Road Rage And Asphalt Angst

There is a widespread and persistent myth that traffic in “the big city” is always the absolute worst. Apparently, those who perpetuate that myth have never driven a vehicle in the suburbs.

There are several reasons why city drivers are actually preferable to suburban drivers. First, city drivers, accustomed to claustrophobic and gridlocked traffic, have safety valves to blow off steam without many actual violent incidents. Let me explain. Drive around the center of any big city, and drivers there honk their horns as if it’s mandated every 10 seconds. Big-city drivers have bulked up on their curse words and often can be heard exercising their free speech rights with open windows. Finally, urban drivers can flick their middle finger with the grace of a ballerina and the force of an MMA fighter.

Now suburban drivers possess none of those morally questionable qualities. However, what suburb drivers lack is a refined sense of forgiveness and a shared understanding of community stress relief. In the city, middle finger sightings, car-to-car cursing, and horns blaring at harmful decibel levels act as a collaborative effort by city drivers to “blow off steam.”

However, in the suburbs, the slightest infraction of driving etiquette requires an overcooked response that often devolves into a mild-mannered financial executive going all Christian Bale (“We are done professionally, mate!”) on the unsuspecting driver. Check out the crime statistics. Road rage incidents are almost exclusively suburban affairs. Since most gun owners are either suburban or rural residents, firearms and road rage make a dangerous situation deadly.

Here’s some free advice. The next time you are driving in the suburbs anywhere in this great nation and pull into a Speedway gas station if another driver honks his horn at you for some mysterious offense you’ve apparently committed related to gas station and convenience store driving etiquette, resist the urge to return honk, toss out a reflexive finger, introduce your fist to their chin, or verbally release curse words unless you enjoy an AR-15 assault rifle in your face.

As a public service to suburban drivers and those rural and urban drivers who dare to drive in the suburbs without written permission, here are five myths about Traffic Safety.

A recent survey of U.S. drivers found — not unsurprisingly — that 72 percent of them consider themselves to be above-average drivers. Only 18 percent self-classified as average drivers, and a sheepish — or brutally honest — 9 percent admitted they were below average.

The brutal honesty, however, is reserved for the U.S. as a whole because according to a global report from the World Health Organization — which reviewed laws and crashes in 175 nations — the U.S.’s traffic fatality rate is 12.4 deaths per 100,000 — or about 50 percent higher than similar countries in Western Europe, plus Canada, Australia, and Japan.

In what country are you in the most peril when you’re driving your bulky SUV? Libya. At a rate of 73.4 deaths per 10000 people, Libya by far has the highest incidence of car accidents anywhere in the world.

One possible reason why Americans have an inflated sense of their driving skill is a lack of understanding of traffic safety’s critical dangers.

After reading about the litany of misperceptions by which suburban drivers tool around in their RAV4s, Ford F-250s, and their Audi A3s, I can promise that at least half of you will proclaim, “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. That can’t be right.”

To me, that is a perfectly acceptable reaction because that was my initial response when I researched the myths. Since then, my driving around the suburbs has improved, and I must admit I am now an above-average driver.

All I ask is that after you read these myths, your anger does not unleash a torrent of road rage upon me. There are already enough people on the New Jersey Turnpike trying to send me into the guardrail.

Myth # 1: Side roads are much safer than highways

There are plenty of drivers so afraid of highways and their five or six lanes in each direction that they avoid these asphalt behemoths entirely and drive exclusively on side roads because they believe they are much safer.

People who commute from the suburbs to the city can monitor their anxiety growth as they approach the city in the morning. It’s much like watching your speedometer, but instead of miles per hour, you measure cleansing breaths per lane change.

After all, one lane each way. What could be simpler? And safer.

Last year, 56 percent of the nation’s traffic fatalities occurred in rural areas. Yet rural America has just 23 percent of the nation’s population. In some states, more than 90 percent of highway deaths occur on rural roads.

The grim statistics provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also show that drivers on rural roads die at a rate 2.5 times higher per mile traveled than on urban highways. Urban drivers travel twice as many miles but suffer close to half the fatal accidents.

This statistic may seem counterintuitive, but highway safety officials and activists have plenty of explanations. People driving on rural roads tend to drive faster. They drive without seat belts at higher rates. More of them drive and die drunk. When they’re injured in accidents, they may not get timely emergency medical care, given many rural roads’ remoteness. And deer, elk, moose, and other wild animals are more likely to dart out into traffic on rural roads.

