Pinellas Park area Kia Cautions Against Overly Aggressive Driving Habits

Jun 27, 2013

Many drivers experience aggressive feelings when behind the wheel, which can lead to overly aggressive driving habits that put themselves, their passengers, and everyone else on the road in danger. Some aggressive driving habits include road rage, tailgating and speeding. If you are guilty of these habits, you may want to take a closer look at your driving and minimize your need for an overly aggressive driving style to increase safety. Pinellas Park area Kia offers the following advice about common aggressive driving habits:

Road Rage

With roads becoming increasingly more populated as time goes by the chance that someone will react with anger to another driver’s actions is not entirely unpredictable. Unfortunately, these reactions can lead to situations that can endanger the health and well being of one or more of the drivers involved or even to innocent pedestrians in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Road rage can be detrimental to the drivers’ health even if no direct interaction occurs. Acute stress often occurs in these times and can lead to chronic stress which often leads to negative health outcomes including heart problems. Exercising calmness and rational thought at these times can save on from a great deal of future problems. Learn deep breathing exercises and use them when you feel angry at another person’s driving. If you must, pull off the road and calm down before you experience road rage and make risky driving decisions.

Tailgating

Following other cars too closely can be a major traffic safety issue. Leaving little room to change lanes, feeling pressured by other vehicles to exceed the posted speed limits, and driving out of a range that feels safe are just a few of the dangers. The risk for rear-ending accidents are increased when people are tailgating. All of these stressful conditions can lead to the negative health outcomes discussed above.

One of the rules followed by many and suggested by some drivers education textbooks is the “2-second rule”. This means being two seconds behind the person in front of you that would be reached at current speeds and being two seconds in front of the person behind you, speeds being the same.

Speeding

Not only is speeding against the law but it also a risky activity that can endanger fellow drivers around you. Some people just drive faster than the speed limit at all times, to the point that it becomes a normal activity for them. Regardless of the reason there are steps that people can do to stop the practice of speeding:

Train yourself to be more aware of the speedometer. Those who are conscious of how fast they are going at all times tend to speed less.
Use cruise control if your car is equipped with it.
Drive under the speed limit. Most times this will not lengthen commute time to any real degree and it adds safety.
Leave early for your destination so that you do not feel “rushed” to get there.