Aggressive driving — Illinois Permit Test

Aggressive driving is operating a motor vehicle in a way that endangers, or is likely to endanger, people or property.

The definition is about risk rather than anger. A driver can be aggressive in this sense while feeling perfectly calm.

Aggressive Driving Aggressive driving is the operation of a motor vehicle in a manner that endangers or is likely to endanger persons or property.

Speeding, running red lights and stop signs, tailgating, passing on the shoulder, cutting off another vehicle and slamming on brakes in front of a tailgater are all acts of aggressive driving.

Most of these are ordinary offenses on their own. Illinois lists them together because they arrive as a set.

Slamming on brakes in front of a tailgater.

A driver meeting an angry or aggressive motorist should not retaliate or engage with them, should not make eye contact, should keep the doors locked and windows up, and should keep enough space ahead to pull out from behind.

Eye contact is what turns a stranger’s bad day into a confrontation. The space in front is the escape route.

If you encounter an angry or aggressive motorist: • Do not retaliate or in any way engage the other driver. • Do not make eye contact. • Keep your vehicle doors locked and windows up. • Keep enough space between you and the vehicle in front of you to pull out from behind. • Do not underestimate a driver’s potential for aggression.

How does Illinois define aggressive driving?

Driving that endangers people or property. The definition is about risk rather than anger. A driver can be aggressive in this sense while feeling perfectly calm. Illinois Rules of the Road 2026, p.89: “Aggressive Driving Aggressive driving is the operation of a motor vehicle in a manner that endangers or is likely to endanger persons or property.”