Undivided high-speed (i.e., above 45 mph) roads are the most dangerous kinds of roads frequently found in the United States; they have the highest fatality rates because of the razor-thin margin of error. For example, hurling two vehicles at each other and expecting them to pass each other with inches to spare without any kind of barrier whatsoever would sound like a bad idea to anyone in theory, yet this is precisely what these roads are in practice. Best practices indicate avoiding such roads if they have speed limits above 43 MPH. Because speed limits in the U.S. are based in 5 mph increments, this means avoiding undivided roads with speed limits above 40 mph whenever possible, especially if there’s only one available lane in each direction.

Some experts note that the outdated design and layout of many rural highways are also factors. Driving errors that are manageable on urban roads become deadly on rural highways.

Finally, suburban drivers tend to relax once they return from the overcrowded expressway to the quieter suburban roads. While white-knuckling it on, say, routes 285 and 400 near Atlanta, these same drivers start messing with their phone, wondering where the Cheez-it wrapper went, and thinking about when their GrubHub order will arrive at their home. The result is sloppy driving precisely when they need to be the most vigilant.

In 2019, the University of Pennsylvania conducted a road safety study and found that outlying suburban areas had ten times more roadway deaths than the city. In the study, researchers noted that even side streets in Philadelphia like Pine Street, which branches off one of the city’s main thoroughfares — Broad Street — had a much lower death rate per vehicle traffic.

Why such an anomaly?

Researchers concluded that busy city avenues like Broad Street have more traffic that limits speeding, uses numerous traffic lights to control drivers, and make them more aware of their surroundings. The presence — often unwanted — of pedestrians in the city forces drivers to pay more attention.

Conversely, “pedestrian” is a foreign word in the suburbs where sidewalks are often omitted to seemingly keep residents trapped in their suburban prisons or forced into their vehicles.

Suburban drivers are not experienced in sharing the landscape with pedestrians. Still, suburban pedestrians are often just as clueless, often walking out into traffic inside a crosswalk as if suburban drivers will grudgingly stop like they do in the city.

For many suburban prisoners who spot a person walking on a sidewalk in the suburbs, they have several visceral reactions — “loser, a possible criminal on welfare or food stamps, and wandering around after being released from rehab.”

Myth # 2: The right (slow) lane is the safest lane on a highway

Now this one just doesn’t feel right. That right lane is for the slow and careful drivers who did their vehicular business while speed demons and crazies zip along at 80 or 90 MPH in the left or fast lane.

But according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2018, the safest lane to drive — based on the number of car accidents — is the far left lane, the fast lane. The lane with the most accidents was the far right lane with 40 percent of the car accidents; the second was the middle with about 38 percent, and the third was the far left lane with 22 percent of car accidents.

Why would the right lane be the most dangerous?

You guessed it. It’s the merging lane onto a highway, and merging on any road is inherently dangerous. Merging is not for the faint of heart, which is why the right lane has the highest rate of accidents. People exiting and entering the highway merge and can cause accidents.

Myth # 3: The most common crash involves two or more vehicles

Remember the classic “driving” joke by comedian George Carlin?

Carlin famously cracked, “anyone driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac.”

Ask any driver what one of their greatest traffic fears is, and they’ll invariably say, “being hit by another vehicle.”

In actuality, you may want to find another traffic nightmare because the vehicle you have the most to fear is — yes, you guessed correctly — the vehicle you are driving.

A single-vehicle collision or single-vehicle accident is a type of road traffic in which only one vehicle is involved. This category includes run-off-road collisions, collisions with fallen rocks or debris in the road, rollover crashes within the roadway, and collisions with animals.

Typical factors contributing to single-vehicle collisions include excessive speed, driver fatigue, driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs, and, of course, distracted driving. In the last five years, drivers who have gone off the road because they were looking at their phone has become a significant cause of single-vehicle collisions. Environmental and roadway factors such as bad weather, poor drainage, narrow lanes and shoulders, insufficient curve banking, and sharp curves all contribute to single-vehicle crashes.

Sadly, single-vehicle crashes have become more prevalent due to a tragic trend in recent years — the increase in the suicide rate. Current crash data reveals that suicide by crashing a vehicle into an object off the road has shown a disturbing increase.

So what vehicle is the most dangerous on the road? Cue the Chevrolet Corvette.

