AGGRESSIVE DRIVING: ONE CITY'S SOLUTION

More than 2 years ago, the federal government offered a $476,525 partial matching grant to 27 municipalities across the country to ferret out new ideas on how to reform aggressive drivers. The Milwaukee, Wisconsin, police department proposed a campaign aimed at concentrating on one aggressive driving violation at a time. It would focus its enforcement efforts on a single violation for 1-3 weeks, then move on to the next. In all, Milwaukee's program included 11 mini-campaigns, each of which described an enforcement effort shared by 20 groups, including the Milwaukee metro police, the county sheriff, suburban police, and area law enforcement executives. Each mini-campaign was made uniquely newsworthy, frequently with the help of a catchy title advertised on posters, bumper stickers, and/or decals. These materials were distributed to high school driver education classes and local companies. The Aggression Suppression campaign kicked off March 30, 1999, with a press conference. Over the next 6 months the following topics were focused on: stopping in the middle of an intersection because of gridlock, adherence to ramp meters, tailgating, classes aimed at training citizens to recognize aggressive driving violations, speeding, red-light running, use of turn signals, yielding right of way, driver courtesy, weaving in and out of traffic, and speeding to make up for lack of time management. Compared with the same 6-month period the previous year, crashes, injuries, and fatalities declined by 5-19%, while non-speed related citations jumped 30-55%.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00410721
• Corporate Authors:

  National Safety Council

  1121 Spring Lake Drive
  Itasca, IL  United States  60143
• Authors:
  • Johnson, K
• Publication Date: 2000-7

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures;
• Pagination: p. 17-19
• Serial:
  • Traffic Safety (Chicago)
  • Volume: 00
  • Issue Number: 4
  • Publisher: National Safety Council
  • ISSN: 0041-0721

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aggression; Crash rates; Driver improvement programs; Mass media; Problem drivers; Public information programs; Ramp metering; Reckless drivers; Red light running; Road rage; Safety campaigns; Speeding; Tailgating; Traffic citations; Traffic law enforcement; Turn signals; Weaving traffic
• Geographic Terms: Milwaukee (Wisconsin)
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00797285
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 30 2002 12:00AM