Best and Worst Cities for Road Rage

[rose0529]

AutoVantage Road Rage Survey Reveals Best, Worst Cities

NORWALK, Conn. - For the first time in four years, a new city claims the title as the worst in the U.S. for road rage.

New York has unseated Miami as the least courteous city, according to the fourth annual In the Driver's Seat Road Rage Survey, commissioned by AutoVantage, a leading national auto club. The Big Apple moved up from its No. 3 ranking last year to claim the distinction. Rounding out the five worst cities for road rage are Dallas/Fort Worth, Detroit, Atlanta and Minneapolis/St. Paul.

The survey also named a new city as the most courteous. Portland, Ore., took the top spot, moving up from No. 2 last year. It was followed by Cleveland, Baltimore, Sacramento and Pittsburgh.

The In the Driver's Seat 2009 AutoVantage Road Rage Survey, released today, was conducted to determine the driving habits and attitudes of commuters across the country and to learn more about consumer views on the topic of road rage.

"At AutoVantage, we've made the drive easier every day by completing more than 1 million service calls for our customers, offering everything from 24-hour roadside assistance to towing to lockout service and more. This survey is another way we assist drivers by revealing the latest driving trends and attitudes to educate and influence safer - and perhaps more courteous - driving habits," said Brad Eggleston, vice president of AutoVantage.

The survey's best and worst cities are:

Least Courteous Cities (Worst Road Rage):

2009

• 1 New York
  2 Dallas/Fort Worth
  3 Detroit
  4 Atlanta
  5 Minneapolis/St. Paul

2008

• 1 Miami
  2 Boston
  3 New York
  4 Baltimore
  5 Washington, D.C.

Most Courteous Cities (Least Road Rage):

2009

• 1 Portland, Ore.
  2 Cleveland
  3 Baltimore
  4 Sacramento
  5 Pittsburgh

2008

• 1 Pittsburgh
  2 Portland, Ore.
  3 Seattle
  4 Minneapolis/St. Paul
  5 Cleveland

Other cities surveyed include Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa, and Washington, D.C.

To boost safety awareness, this year's survey sought to define road rage in America. Responses overwhelmingly pointed to two important attributes:

• Angry drivers, including drivers who overreact and lose their tempers
• Aggressive driving, including cutting into lanes, tailgating, speeding and honking

When asked the major causes of road rage, the most frequent responses were:

• Bad/careless driving, such as cutting others off, speeding, tailgating, talking on cell phones, making obscene gestures and not using proper signals
• People who are angry, stressed, frustrated, tired or had a bad day
• People being in a hurry, impatient or running late
• Traffic problems, accidents, poor road conditions or construction
• Inconsiderate, disrespectful, selfish drivers who think they own the road

Behaviors by other drivers that cause stress for commuters and can lead to road rage include:

• Drivers who talk on their cell phones (84 percent see this every day)
• Driving too fast (58 percent)
• Tailgating (53 percent)
• Drivers eating or drinking while driving (48 percent)
• Texting or e-mailing while driving (37 percent)

Commuters also reported other drivers frequently:

• Cutting over without notice (43 percent see this every day)
• Doing other things - putting on makeup, shaving or reading behind the wheel (27 percent)
• Slamming on the brakes (25 percent)
• Running red lights (22 percent)

As a reaction to rude or bad driving by others, people surveyed admitted that they:

• Honk their horn at the offending driver (43 percent admit doing this every month)
• Curse at the other driver (36 percent)
• Wave their fist or arms (13 percent)
• Make an obscene gesture (10 percent)
• Call the police to report the driver (7 percent)
• Slam into the car in front of them (1 percent)

Other key findings of the study:

• Younger drivers and those who have the longest commutes say they are most likely to talk on their cell phones and drive too fast on a daily basis.
• Talking on cell phone. Eighty-four percent see this every day. St. Louis drivers led this category (92 percent), and Portland motorists see it the least (76 percent).
• Driving too fast. Across the country, 58 percent see this aggressive behavior daily. San Diego and Houston drivers were most likely to observe speeding motorists (64 percent), while Cleveland, Denver and Portland drivers were least likely to see this every day (51 percent).
• Tailgating. Fifty-three percent of motorists see this every day. Minneapolis drivers (65 percent) see this most often, and Pittsburgh drivers (43 percent) see this the least.
• Eating and/or drinking. This common road rage trigger is observed by 48 percent of drivers daily. Motorists in St. Louis (61 percent) see this most every day, while only 34 percent of drivers in Pittsburgh observe it.
• Cutting over without notice. Nationally, 43 percent of drivers see this every day, and motorists in Miami (54 percent) were the most likely to observe this behavior. Cleveland, Philadelphia and Portland drivers (29 percent) are least likely to see this daily.
• Texting and/or e-mailing. These road rage inducers scored high with 37 percent of commuters observing this behavior every day. Drivers in Detroit and San Francisco see the most text-happy drivers (47 percent), while Baltimore and Sacramento see the least (28 percent).
• Slamming on the brakes. Some 25 percent of drivers witness this daily, and those in Atlanta and San Diego (31 percent) are most likely to see this behavior every day. That's compared to only 19 percent in Boston.
• Running red lights. Twenty-two percent said they see drivers every day who run red lights. Drivers in Minneapolis are the most likely to witness this behavior daily (34 percent), while Portland motorists (11 percent) were least likely to see this offense.
• Multi-tasking. Overall, 27 percent said they see other drivers multi-tasking, like putting on makeup, shaving or reading, while driving. Miami (38 percent) emerged as the city where this is most likely to be seen, while Phoenix and Sacramento (19 percent) drivers were least likely to see it.

