I killed 37 people just driving home from Walmart a few minutes ago.
No, seriously, I used to be very aggresive when I was younger and would average 1-2 tickets per year. The wake up call was a road-rage incident where another driver was chasing me all over the road in moderately heavy traffic, waving a tire iron at me and doing his level best to either hit me or make me hit him, all because I went around him on the freeway on-ramp because he was only going like 15mph and not accellerating. I pulled out my own tire iron and waved it back before going “WHAT THE FUCK AM I DOING?”
I’m still slightly aggressive (fucking hate people who can’t read the damned speed limit signs and drive 10-15mph under the speed limit), but I have not had a ticket in about 15 years. I generally ensure my smooth and even driving by using the cruise control as much as possible.
My earlier post should say I haven’t owned a car in a year. Actually, it’s been almost exactly one year. My car became someone else’s problem in late November 2010. Anyway…
Jebus. Even though I speed like crazy and am an aggressive driver, I’ve only even been pulled over something like five times ever, and have been able to weasel my way out of a ticket all but once. My aggressive driving is hardly noticeable, though. I don’t zip in and out of lanes unnecessarily, there’s no sudden accelerating, or tailgating. All that stuff just draws a lot of attention to you, which I try to avoid since I’m almost always speeding. The only time I’m not speeding is when traffic doesn’t allow for it.
I selected slightly aggressive driving behavior. I don’t actively try to screw over other drivers, but I do have a low tolerance for poor drivers. Over the last five years, I’ve probably averaged 1 ticket per year, even though I haven’t had one in about 2 years. There was a 3 month stretch where I got 3 tickets. It was mostly bad luck, 2 of them were literally for being 5mph over the limit. My last 3 tickets (including those unfortunate 2) have been received outside my home state.
I don’t DRIVE aggressively. I tend to do a lot of complaining and yelling and such at idiot drivers when I’m driving, but I don’t actually DRIVE that way. I drive defensively.
I’m wording this so carefully because if supervenusfreak ever reads this, he’ll be on the floor laughing that I said I’m not aggressive while driving. So I wanted to clarify that I AM aggressive while driving…I just don’t drive aggressively.
I’m pretty aggressive most of the time. I can’t stand being passed on the highway. It’s not because I want the other guy to be punished, but because it means I could’ve been going faster. Stop signs are essentially suggestions. Red lights don’t count until after they’ve been red for a full second. Unless, of course, it’s after 2 a.m., when red lights become stop signs, provided I can see. Speed limits are determined by tire traction and traffic volume, not signs. I’m also an ‘aggressive parker’, in that “two-hour limit” really means four hours, and “no parking from X to Y” sounds like a dare.
I’ve never been ticketed. Dodging cops is part of the game. And perhaps surprisingly, the few accidents I’ve had have involved snowy hills and a car that started to accelerate to merge into highway traffic, but then abruptly stopped while I was looking over my shoulder.
I appreciate your honesty, Chessic Sense, but you don’t sound aggressive so much as you sound like a bad driver. There’s no way to measure how many times a good driver has saved you from having a collision.
VA, NC, and GA have incorporated the common-sense notion that there must be someone on the receiving end of an aggressive driver’s aggression. Other states, not so much. In two states (DE, RI), a combination of driving over the speed limit, passing in the right-hand lane, and failure to signal, qualifies as aggressive driving. (By their standards, most people on the road are aggressive drivers.) It’s a real hodgepodge.
I never drive aggressively (I tend to be a timid driver). I get in the lane I need to be in as early as possible, I usually stay 10 miles over the speed limit (which is practically crawling in CA) and stay in the right as much as possible. I’ve never flipped anyone off and always maintain a safe following distance.
I’ve never had a ticket (25 years, knock on wood) and only been in one fender bender that was my fault (very very minor).
My husband is a VERY aggressive driver and it can be terrifying to be the passenger. He has no patience for anybody on the road.
I voted “somewhat aggressive” but I’m not a weave-in-and-out, flip people off type of driver. More of an *impatient *driver. I’m usually content to go with the flow of traffic (which around here is 10-15 mph over the speed limit–fine with me), but there’s always some Yahoo going 10-15 mph below the flow of traffic and if I’m behind that guy, yeah, I’ll “pass agressively” or whatever.
Tickets? I don’t get traffic tickets.
I have no idea what my gas mileage is. I’ve never even thought to care. I drive and when I get below a quarter tank I fill up. Hell, I’m American! Worrying about gas mileage sounds like something the French would do.
I am… aggressively defensive. I essentially assume that everyone else on the road is trying to kill me at all times and generally take proactive action to avoid even the possibility of collision. I change lanes infrequently but will do so to give other cars breathing room if I sense they require it (someone merging into them, etc.). I keep track of the style of drivers ahead of me in dense traffic situations and adjust my braking pattern accordingly (Have a tailgater? Give him as much reaction time as possible by looking at brake lights several cars ahead.).
Driving is a game–not in the sense of being trivial and something to be taken lightly, but in the sense of understanding your “opponent”, and understanding how they understand you, and so on.
I never “punish” other drivers by blocking them, intentionally slowing down, etc., and have zero respect for those that do.
I drive fast, I’m told, but not in an aggressive manner. Haven’t been ticketed in years. I don’t pay for gas so I don’t pay any attention to my mileage.
I’m so courteous behind the wheel that sometimes I annoy those behind me. Like the time I got honked at for allowing someone to enter my lane in heavy traffic so they wouldn’t be stuck behind someone else who was waiting to turn left.
