WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Some U.S. Iraq veterans retain the aggressive driving habits they used in battle when they return home, endangering themselves and others, researchers say.

The Department of Defense is paying to expand a study conducted by University of Minnesota scientists indicating that 25 percent of Minnesota National Guard members returning from Iraq said they drove down the middle of civilian streets or ran stop signs within a month of their return, USA Today reported.

Ten percent of the 150 Guard members surveyed admitted to driving erratically through an underpass or tunnel, while nearly half remained apprehensive about being boxed in traffic more than 90 days after their return, the newspaper said.

"These behaviors become both automatic and inexorably linked to a sense of control and safety," the study, conducted by sociologist Todd Rockwood and occupational therapist Erica Stern, asserted. "Unfortunately, when these same driving behaviors are inappropriately carried over to American roads, they endanger soldiers, their families and their communities."

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. William Griffin (R) and Spc. Jessica Sandberg, drive a Humvee to down a flooded street in Fort Ransom, North Dakota on April 15, 2009. The Soldiers are making welfare visits to residents in rural areas affected by Sheyenne River flood waters. (UPI Photo/David H. Lipp/U.S. Air Force) | Enlarge