazards of high-speed pursuits. The Minnesota State Patrol is using rotary and fixed wing aircraft equipped with cutting edge technology to curtail aggressive driving in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area. A high-resolution video camera records violations during daytime flights, and a thermal imaging unit provides nighttime observation capabilities. Through a mobile video receiver in their patrol cars, officers can replay the violations to the violator during citation issuance.
  
• Having an aggressive driving report line for motorists to call in when they witness aggressive driving. The Colorado State Patrol (CSP) accepts calls from motorists who dial STAR CSP (*277) on their cell phones. The system prints out a complete report of the calls, which is delivered to a CSP dispatcher, and automatically issues warning letters to vehicle owners. This program is in partnership with Vision TEK, Inc., and Colorado wireless phone companies.
  
• Using unmarked units and stealth tactics to detect aggressive drivers. The St. Petersburg, Florida, Police Department's "Where's Alf" program - named after the "Where's Waldo" concept - uses non-traditional vehicles as a platform to observe the motoring public. The officer observes traffic, then calls ahead to marked patrol vehicles to take enforcement action. Michigan State Police use an old clunker car, called their "stealth vehicle," to observe aggressive drivers. A uniformed trooper rides in the old car and calls marked units to initiate traffic stops. The Washington State Patrol uses two vehicles that look like taxi cabs to detect aggressive drivers.
  
• Using digital video cameras, with follow-up action. The Maryland State Police aggressive driver program, known as Aggressive Driver Video and Non-Contact Enforcement (ADVANCE), uses digital video cameras and lidar to identify and record aggressive drivers and other violators. Letters and photos of the violation are sent to offending drivers. Massachusetts State Police have equipped unmarked vehicles with digital cameras connected to radar (see sidebar).

• Using "centipede" enforcement tactics. The "centipede" enforcement approach, used by Pennsylvania State Police and other departments, consists of spacing a series of police cars out along a highway, a couple of miles apart. Motorists may believe that once they pass an officer, the likelihood of being stopped is reduced. Yet any one of the centipede officers can take enforcement action when a violation is observed, so seeing additional officers as a trip continues serves as a strong deterrent to motorists.
  
• Partnering with other programs and agencies. To counter aggressive driving through a major construction interchange, the Albuquerque Police Department in New Mexico formed an unprecedented partnership with the State Highway Department, the Traffic Safety Bureau, a construction company, city and State engineers, and the New Mexico State Police. Local and state police conduct saturation patrols of interstate roads and city streets experiencing increased congestion. Cameras placed throughout the construction area observe problems as they occur.
  
• Increasing aggressive driving education and awareness among officers and citizens. The Oklahoma City Police Department trained 230 officers to observe and stop aggressive drivers in its Reduction of Accident and Aggressive and Inconsiderate Drivers (RAID) cars. The officers were taught that targeting aggressive-driving-type violations reduces crashes. Several speed surveys revealed that speeding and crashes decreased in high-crash areas after special units became involved. In South Carolina, the Greer Police Department participated in "Targeting the Aggressive Driver," an extensive education program for both citizens and officers that is combined with an enforcement program. A 22 percent drop in crashes occurred within 7 months of this campaign. The Smooth Operator Campaign in Northern Virginia, suburban Maryland, and the District of Columbia combines the efforts of 26 law enforcement agencies with public relations and research to address all areas of aggressive driving: data collection and analysis, public awareness and education, coordinated enforcement efforts, and driver improvement strategies.
  
• Engineering new systems and technologies to detect aggressive drivers. Several law enforcement agencies are using newly engineered systems and technologies to detect aggressive driving violations and improve enforcement efforts. During a recent enforcement operation in Richardson, Texas, where the police and the city engineering department jointly devised a light system that could safely detect red light runners downstream from the traffic light. More than 200 citations were issued in the first two days. To ensure that the courts would accept this technology, the police department held demonstrations for judges before it was put into operation.
  
• Eliciting media involvement in making aggressive driving a high-profile concern. One method that several law enforcement departments have used to involve the media is to invite them to ride with troopers and witness how aggressive driving programs work. The Washington State Patrol, for example, used the media to advertise the start of its Aggressive Driving Program, then asked them to ride along with officers making aggressive driving stops. Videotape of violators was aired on the local news. Other departments have created public service announcements (PSAs) to raise public awareness. The Arizona Department of Public Safety's PSA about aggressive driving, "30 Seconds, Is It Worth It?" recently won first place in a highway safety PSA campaign.

NHTSA is continuing to gather successful countermeasures and enforcement strategies from State and local aggressive driving enforcement program sites, and to serve as a clearinghouse to communities interested in starting aggressive driving programs. Summaries of these programs, along with the program contact, are posted to NHTSA’s website in the section, Aggressive Driving/Speed, at http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/enforce/.

The National Aggressive Driving Action Guide

The following Action Guide summarizes the work of the Aggressive Driving Implementation Team, formed to devise strategies for carrying out recommendations developed by participants in DOT’s symposium, Aggressive Driving and the Law: A Symposium (January 22-23, 1999). The Action Guide advises States on a number of issues related to aggressive driving and includes recommendations for raising awareness, improving enforcement-related efforts, and criminalizing aggressive driving offenses. Recommendations call for public campaigns, greater use of technology, legislative actions, targeted training, new partnerships, and increased enforcement. Directed to State and local officials, legislative bodies, criminal justice practitioners, highway safety advocates, and the community at large, these recommendations are intended to help define aggressive driving behavior and provide "best solutions" for curtailing it. The model framework presented here will assist other efforts already taking place across the Nation to spread the word in communities that the problem of aggressive driving is a serious traffic safety concern that kills citizens and affects everyone in the community.

The sections that follow are organized into six topic areas containing model strategies or best practices relating to Statutory Strategies, Enforcement Strategies, Applied Technology, Charging Decisions, Sentencing Strategies, and Community Leadership. These recommendations are intended for use by a variety of audiences as a dynamic guide to help States raise the profile of aggressive driving and mitigate the serious safety risks it poses to citizens. This document culminates the work of the Aggressive Driving Implementation Team, with earnest wishes that it may serve the purpose of helping to eradicate aggressive driving on our Nation's roadways.

4. Statement made by NHTSA Administrator Ricardo Martinez, M.D., before the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation in the U.S. House of Representatives (July 17, 1997).
5. National Survey of Speeding and Other Unsafe Driving Actions, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, January 1999. 

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