[March 20, 2018]

GEICO: Put Aggressive Driving Away for Good for Safer Road Trips

Aggressive driving can put you and an entire roadway full of people at risk. GEICO recommends putting aggressive driving away for good before you develop bad habits when you're on the road.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180320005089/en/

GEICO graphic reminding drivers about the dangers of aggressive driving. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Some safe driving habits that you could work on:

• Don't speed or weave through traffic. Speeding accounted for more than 10,000 traffic fatalities in 2016 reports the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Add unpredictable, reckless maneuvers to fast speeds and the risk of a crash grows because drivers may not have enough time to react to something unexpected in the roadway.
• Drop tailgating from your drives. Tailgating creates a major risk because drivers are not maintaining a safe fllowing distance. It takes a driver traveling at 55 mph the length of a football field to react, brake and stop says NHTSA. Following too closely makes it nearly impossible to stop in time.
• Lay off the horn and contain the urge to gesture your displeasure. Either of these can cause a small incident to escalate into a dangerous situation.

If you're up against aggressive actions from another driver, contain your emotions so a minor conflict doesn't turn into a heated altercation. You can calmly handle a tailgater, for example, by simply moving over rather than trying to retaliate by hitting the brakes or swerving.

Other tactics, such as avoiding eye contact with an angry driver and leaving extra amounts of space between you and that driver, also can help avoid an emotional escalation.

We're all human. No human driver is 100 percent perfect. If you make a mistake like accidentally proceeding out of turn at a stop sign, use an "I'm sorry" gesture like a friendly wave to help defuse the situation.

For more safe driving tips, visit GEICO's Safe Driving Resources page.

GEICO (Government Employees Insurance Company) is a member of the Berkshire Hathaway family of companies and is the second-largest private passenger auto insurance company in the United States. GEICO, which was founded in 1936, provides millions of auto insurance quotes to U.S. drivers annually. The company is pleased to serve more than 16 million private passenger customers, insuring more than 27 million vehicles (auto & cycle).

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180320005089/en/

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