By WMBD-TV
SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois State Police announced a new educational campaign via news release on Thursday.
The new campaign, ‘Road Rage. Don’t Engage,’ hopes to raise public awareness about the dangers of road rage and how to handle stressful situations in traffic.
“Although road rage is nothing new, we’re seeing people react more aggressively and dangerously,” said ISP Director Brendan F. Kelly.
He continued, “The message is simple – if you see or become part of a road rage situation, don’t engage. That extra car length you gain by cutting someone off, or arriving 10 seconds earlier by tailgating another person, is not worth your life.”
Common signs of road rage and aggressive driving are:
- Following too closely or tailgating
- Improper or erratic lane changing
- Illegally driving on the shoulder of the road (emergency lane), in a ditch/median, or on sidewalk
- Passing where prohibited
- Failure to yield right of way
- Failure to obey traffic laws, signs, and devices
- Failure to yield to emergency personnel and construction zone speed limits
- Failure to signal
- Driving too fast for conditions or in excess of posted speed limit or racing
- Making an improper turn
The following are tips on how to handle road ragers:
- If you are in the left lane and someone wants to pass, move to your right and allow them to pass
- When merging, make sure you have plenty of room and use your turn signal
- If someone cuts you off, slow down and give them room to merge into your lane
- If a speeding driver is tailgating you, safely change lanes when able
- Making gestures might anger the other driver; create distance and avoid confrontation
- If another driver is acting angry, don’t make eye contact
The campaign will be comprised of social media toolkits, billboards, and radio ads.
More information can be found here.
WMBD-TV can be reached at [email protected].
