While this headline might not sound like news, it’s always nice to see anecdotes backed up by data. Yep, as it happens older, more mature folks are shaking their fists at us for a reason; drivers aged 39 or much younger would be the probably to speed and have interaction in other aggressive and dangerous behaviors, with men being more prone to participate in risky behavior virtually overall, with only a couple of exceptions.
The latest survey in the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety asked drivers numerous questions regarding various aggressive, distracted and impaired driving behaviors. Respondents were inspired to report whether they’d involved in them and just how dangerous they perceived these to be. These were also asked how likely they deemed any related infractions would result in consequences, and whether or not they believe those behaviors carry positive or negative social stigmas.
When you are looking at behaviors considered sign of aggressive driving, including speeding (15 over on the highway or 10 over in a residential district), weaving or any other risky passing/merging, tailgating and interesting in road-rage-style theatrics, men were universally more prone to have partaken. The only real exceptions were red-light running and cutting off other drivers; men led those categories only very slightly, enough where there’s effectively equal blame to become assigned.
Those probably to take part in risky behavior in most three categories are universally younger. Except for speeding, drivers largely appear to ditch these habits after they turn 40 approximately and subside, and even lead-footed drivers have a tendency to relax by the time they reach retirement age, dropping from the peak above 55% between 19 and 39 to fewer than 40% over the chronilogical age of 75.
It’s also important to note that there’s a demonstrable uptick between new drivers aged 16-18 and those aged 19-24 when it comes to self-reporting bad behaviors, likely as a result of combination of new-driver guilt and the fact that younger drivers are more likely to behave cautiously due to a lack of skill, especially when being supervised during the graduated licensing process.
Distracted and impaired behavior follow essentially the same trends as aggressive driving, however the gender gap is much narrower. Women are ever-so-slightly (1%) more prone to react to a text or email driving without the help of a hands-free device; approximately 30 percent of all respondents said they’d done this at least once within the Thirty days prior to taking laptop computer.
When inspired to measure the dangers and risk of consequences associated with the various behaviors, distraction and impairment top the list. Even among younger drivers (who reported they are more likely to have engaged in such behaviors), impairment in all forms and distraction by handheld products are virtually universally perceived to be far more dangerous than speeding.
Regardless of how it breaks down, AAA says nearly 8 in 10 respondents reported participating in an aggressive driving behavior in the Thirty days prior to taking laptop computer. Yeah, it’s stressful available. Be cautious.
