The Road Ahead is a project by LehighValleyNews.com on traffic and transportation issues in Lehigh and Northampton counties. This is PART TWO of the series. You can read PART ONE here.
BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Imagine today's morning commute — maybe through the Lehigh Valley’s major cities, along winding back roads or even down Route 22.
Were you speeding? Did you race to beat a red light or roll through a stop sign? Did you tailgate? Fail to yield to oncoming traffic? What about when your cell phone chimed — did you check it?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you might be an aggressive or distracted driver.
While state data doesn't show significant increases in distracted or aggressive driving, or that the Lehigh Valley is a hotspot for these incidents, it might still feel that way to the region’s commuters.
Increased stress due to everyday life, like politics or the economy, coupled with habitual, risky behaviors distracting the driver from the road, can create a slippery slope, ripe for crashes, experts said.
Plus, those risky behaviors are far more common than the average driver would think, or likely admit. You're probably even guilty of a few yourself.
“I feel like, in the year 2025, we are dealing with significantly higher stress levels and lower tolerance levels among people in general.”Beth Peters, an assistant professor and clinical psychologist at DeSales University
“I think, just in general, our level of stress among humanity and just in society right now is at a higher level, for so many different reasons,” said Beth Peters, an assistant professor and clinical psychologist at DeSales University. “I think that definitely adds to it. Driving itself can be stressful, especially if there's heavy traffic or if there's long commutes. Then, there’s what’s going to add to stress, like if you had a stressful day at work, or you had a stressful day with your kids.
“I feel like, in the year 2025, we are dealing with significantly higher stress levels and lower tolerance levels among people in general.”
‘We think we can multitask, but we can't’
Almost every driver has passed another driver doing something they probably shouldn’t be — reaching for something on the front passenger seat, using a cellphone, and maybe even applying mascara or lipstick.
“That's considered distracted driving behaviors, DDBs — anytime that your focus is taken away from driving,” said Deb Dreisbach, assistant teaching professor and program coordinator for Penn State Lehigh Valley’s criminal justice program.
Often, drivers don’t think much about all the different types and kinds of distractions that can occur while they’re behind the wheel. Even worse, those distractions can be deemed easily surmountable to the overconfident.
“Our minds can juggle things very quickly — we can take our focus from one thing to another,” Dreisbach said. “And so we think that we can multitask, but we can't.
“Our brain can only process sequentially. When we're moving our focus to different things, we're really not doing those things at the same time. We're removing our focus from one to put it to the other.”
In 2023, distracted driving was the leading cause of car crashes in Pennsylvania, with traffic deaths rising by 2.25% compared to 2022, according to PennDOT’s annual crash information report. In 2023, there were 1,209 deaths in motor vehicle crashes, up from 1,179 in the prior year.
There were more than 11,262 distracted driving crashes in 2023, outpacing alcohol-related crashes, which stood at 8,330.
In 2024, there were just shy of 5,000 crashes in Lehigh and Northampton counties, according to state police data. About 8.5% were categorized as distracted driving crashes. The year prior, there were 4,451 crashes, of which 361, or roughly 8%, were attributed to distracted driving.
Multiple attempts to coordinate with state police for an interview on this story were unsuccessful.
There are three main categories of distractions: manual, visual and cognitive, Dreisbach said.
The first two are pretty intuitive — a manual distraction takes a driver’s hands off the wheel, such as reaching for the radio, a drink or to find a snack inside a bag. Similarly, a visual distraction occurs when a driver takes their eyes off the road, like to read a text message.
“Then there's cognitive distraction, which means that your mind is not fully focused on the task,” she said. “You could be talking to somebody in the car. You could be thinking about what you have to do that afternoon.
“You know when you drive, and 10 minutes later you arrive at your destination, and you don't even realize you know how you got there? That would fall under cognitive distraction.”
It may only take five seconds to read a text message, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. But, if a driver is traveling at 55 mph, they’ve just driven the length of an entire football field with their eyes closed.
“It's like a snow snowball effect. Your risky behaviors lead you to illegal behaviors."Deb Dreisbach, assistant teaching professor and program coordinator for Penn State Lehigh Valley’s criminal justice program
“The risky behaviors are different than the traffic violations,” Dreisbach said. “It's like a snowball effect. Your risky behaviors lead you to illegal behaviors.
“Following too closely, running a stop sign — and the research bears this out. By engaging in those risky behaviors, it's a predictor of engaging in illegal behaviors, whether traffic accidents, fatal accidents or just traffic violations, the percentages go up exponentially.”
Introduce more stress into the equation, and emotions can heighten, sometimes leading to dangerous decisions behind the wheel.
“The emotions and your mindset when you get in the car, it's been proven, whether you're angry, stressed, anxious, it unconsciously affects how you're driving — your behavior,” Dreisbach said. “And so, you're more apt to engage in these reckless, rash decisions.”