So the next time you drive near a 60-year-old white male with a receding hairline in a Corvette driving 15 miles below the speed limit, safely put distance between your vehicle and that Corvette.

Myth # 4: Older drivers cause more accidents and are not as safe as younger drivers

Here’s the mantra of young and middle-aged drivers: Older people don’t get into a lot of accidents, but they cause them. New research from Swansea University challenges the idea that older people are dangerous drivers. Data on vehicle accidents showed that drivers aged 70 are involved in three to four times fewer accidents than 17 to 21-year-old males and that they cause far fewer accidents than younger drivers, including middle-aged drivers.

With Baby Boomers hitting their golden years, the elderly population is growing, and the proportion of drivers in that population is expanding rapidly as well. The percentage of persons age 65 and older who are licensed drivers has increased from 61 percent in 1980 to 72 percent in 1990 and 84 percent in 2017. In 2029, when the last of the boomers turn 65, one in four drivers will be older than 65. That is a scary proposition for many younger drivers who dread being stuck behind an older driver who is cruising along at 15 miles below the posted speed limit.

After middle age, the number of drivers involved in fatal crashes decreases as their age increases. Over 7,000 drivers aged 55 to 64 were involved in fatal crashes in 2017. This number drops to 2,316 for 65- to 69-year-old drivers and continues to drop with each successive age group.

As a group, women drivers are safer drivers than men at all age ranges.

Yes, let me repeat that for every husband, boyfriend, friend with benefits, same-sex partner, roommate, and know-it-all father.

Women are safer drivers than men.

According to a National Institutes of Health study, men’s fatal crash rate per 100,000 drivers was three times higher than for women. (5.3 vs 1.7)

Myth # 5: States with the most traffic have the highest fatality rates

Finally, it seems logical that the states with the most traffic and the most crowded highways should be the most dangerous. In fact, the opposite appears to be true. The states with the most rural roads, the least amount of traffic, and the highest speed limits are the most dangerous.

Mississippi and Louisiana are two of the most dangerous states in which to drive. With low population density, Montana and Wyoming have plenty of rural roads, high speed limits, and high accident rates.

Massachusetts is statistically the safest drive in which to drive, followed by Rhode Island, Minnesota, the District of Columbia, New York, and New Jersey, where flipping other drivers the “bird” seems more prevalent, thankfully, than fatal accidents.

So what are the most disturbing trends in auto safety today?

First, after the fatal accident rate has fallen since 1970 for more than 40 years due to seat belts and safety technology innovations, that number is starting to creep back up, with many pundits blaming distracted driving for that increase.

Second, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association, an estimated 6,227 pedestrians were killed in 2018, an increase of 250 from 2017. Pedestrian fatalities in the U.S. have increased 41 percent since 2008 and now account for 16 percent of all traffic fatalities, the association says

Third, while road rage statistics are notoriously sketchy, The 2018 AAA Traffic Safety Culture Index revealed 39 percent of drivers think road rage is a “much bigger problem” now than in the past.

The lion’s share of road rage are in?

You guessed it — the suburbs.

Finally, new driver assistance technologies hold the potential to reduce the number of crashes and save thousands of lives a year. However, human error remains the number one cause of auto accidents. Traffic experts and insurance companies consistently lobby for stricter licensing requirements, more significant government investment in road infrastructure, and safer vehicles with the latest technology deployed in most, if not all, vehicles sold in the country.

There is a dangerous fiction passed by word of mouth that driving in the suburbs is much safer than driving in the city. Additionally, rural drivers believe that driving in country areas and undeveloped areas are the safest places to drive because they aren’t many vehicles.

Wrong and wrong.

The suburbs are more dangerous than the city for the seriousness of auto accidents. As mentioned earlier, two-lane suburban roads are just more dangerous than 12-lane expressways that seem to paralyze many suburban drivers.

Since repetition is a legitimate learning technique, I will mention again that states will large swaths of rural areas are the most dangerous. For example, Montana and Wyoming, with low population density, plenty of rural roads, and high speed limits, also have high accident rates.

To be fair, both states suffer from blatant acts of TV violence. In Montana, the Dutton family from the Paramount TV show Yellowstone act as violent as grizzly bears just awakened from hibernation. In Wyoming, the Netflix series Longmire depicted more violence than a bloody coup in a Central American nation.

Safe driving, everyone. Wait, did you just flip me off?

Who the hell do you think you are, you ******************.