Unhealthy Streets Cause Stress and Congestion

Unhealthy streets breed stress. Drivers who sit in traffic get angry. Frustration leads to aggression. At its worst, this problem escalates into “road rage.” Aggressive driving behaviors include following too closely, speeding, unsafe lane changes, failing to signal intent to change lanes, and other forms of negligent or inconsiderate driving. The trigger for many aggressive drivers is usually traffic congestion, coupled with an aggressive state of mind.

Stress and road rage are not easy to quantify. It is estimated that from one-third to one-half of all fatal crashes involve aggressive driving. In northeastern Illinois, an estimated 350 deaths per year are caused by aggressive driving (about one a day). These deaths may or may not include the roughly 160 bicyclists and pedestrians killed each year in the region.

At the least, an explanation for these tragedies is partially rooted in a simple fact: there are too many motor vehicles on the road. The average person driving a motor vehicle to work in northeastern Illinois sat in traffic an average of 56 hours in 2002, a full 10 hours over the national average. Chicago-area residents spend more time commuting to their jobs than the residents of any other region in the country except New York. Chicago-area traffic congestion is among the worst in the country, and it’s getting worse at a rate of 1.3% per year.

Congestion was more severe, lasted a longer period of time, and affected much more of the transportation network in 2002 than it did in 1982. The economic cost of congestion in our region—longer commutes, wasted fuel, freight stuck in traffic, and so on—comes to $4 billion a year. This cost of congestion has been growing 13% a year for nearly two decades and shows no signs of changing course. The table below presents a snapshot of the size of traffic congestion increases in northeastern Illinois since 1982.

If we continue to stay the course on the same unhealthy path, it is calculated that in 30 years’ time the average Chicago-area resident will spend 80 additional hours a year in a car—or two work-weeks. 82 percent of the region’s residents already believe that roadways are “very” or “moderately” congested.

Congestion Measures for Northeastern Illinois, 1982 and 2002