During the wee hours of Black Friday, users had already begun flooding social media sites with videos and commentary detailing scuffles and all-out brawls over discounted merchandise and a number of otherwise predictable social infractions. Did you just cut in line?!

Trending on Twitter was the hashtag #WalmartFights, which we'll let speak for itself. With tensions high and tempers flaring this holiday season, it should come as no surprise that drivers are exhibiting increasingly aggressive (and potentially dangerous) maneuevers that would definitely land them on Santa's Naughty List.

Will you be ”naughty or nice” behind the wheel this holiday season? Some research could have drivers scrambling for, ahem, creative justifications. When State Farm and KRC Research conducted an online survey of 1,000 U.S drivers over 18 years old, they found there is plenty of room for improvement in driving behaviors. According to the survey, nearly two out of three (64 percent) U.S. drivers have experienced an “act of aggressive driving” six times or more in the past three months from another driver.

With a large number of drivers affected by aggressive driving already, the survey revealed nearly a third of drivers admit the likelihood of them engaging in aggressive driving increases during the winter holidays.

I'm tempted to say “duh.” Anyone who has braved the local mall recently shouldn't be all that surprised by this statistic. What is troubling more than poor driving etiquette, though, is that erratic road manuevers induced by a “short fuse” or #TWD can kill. Considerable attention is given to the usual bad driving habits and deservedly so, but what about a nation of anxious, time-pressed road warriors? Judging from some key findings of that survey, we can't blame it all on the kids this time, either. Consider, for instance, that:

Forty-four percent of drivers participating in the survey said they have engaged in aggressive driving behaviors in the past three months.
Thirty-two percent of younger drivers (ages 18-29), 28 percent of middle aged drivers (ages 30-49) and parents (30 percent) were significantly more likely to report being provoked or engage in aggressive driving around the major winter holidays compared to only 9 percent of older drivers (ages 50 and older) and non-parents (15 percent).
About half of survey respondents perceive men and women to be equally courteous when driving. When it comes to aggressive driving, however, the majority (54 percent) of drivers cite men as the most likely culprits of aggressive driving, compared to only one in 10 who said that women are more likely. The remaining 37 percent of drivers reported men and women to be equally likely to engage in aggressive driving.
Top situations most likely to make drivers respond aggressively were traffic jams (63 percent), running late (55 percent) and road closures or construction (47 percent).

“These findings reinforce how important it is to keep safety top of mind when driving every day, but especially during heavy travel times like the winter holidays,” says Chris Mullen, director of technology research at State Farm. “Both negative and positive emotions can affect the way drivers behave and it's vital to be aware of your state of mind and continually refocus your attention on the road and practicing safe driving behaviors.”

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), “naughty” driving encompasses speeding or driving too fast for conditions, improper lane changing or passing, and tailgating. Whether drivers are guilty of aggressive driving or have been on the receiving end of it, State Farm encourages drivers to be ”nice” during the holiday season, though. We can do this, the insurer says, by taking control whenever possible:

Control your behavior on the road. Running traffic signals is one of the most common causes of a car crash in metropolitan areas (U.S. DOT Federal Highway Administration) and speeding or driving too fast for conditions accounts for about one-third of all fatal car crashes in America (Governors Highway Safety Association).
Control your emotions. Recognize it's not personal and it's not a race. It's important to get out of the way of an aggressive driver but also to give drivers the benefit of the doubt.
Understand driving conditions before setting out. Plan extra time to get to your destination to account for weather conditions, heavy traffic or parking lot congestion. If available, use public transportation when expecting inclement weather or heavy traffic times.

Sure, some of those are much easier said than done. But we do have a choice, as well as a real responsibility, to do better and promote safe driving behaviors. So what about cyclists? Now don't even get me started on that.

Special Reports /

Aggressive Holiday Driving and #WalmartFights

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