Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Dangerous driving habits essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The one type of driver that really irritates me during my morning commute to work in downtown Phoenix, is the driver who is in the “fast lane” or left lane without keeping pace with the preceding car in the same lane, and also fails to yield to faster moving traffic. These drivers are creating safety issues for those around them in an already stressful situation. In contrast, some people may believe that these drivers are justified in their failure to yield to faster drivers because they are exceeding the speed limit. Nevertheless, the highway is designed to operate safe and efficient when slower drivers stay to right and remember that the left lane is a passing lane, and therefore should vacated it as soon as practicable for everyone’s benefit. …show more content…
It has been shown that one erratic driver can cause a traffic jam (Ball), according to scientists that study traffic dynamics. Highways and freeways are designed to allow an unimpeded flow of cars moving independently of each other, and is facilitated by designating the left most lane as a passing lane so that everyone can move freely and independent of each other (Friedland 1). This only works if a car vacates it once the pass complete and it is safe to reenter the right lane. One the disturbance from the first person braking begins, a safety hazard is created for surrounding drivers due to the various avoidance tactics that the other drivers will employ to go around the
‘Road Respect’ is an attempt to educate Massachusetts drivers on the dangers of aggressive driving and enforce its decline. The Governor’s Highway Safety Bureau (GHSB), the State Police and over 255 local police departments are participating in the ‘Road Respect’ campaign to make it a success.
“Have you ever noticed how anyone going slower than you is an idiot, and everyone going faster than you is a maniac?” George Carlin once, jokingly asked. However, this is not the case for drivers on the famous highway systems in Germany. When you drive in Germany you can be “idiot” in the government’s eyes if you go too slowly, drive in the wrong lane or impede the flow of traffic. This distinction is not unique in Germany but is applicable to their federal highway system, aptly named the Autobahn.
With the introduction of the automobile in the early 1900s, laws have been instituted to protect drivers on the road. With these laws come lawbreakers who put their agenda in front of the well being of others. Tens of thousands of lives have been lost. billions of dollars have been spent, and pollution has grown exponentially because of this. drivers travelling at high speeds on roads (Hartman).
In today’s day and age there are so many excuses for distracted driving. Lives are put at risk every time a distracted motorist is on the road, and deaths have increased by a substantial amount in the last ten years. On Thursday, April 26th, 2014 one woman’s bad judgement cost her life (Hastings, 1). Not only was she effected, but her friends and family assuredly felt a pain in their hearts. In the few seconds it took Courtney Ann Sanford to post a few words on Facebook, it was enough to distract her from the road and to drive across another lane and through a median straight into a Truck (Hastings, 1). She was immediately killed. Shortly before her Facebook post, she was sending selfies to her friends (Hastings, 3). This just goes to show
Drivers who speed often do not realize the enormous danger they are creating. When someone is speeding they have a higher braking time and are often going too fast to notice all of their surroundings, and fail to take all of the safety precautions a driver should use. Road conditions play a large role in the effects of speeding. Choosing to speed can also get a person’s license taken away, cost a fortune, or both.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) defines aggressive driving as "the operation of a motor vehicle in a manner that endangers or is likely to endanger persons or property"—a traffic and not a criminal offense like road rage. Examples include speeding or driving too fast for conditions, improper lane changing, tailgating and improper passing. Approximately 6,800,000 crashes occur in the United States each year; a substantial number are estimated to be caused by aggressive driving. 1997 statistics compiled by NHTSA and the American Automobile Association show that almost 13,000 people have been injured or killed since 1990 in crashes caused by aggressive driving. According to a NHTSA survey, more than 60 percent of drivers consider unsafe driving by others, including speeding, a major personal threat to themselves and their families. About 30 percent of respondents said they felt their safety was threatened in the last month, while 67 percent felt this threat during the last year. Weaving, tailgating, distracted drivers, and unsafe lane changes were some of the unsafe behaviors identified. Aggressive drivers are more likely to drink and drive or drive unbelted. Aggressive driving can easily escalate into an incident of road rage. Motorists in all 50 states have killed or injured other motorists for seemingly trivial reasons. Motorists should keep their cool in traffic, be patient and courteous to other drivers, and correct unsafe driving habits that are likely to endanger, antagonize or provoke other motorists. More than half of those surveyed by NHTSA admitted to driving aggressively on occasion. Only 14 percent felt it was "extremely dangerous" to drive 10 miles per hour over the speed limit. 62 percent of those who frequently drive in an unsafe and illegal manner said police for traffic reasons had not stopped them in the past year. The majority of those in the NHTSA survey (52 percent) said it was "very important" to do something about speeding. Ninety-eight percent of respondents thought it "important" that something be done to reduce speeding and unsafe driving. Those surveyed ranked the following countermeasures, in order, as most likely to reduce aggressive and unsafe driving behaviors: (1) more police assigned to traffic control, (2) more frequent ticketing of traffic violations, (3) higher fines, and (4) i...
