Aggressive driving isn't rare

A recent crackdown on aggressive driving in Suffolk County highlights what we see every day on the roads of Long Island: Many drivers are out of control, frustrated to the breaking point, aggressive beyond reason and frequently distracted. Driving on Long Island can be risky, and Suffolk hosts the four most dangerous roads in New York State.

We read stories about aggressive motorists in the paper (please, not while driving), see folks cutting us off, riding our tails and exceeding the speed limit by extraordinary margins and think, "Somebody needs to stop these lunatics."

Though it's natural to feel it's the other drivers who need to change -- the phantom "them" -- it's often "us." Aggressive driving has become so instinctive for many of us that we find ourselves dekeing, dodging and speeding even when we're running early to our destinations. It's so ingrained that we hurry toward everything, even root canals.

At the heart of such driving is selfishness and ego, the belief that it's OK for us to drive in an unlawful and dangerous manner because we are so important, our schedules are so crucial and we are so skilled behind the wheel. To address the problem, most of us must take a hard look at the behavior of the driver in our own car and not just the ones zooming around us. That's the only way to stop endangering each other's lives as we do, with so little thought and for so little reward.