[Article] Aggressive driving is all the rage

Victor

http://home.eircom.net/content/unison/national/638507?view=Eircomnet

Aggressive driving is all the rage
From:The Irish Independent
Tuesday, 29th April, 2003
Treacy Hogan Environment Correspondent

AGGRESSIVE driving and road rage is widespread and on the increase in Ireland, a major international study has found.

Some 82pc of Irish drivers are "very annoyed" by other drivers, the fourth highest of 15 European countries.

A poll carried out four years ago found 69pc of Irish car owners were very annoyed by other drivers - showing the problem appears to have worsened by 13pc since then.

A total of 38pc of Irish motorists - almost four in 10 - were victims of "aggressive behaviour" during the past 12 months, the Irish Independent has also learned.

Road rage sparked by increasing pressures on people's lifestyles has meanwhile been officially linked to road crashes in the country. It's not all one way traffic, however, as some 29pc of our motorists admitted being aggressive towards other drivers.

The worldwide poll by EOS Gallup Europe involved 14,000 drivers in 23 countries including all EU nations, the US, Japan and others.

Niamh Delaney, project leader, said the drastic 13pc increase in the proportion of Irish drivers seriously annoyed by others was a "very worrying trend".

Ms Delaney said there was a difference between aggressive driving and road rage.

"Driving behaviour is aggressive if it is deliberate, likely to increase the risk of a collision and is motivated by impatience, annoyance, hostility or an attempt to save time. Road rage is where there is intent to cause harm," she added.

The Irish motorists surveyed complained about aggressive drivers who:

* Overtake a queue of traffic to cut in in front (69pc).
* Insert themselves in front of a vehicle when a road narrows (53pc).
* Flash lights aggressively (35pc).
* Make aggressive or obscene gestures (50pc).
* Tailgate or pursue another driver aggressively (8pc).
* Change lanes without indicating (60pc).

Meanwhile, 21pc of Irish drivers said they had been verbally abused in the 12-month period. A total of 49pc of drivers said they were very irritated by other motorists using mobile phones.

Other causes for concern were drivers leaving main headlights on while following closely behind (64pc), hesitant or nervous driving (29pc), absence of road markings and driving in the middle of the road (39pc).

Gallup said aggressive driving, a global issue, was on the increase. "Aggressive driving is an issue that needs to be urgently addressed. Public awareness of the dangers of aggressive driving should be heightened in order to avoid moving into a society of acceptance of such behaviour on the roads," the organisation said.

"Since roadway congestion is considered to be just one factor that tends to exacerbate aggressive driving behaviours," it said, "roads and traffic circulation should be improved."

Governments and policy-makers should continue to strengthen law enforcement measures to combat aggressive driving behaviour and thereby heighten safety on roads, Gallup said.

A spokesperson for the Irish National Safety Council (NSC) said aggressive driving could be attributed to lifestyle pressures, but that this was no excuse as it led to road crashes involving other innocent road users.

The NSC spokesperson urged drivers to exercise more tolerance and less impatience while on the roads.

The Gallup Europe survey was carried out on behalf of the Belgian-based Responsible Young Drivers Foundation, dedicated to road safety and reducing the number of traffic accident victims.

The top four European countries for drivers "very annoyed" by other motorists were the UK (87pc), the Netherlands (86pc), Italy (85pc) and Ireland (82pc).

Borzoi

* Change lanes without indicating (60pc).

And here was me thinking that was just ignorance and bad driving, and now I find out it's 'aggressive driving'

me shakes head with the wonder of it all.

dmeehan

if the gardai or a "transport police" enforced the law many of the above would not be as common an aoccurance

Occidental

Originally posted by dmeehan
if the gardai or a "transport police" enforced the law many of the above would not be as common an aoccurance

If they enforced it on the N4, they'd be arresting themselves, as the gardai are some of the worst offenders.

John2002

There's a lot worse than all that going on in other countries. I haven't been there but I've been told Rome is ridiculous to drive in.

dmeehan

and paris too
i would never EVER considder driving in paris

Victor

Oddly there is no figure for not indicating at junctions, is it just par for the course?

MDR

repeating myself from other boards here but the Garda don't have the vechicles to inforce the law at the minute, but apart from that this is all media manure. Must have been a slow day in the newsroom ...

dmeehan

they dont *HAVE* to have the vehicles

for example:
i have been driving in cork city numerous times where the gardai stand idly by at a junction while someone stops on a yellow box

simple things like this lead to a large reduction
look what happened to the new york city crime figures when "zero tolerance" was introduced.

why cant we do that here? they dont need extra resources, the ones that are there should get the finger out and do the job they are paid to do

MDR

i have been driving in cork city numerous times where the gardai stand idly by at a junction while someone stops on a yellow box

They are quite limited in what they can at the minute from what understand, fines aren't considered anymore, me thinks they are waiting for the penalty points system to come in play proparily before a proper crack down.

Funny thing is that many Garda don't have full driving licenses, there are quite a few of the them driving around provisionals, and quite a few still not driving at all. Sortof funny to expect them to inforce motoring law ....

MDR

look what happened to the new york city crime figures when "zero tolerance" was introduced.

why cant we do that here? they dont need extra resources, the ones that are there should get the finger out and do the job they are paid to do

I wanted to deal this one seperately. Garda arrest people for offense X, person is fined by the judge, person doesn't pay fine, person is summoned before judge to be sent to prison for non-payment, there is no available places to send person, because the prisons are all full of more dangerous people, after two years no further action is taken and conviction is forgotten about. This is whats happening in a __HUGE__ number of cases, the Garda no longer have incentive to inforce the law, because of our revolving door court system.

Zero tolerance worked in the states, because the courts and the state backed the cops up. Don't blame the Garda for the fact the law is unenforceable, go see your td and bend his/her ear.