We as a society need to all take responsibility when we are on the road and avoid the many temptations and distractions surrounding us. Distracted driving is dangerous plain and simple. Some may be willing to take the risk because they have never had an accident while behind the wheel. But it’s
This article written by Chris De Santis explains the three major traffic problems that are impossible to solve because of our human driving differences, but points out that the self-driving cars of the future have the clear solutions. The 1st problem is the ripple effect. When one car reacts to something on the highway and slows down, this starts a ripple effect that will cause a car to stop eventually down the line. The effect will keep going, keeping the traffic slow. The solution is self-driving cars that are programmed to stay equidistance in the middle between 2 cars and accelerate simultaneously. The 2nd problem are the slow reaction times of drivers that cause grid lock at the next
Traffic phenomena are multifaceted, and it depends on the interpretations of many vehicles. Vehicles also do not react simply following the laws of mechanic. It varies depending on individual driver’s behavior. The traffic flow theory is defined as “the description of traffic behavior by application of physics and mathematics” (Gerlough and Huber, 1975). The traffic flow theory interprets the traffic stream variables of speed, flow, and concentration. The higher density will make the traffic flow become unstable and dangerous and even causing car incidents. Jam density represents to extreme traffic density which the vehicles’ velocity is also zero in the case.
lane closures and distractions to motorists. A motorist is driving the speed limit and then immediately has to slam on their brakes because another motorist sees the lane closures and decides to cut in front of them. This type of driving makes motorists mad because they know tha...
This shows that under normal conditions, humans naturally generate traffic stops and called "virtual traffic jams", even without clogging, lane changes, merges or interruptions. However, by controlling the speed of the autonomous vehicle, researchers were able to smooth the flow of traffic for all vehicles. It's not quite right, because there are not many self-driving vehicles on the road and no cars are completely self driven. If they want to reduce traffic congestion, what they firstly need to pay attention are the transport infrastructure, then the driving behavior, not only a self-driven car. Imagining that everyone who owns a car and run at the same speed, but the road is bad, can the car maintain the same speed?
The major cause of aggressive driving is the discourteous or inattentive driver. Driving behaviors include changing lanes to closely, tailgating and "the number one cause is the left lane hog." (Larson 1) These seemingly small errors infuriate the potentially aggressive driver and cause a transformation indescribable to man kind. Reduced law enforcement, highway traffic, the growing congestion is cities, and personal issues play a large role in the disposition of the aggressive driver. Then the angry driver may demonstrate his or her displeasure by speeding around the other vehicle, cutting the other car off, and or with a number of verbal and non-verbal messages. Though the driver may feel justified in his or her action, but the display in most times is very dangerous and often will result in damage to one or both cars involved.
Traffic control establishes a set of rules and regulations that people rely on to help avoid collisions and other hazards. With almost 160 million motorists and 3.8 million miles of public roads in the United States, traffic control on the highways is an important aspect of daily life. Without the control of speed there would be more fatalities than we already have now. Speed limits should be obeyed. A motorist going too slow could cause an accident. When everyone is traveling at the speed limit, a car comes up going 40 mph; if you break everyone will, too, perhaps causing a collision. Motorists depend on traffic control to avoid collisions and travel safely to their destination.
“The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status, or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we all believe that we are above-average drivers” -Dave Barry, comedian. The number of accidents over the last ten years have drastically increased, drivers are paying less attention to the road itself. Many individuals behind the wheel of a car believe that their driving does not affect the road conditions, however it always will. The driving habits of today are catastrophic due to the reasoning that the driving will affect other lives through reckless or distracted driving, and disobeying traffic laws.
III. Connection: Everday we have to deal with these people on our roads. We run a great risk just driving around the corner to go to the store or a quiet trip to church. According to U.S. News and World Report, the U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that two-thirds of fatalities are at least partially caused by aggressive driving. Fortunately, there is something we can do about it.