A questionnaire survey has been carried out among 825 members of the Royal Dutch Touring Club (In Dutch: ANWB) in order to investigate: (1) what is meant by aggressive traffic behaviour; (2) which deviant behaviour occurs frequently; and (3) how aggressive this behaviour is evaluated. It appears from the survey that the way of conducting the following basic driving tasks was considered to be particularly unfriendly or aggressive: a) overtaking another vehicle and then obstructing it by returning to the same traffic lane too soon; b) keeping insufficient distance from another vehicle; and c) making verbal or gesticulating comments. The following driving behaviour was considered by the respondents as being the most aggressive: (i) overtaking another vehicle and then obstructing it by returning to the same traffic lane too soon; (ii) driving on the hard shoulder; (iii) not stopping at a red light; (iv) keeping insufficient distance from another vehicle; (v) braking at the latest moment for pedestrians; and (vi) not giving priority to pedestrians when they were crossing the zebra. It appears that aggressive behaviour was usually displayed by young and middle-aged male drivers. The behaviour of both (a) cyclists, (b) pedestrians, and (c) the groups of road users to which the respondents themselves belong, with the exception of car drivers, was evaluated as being least aggressive. Although specific behaviour of moped riders was judged as being very aggressive, on average the most trouble was caused by car drivers.
Abstract