Angry, unhappy, disillusioned
When distracted behaviors pile up, drivers can more easily slip into actions that are deemed aggressive and illegal — speeding, weaving in and out of traffic, running red lights and stop signs, tailgating and more.
Over the past five years, the number of aggressive driving crashes in the Valley has curved, with instances decreasing during the COVID-19 pandemic and increasing as it faded, according to PennDOT data.
Local instances of road rage have left a mark. Residents remember in April when two men were cited after a fist fight following a road rage incident along Route 22 in Hanover Township, Lehigh County. Or, in 2021, when a road rage incident on Route 22 in Upper Macungie Township spilled into the Wawa at Route 100 and Schantz Road, leaving two dead.
“I feel like we need to be a little bit more mindful of that and understand that the actions that we take on the road could, quite literally, be life or death for ourselves or other people.”Beth Peters, an assistant professor and clinical psychologist at DeSales University
“When it comes to tolerance, when we get behind the wheel, I think for so many people, we just take for granted that we are literally in control of a huge piece of machinery,” Peters said. “I feel like we need to be a little bit more mindful of that and understand that the actions that we take on the road could, quite literally, be life or death for ourselves or other people.”
Sometimes, when it comes to aggressive driving, ego can be the key, like a driver centering themselves and prioritizing their travel over sharing the road. There are even some personality traits, such as impulsiveness and narcissism, that have been linked to aggressive driving.
“The other thing with road rage and aggressive driving is that you have anonymity,” Peters said. “Driving can create a sense of anonymity, which can contribute to road rage as well. Because, just like with cyber bullying, you're behind a screen. With road rage, you're behind a wheel.
“So you have that sense of a blockade, you have that sense of anonymity.”
In addition to the person behind the wheel — as well as any passengers along for the ride — there are, of course, many other variables that influence driver behavior. These include the type, newness, safety and entertainment features in the car. Then, there are the external variables, like weather, traffic volume and construction, among others.
Surprisingly, what connects most drivers is what is also causing hazards on the road — anger.
“In general, right now, we also have a society that's dealing with a little bit more anger because of outside factors that are just happening around us,” Peters said. “So, any kind of anger that somebody's feeling, or unresolved anger, or even trauma can build up and it can lead to rage.”
A 2019 NPR-IBM Watson Health poll found 84% of people surveyed said Americans are angrier today compared with a generation ago. Last year, the McCourtney Institute for Democracy’s Mood of the Nation Poll showed nine in 10 Americans can name either a recent news event or something about American politics that made them angry.
That deep-seeded hurt and apathy for the law is clear to Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan, who said he often sees people who are angry, unhappy, disillusioned and just “don't give a sh–t anymore.”
“There's a cohort of people who feel like they lived life the way they're supposed to and they're not getting what they expected at the end of the line,” Holihan said. “They were supposed to live their life, go to work every day, follow the rules and then there would be a retirement at the end of the road, or where they can begin to slow down, don't have to keep working, and there might be a retirement and then you're not seeing retirement.
“You're gonna have to work into your 70s or 80s — that wears you down. You start looking around and say, ‘Why have I been following the rules? Screw this. I'm done with this ... and I’m just going to do what I want to do.’”
Limiting distractions — so drivers can be aware of others’ aggressive or reckless behavior on the road — is key.
“We can only control what we can control,” Peters said. “When we're behind the wheel of a car, obviously we can control our actions as drivers. We can also only control what we are mindful of and what we are paying attention to.
“So, as long as you know we are, as safe drivers, being mindful of our surroundings, being aware of what's going on, looking ahead, obviously, keeping your eye in the rear-view mirror for anything that might be happening behind you or to the side of you. I think that's probably the best way to keep ourselves as safe as possible.”
A ‘public health crisis on our roads’
In December, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety released its “2023 Traffic Safety Culture Index,” a study of perceptions, attitudes and engagement in dangerous driving behaviors across the U.S.
The findings show a misfire between what drivers believe and what their behaviors actually show.
For example, while the vast majority of drivers — 93% — identified both texting/emailing and reading on a hand-held cellphone as very or extremely dangerous, more than a quarter of drivers, 27%, reported having sent a text/email while driving and 37% reported reading a text/email while driving.
“This traffic safety culture index really shows us that there's a sobering reminder here of this ongoing public health crisis on our roads."Theresa K. Podguski, director of legislative affairs for AAA East Central
“This traffic safety culture index really shows us that there's a sobering reminder here of this ongoing public health crisis on our roads,” said Theresa K. Podguski, director of legislative affairs for AAA East Central. “And despite a slight decrease from the previous year from 2022, the threat posed by driving these risky driving behaviors remains alarmingly high.”
The report also identified five unique driver groups. Safe drivers, who made up 34.9%, rarely engaged in any risky driving behavior. Distracted and speeding drivers made up 19% and 32.6%, respectively.
