Aggressive Driving

The explosive anger that leads drivers to sometimes deadly road disputes, often termed “road rage,” has dramatized the rise in aggressive driving. Two-thirds of last year's more than 41,000 auto deaths are blamed on aggressive driving - such as speeding, cutting off other motorists and tailgating. In several states, police are beefing up enforcement, and legislators are calling for tougher penalties. Several cities are installing traffic-calming measures like narrowed streets to slow down drivers. But citizens in much of the nation must battle entrenched state highway bureaucracies, whose road standards make roads as fast as possible for cars - often at the expense of walkers, bicyclists and livable communities.