Should New Jersey high schools with driver's education courses be required to include the dangers of road rage in the curriculum? Consider this: 6-in-10 Americans consider aggressive driving to be a "major threat" to themselves and their families.

Four Garden State Assembly members are pushing to make sure teens are made fully aware of the potentially deadly dangers of road rage.

"It's a safety matter that's important to all drivers, but especially our new drivers," said Assemblyman Dan Benson (D-Hamilton Square). "Young people sometimes don't have impulse control. You want to make sure they understand that their actions have consequences."

Road rage. (kieferpix, ThinkStock)
Road rage. (kieferpix, ThinkStock)
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Now on Gov. Chris Christie's desk is legislation (A-1013) sponsored by Benson and Assembly members Wayne DeAngleo (D-Hamilton), Shavonda Sumter (D-Paterson) and John Wisniewski (D-Sayreville) that would require the curriculum for approved classroom driver education courses and to include information on the dangers of aggressive driving.

Benson said the bill was inspired by Jessica Rogers, a former Hamilton, New Jersey resident. In 2005 at the age of 16 Jessica was left paralyzed from the chest down in a crash that allegedly began as an incident of road rage.

Statistics compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration revealed the following statistics:

  • 66 percent of traffic fatalities are caused by aggressive driving;
  • 37 percent of aggressive driving incidents involve a firearm;
  • Half of drivers who are on the receiving end of aggressive driving behavior admit to responding by driving aggressively;
  • 2 percent of motorists admit to trying run an aggressive driver off the road.

"It's important that teens learn how to not just recognize it (aggressive driving), but understand the dangers that come from (it). What they think is an extremely dangerous behavior in others is an extremely dangerous behavior in themselves," said Cathleen Lewis, regional director of public affairs for AAA New Jersey.

What is considered aggressive driving? According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety the behavior includes, but is not limited to: speeding, tailgating, driving slowly in passing lanes, racing and seeking confrontations with other drivers.

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