Background Info

The National Highway Traffic Safety (NHTSA) defines aggressive driving as, “the operation of a motor vehicle in a manner that endangers or is likely to endanger persons or property” [1]. A few examples of aggressive driving behaviors include improper or erratic lane changing, illegal driving on a road shoulder, failure to yield right of way, etc. The Insurance Information Institute (III) reports that aggressive driving is a contributing factor to road rage and a large number of fatal highway collisions each year [2]. In 2020, NHTSA reported 6,314 (11.7%) of drivers involved in fatal crashes were operating the vehicle in a reckless or careless manner [3].

Road rage is often associated with these aggressive driving behaviors. In 2022, Nevadans ranked 6th for the highest number of confrontational drivers. A study by Forbes Advisor found that 76% of drivers were honked at, 58% reported receiving a rude gesture while driving, and 27% reported knowing another Nevadan who was injured in a road rage related incident [4].

In Nevada, between the years 2018-2021, there were over 1.4 million citations issued by law enforcement agencies. Of these citations, 38,172 were related to aggressive driving, careless driving, reckless driving, failure to exercise due care, and behaviors that impede traffic. This TREND in focus is a descriptive analysis that describes different types of driving behavioral non-adjudicated citations in Nevada.

Nevada Driving Behavior-Related Citations Summary

In Nevada, individuals cited for improper or imprudent driving behaviors are classified 5 different ways: careless driving, reckless driving, aggressive driving, driving behaviors that impede traffic (slow speed or stopped), and failure to use due care. Due care is defined as the duty of the driver to decrease speed under certain circumstances or fail to use due care.

From 2018-2021 there were 1,425,762 traffic citations issued by law enforcement in Nevada. Of those, 38,172 (2.7%) were behavior-related citations.

• The breakdown of the 38,172 behavior related citations are as follows: [Figure 1]
  • 59.87% Failed to use Due Care
  • 19.09% Careless Driving
  • 13.57% Reckless Driving
  • 5.28% Impede Traffic – Slow Speed or Stopped
  • 2.19% Aggressive driving
• 70.5% resulted in a motor vehicle crash.
• Drivers issued a citation were on average (mean) 36.3 years of age (median 32, Interquartile Range 24-46 years) [Figure 2].
• Males were more frequently cited than females (64.2% vs. 35.6%).
• The ethnicity breakdown for behavior-related citations were: White (51.0%), Hispanic (14.8%), Black (13.6%), Asian (4.5%), Indian (Native American) (0.5%), with 15.3% reported unknown.
• 77.6% of citations were issued in Clark County with Washoe (14.6%) being the second highest, and 8% were issued in other counties in Nevada.
• 80% of these citations are given to a driver with a Nevada driver’s license and have vehicle registered in Nevada.
• Over three-fourths (76.0%) of violations occurred between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. [Figure 3].
• 80.3% of the citations occurred during a weekday.

Data received from the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety and this research was made possible by a grant from the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety #TS-2023-UNLV-00077.