What is an Aggressive Driver?

Series Summary

Sure you’ve been there before, driving home from your shopping trip, daydreaming about your new purchases or the date you’ve got planned for that night… suddenly the person behind you lands on their horn, pulls up far too close behind (or even beside) you, shaking their fists and shouting. You’re not quite sure why they’re so mad, but mad they are, mad enough that you’re scared they might just…

In this series of free driving safety videos, our professional law officer shares his experience in dealing with road rage and similar unsafe driving situations. Corporal Shaun Appler gives you tips on how to recognize an overly aggressive driver and how to avoid confrontations with them if at all possible. If you do happen to get involved in such a situation, remain calm: never agitate the aggressive driver who is already upset. Countering someone else’s road rage with road rage of your own can lead to an unhappy ending for all those involved.

Video Transcript

"Hi! My name is Shaun Appler and I am an investigator with the Wrightsville Beach Police Department and on behalf of Expert Village, I am here to talk to you about how to deal with an aggressive driver. First thing is we have to establish what is an aggressive driver. Laws may vary from state to state as far as criminal charges are concerned. I know in North Carolina it has to do with someone driving over an excess of posted speed in addition to driving careless and recklessly or following too close or doing a couple of things like that. But we are going on a general sense. What is an aggressive driver? We've all seen them. You see them on the road all the time. The person driving too fast, cutting between lanes, people following too close, trying to get people move out of the way. The thing is that it spans the entire population of drivers. Whether it be the mother whose son took too long to get ready for school in the morning so now she is running 5 to 10 minutes behind, for a guy to get to his Tee time because he is going to miss it, a 90 year old woman trying to get to church on time. It doesn't matter. Aggressive drivers can be anybody. "