Aggressive Driving

Aggressive driving is defined by New York as operating a motor vehicle in a selfish, bold or pushy manner, without regard for the rights and safety of other users of the streets and highways. Road rage is sometimes confused with aggressive driving, but they are not the same. Road rage is when drivers try to harm others with their vehicles, such as running others off the road and pushing another vehicle with their bumper in a rage of anger.

The top five aggressive driving behaviors are chronic speeding, frequent and unsafe lane changes, refusal to signal, tailgating, and failure to yield the right of way and disregard for traffic. Most people have admitted to being guilty of aggressive driving. When asked why they were aggressively driving, the most common reasons were lateness, slow traffic in the high-speed lane and frustration at traffic congestion. When aggressively driving, people were tailgating, weaving in and out of traffic, passing on the shoulder, speeding, cutting off traffic, honking, yelling, flashing headlights and using inappropriate gestures. In the extreme, it can include bumping or ramming another vehicle or brandishing weapons.

In Morehead City, drivers have been known to be guilty of aggressive driving. People use Bridges Street Extension to take out their anger and speed. Some drivers have frustrations of traffic congestion on Highway 24, just getting into Morehead City. Those drivers will typically take Bridges Street Extension where the speed limit is increased by 10mph to get ahead of other traffic on the roadway. People have used aggressive driving on the straight highway near Parkway Shopping Center which is another area that is heavily congested. Drivers have used the turning lane to drive around other vehicles. The area in front of Parkway Shopping Center can be a dangerous area for other motorists to leave because of people’s speed in the area and elderly people attempting to judge a person’s speed to determine if they can pull out...