Distracted and aggressive drivers, who predominantly engaged in both distracted driving and aggressive driving behaviors, made up 11%, and the most dangerous drivers, who engaged in all risky driving behaviors, made up 2.5%.
“Safe drivers” were more likely to be women between ages 60 and 74, not working and driving up to two days per week, according to the report. In contrast, the “most dangerous drivers” were men, ages 16 to 18, driving vehicles 15 years old or older with no safety features and usually on the road 6 or 7 days per week.
“There's so much that went into this, all these different variables,” Podguski said. “I think the one takeaway — safe drivers admitted to driving less, while most dangerous drivers who admit to speeding, distracted and impaired behaviors logged more miles on the road, often in older vehicles and with fewer safety features.”
The COVID-19 pandemic also changed driver behavior, AAA researchers have found, and not for the better. It seems like common sense that the pandemic would drive people off roads, leading to safer roads. That just isn’t the case.
Dangerous behaviors like speeding, not using seat belts and impaired driving contributed to a significant rise in fatal crashes compared to pre-pandemic times, according to the AAA Foundation.
Researchers found that 114,528 people were killed in traffic crashes on U.S. roads from May 2020 through December 2022, a 17% jump in traffic deaths — nearly 17,000 additional fatalities — compared to what would have been expected under pre-pandemic trends.
‘Killed by something so preventable’
The commonwealth follows a point system for drivers who are found guilty of certain driving, or moving, violations. These include improper passing and failing to stop at stop signs, among many others.
The system is tiered for speeding, depending on how fast the driver was traveling compared to the posted limit. For example, a driver could get two points for driving 6 to 10 mph over the limit, but five points for 31 mph and over.
For drivers with six or more points, as well as those found guilty of driving 31 mph over the limit, there’s PennDOT’s Driver Improvement School. Through the program, available online and at select DMVs — none in the Valley — and mandated by point accumulation or excessive speed, drivers can get points removed.
“The class is structured around real-life driving scenarios, and it does encourage safer driving, safer decision-making, and we discuss the potential consequences of aggressive or dangerous driving behaviors,” said Aimee Inama, PennDOT’s driver and vehicle services press officer. “We just really want to change driving behavior, because, ultimately, we want everybody to be as safe as possible on the roads, because we want everybody to make it home safe.”
Statewide, there were 790 drivers who successfully completed the school in 2023, the first full year after the program began, Inama said. Last year, after Act 120 made the school mandatory for certain drivers, 2,639 drivers successfully completed it.
Asked for data on the drivers who have completed the program in the Lehigh Valley, Inama said there was no region-specific data available.
Legislative attempts to curb distracted driving in Pennsylvania have been ongoing — and big changes are happening at the state level soon.
On June 5, the Paul Miller Jr. Law goes into effect. Named after the 21-year-old from Scranton who was killed in a distracted driver crash in 2010 on Route 33 in Monroe County, the law limits the use of handheld cellphones or other communication devices while operating a motor vehicle on Pennsylvania highways.
The commonwealth is the 29th state to enact such legislation. Under the law, drivers can still use their phones if they’re using hands-free technology such as a docking station, Bluetooth or speaker technology.
The offense carries a $50 fine. However, for the first 12 months after the law takes effect, drivers may only receive a written warning.
“When Paul passed away, when unfortunately, two Dunmore state troopers came knocking on my door to tell me that my son was killed, I did not know it was distracted driving at the time,” said Eileen Miller, Paul’s mother, in a news release. “My son did everything right — and somebody else was the one who was the cause of my son's demise.
“I whispered in the ear of my son at the morgue — who I couldn't even identify, I didn't even know that it was him, he was that bad — but I whispered in his ear that when I found out what had caused that crash, I would fight for change.
“We later found out that it was distracted driving. I held that honor to him — and today is Paul Miller's law. I’ve gotten it done, Paul, I did it. This is for every family that is in Pennsylvania that doesn't have to have two state troopers knocking on their door to tell them that their loved one was killed by something so preventable as distracted driving.”
Tips to avoid road rage:
- Plan ahead to avoid running late
- Practice deep breathing
- Don't take other drivers' behavior personally
- Avoid engaging with other drivers who are exhibiting road rage
- Pull over if you feel your anger escalating
- Reflect on your driving behavior
Tips to prevent aggressive driving:
- Follow the rules of the road
- Maintain adequate following distance
- Use turn signals
- Allow others to merge
- Use high beams responsibly
- Tap your horn — if you must — but not a long blast
- Avoid hand gestures
- Be considerate in parking lots; take up one space and avoid hitting other cars with your car door
- If you feel like there could be a confrontation, remain calm, courteous
COMING TOMORROW - PART 3: Local law enforcement authorities say impaired driving is one of the most persistent threats to public safety in the Lehigh Valley.
