Aggressive Driving
With the use of automobiles, together with the development of road systems for the past century, it has
been since the primary means of land transportation that undeniably improved our way of living. Yet,
since then, this has also been the means of damages to property and accidents to human lives. Aside
from causes such as mechanical defects, road damages, and natural disasters, one major cause of road
accidents that will be focused on is aggressive driving.
Simply speaking, it is defined by the National Highway Safety Administration (NHSTA) as when "an
individual commits a combination of moving traffic offenses to endanger other persons or property.”
This includes failing to obey traffic signs and signals, driving wrong in lanes, passing in prohibited zones,
failing to signal turns or lane changes, speeding, tailgating, taking frustrations out on other motorists,
etc.
Aggressive driving obviously leads to dangerous results. Starting with the less severe, road crashes result
to damages in property. In an annual road crash statistics reported in an article from asirt.org, 20-50
million individuals suffer from non-fatal road crashes globally due to causes like aggressive driving. It
was also reported that the total damages may even cost countries 2-8% of their GDP; not only it affects
the involved individuals, but also extends to the economy.
Moving on with the worse severity, aggressive driving results to serious injuries and worst of allfatalities. Approximately 1.35 million people die globally in road accidents, as reported by WHO. In the
Philippines, about 12,000 Filipinos die on the road every year where many of the cases were related to
aggressive and reckless driving, according to the 2018 report of Metro Manila Accident Reporting and
Analysis System.
With the statistics given alone, it is totally reasoned out that aggressive driving is dangerous, illegal, and
should be avoided by everyone.
It is also important to note that these certain acts have consequences and are punishable by law.
Here in the Philippines, certain laws are created to regulate and to provide punishments depending on
the violation.
First, penalty fines range from P 3,000 to P 50,000, excluding damage expenses. Driving license can also
be suspended or revoked. Finally, if violations are of the severest form, penalty will be prison sentence
up to its maximum period- plenty more reasons to be careful in driving.
To conclude, aggressive driving results nothing but danger; although, acknowledging this alone may not
truly help in decreasing these incidents. Therefore, it is also important to demand proper
implementation of our laws and to educate everyone, especially the drivers, the risks of driving
aggressively. By learning the consequences of our actions when driving, this will surely make the road
safer than before.