Survey Methodology
Prince Market Research, an independent marketing research company, was commissioned to conduct a nationally representative telephone study with consumers in 25 major metropolitan areas in the U.S. to learn more about consumer views on road rage. All telephone calls were conducted between Jan. 8 and March 24, 2009, during which period, a total of 2,518 interviews, lasting an average of six to eight minutes each, were completed. No incentive was offered and the sponsor of the research was not revealed. The margin of error is +/- 2 percent.

[scheides]

LOL we went from top 5 most courteous to top 5 least courteous in one year!

[rose0529]

Haha yeah i was suprised to see that big of a switch!...

This is my favorite response... ive wished my car was just shitty so i wouldn't care and could do this on a couple of occasions! (ok not really but ive thought about it)

As a reaction to rude or bad driving by others, people surveyed admitted that they:

• Slam into the car in front of them (1 percent)

[Kracka]

Obviously a flawed test since we go from best to worst (practically) in a year. Driver's here are out of control sometimes though so I'd more closely agree with the 2009 results.

[Matt D.]

I damn near raged this morning when some dumb cunt on her phone decided to merge across two lanes of traffic from the entrance ramp without signalling directly in front of me with hardly a foot to spare.

[DoughtCom]

wow that test is bullshit, I get yelled at here 5 times more than I did in Dallas. The cases may be less extreme here but it happens more often here. The situation in Dallas is people expect people to drive crazy, it's just the way it is. Here fucking hippies piss and moan about you doing 5 over or trying to merge when YOU have the right of way.

fucking hippies, FUCK.

[Constant_Project21]

Suprises chicago didn't make the worst list. I came back from there a completely different driver. They always to 15 over and drive terrible there.

[craig]

I agree with chicago

[goodhart]

wat, where is the left lane campers!?!?! That pisses me off more than anything

[Kracka]

Originally Posted by goodhart

wat, where is the left lane campers!?!?! That pisses me off more than anything

Same here.

[slowbubblecar]

Originally Posted by DoughtCom

wow that test is bullshit, I get yelled at here 5 times more than I did in Dallas. The cases may be less extreme here but it happens more often here. The situation in Dallas is people expect people to drive crazy, it's just the way it is. Here fucking hippies piss and moan about you doing 5 over or trying to merge when YOU have the right of way.

fucking hippies, FUCK.

Maybe you should learn how to drive then

[Febo]

Originally Posted by rose0529

As a reaction to rude or bad driving by others, people surveyed admitted that they:

• Slam into the car in front of them (1 percent)

LMAO!! I only WISH I could watch that in real life.

And I see a lot of STUPID drivers, buuut actually not THAT much road rage. I wonder what streets they drove on....

[4g63tcrazy]

Chicago not making the list sure show's how poor those list's are.. I'm west of chicago by 40mins and people here are the worse fuckin drivers in the world. I took the train to chicago once and OMG.. I'd feel safer walking than in a damn car. Whenever I'm coming back to IL from MN if you pay attention, you can tell when you cross the boarder just by how people drive. I'm usually passing everyone in the fast lane doing 75 the whole way through MN and WI, but once I cross into IL people go at least 80-90 and if you're in their way, they will kill you..

[Kracka]

I got passed by a school bus in Chicago once, and I was doing 85mph on the hwy in a Civic.

[Constant_Project21]

Originally Posted by 4g63tcrazy

Chicago not making the list sure show's how poor those list's are.. I'm west of chicago by 40mins and people here are the worse fuckin drivers in the world. I took the train to chicago once and OMG.. I'd feel safer walking than in a damn car. Whenever I'm coming back to IL from MN if you pay attention, you can tell when you cross the boarder just by how people drive. I'm usually passing everyone in the fast lane doing 75 the whole way through MN and WI, but once I cross into IL people go at least 80-90 and if you're in their way, they will kill you..

Bahahahah so true. I remember those drives back. Cops in Illinois are pretty easy on speeders which doesn't help. I've blown by a cop at 15 over and he didnt flinch.

[4g63tcrazy]

Yea I was going 75 in a 60 and a cop passed me! haha

[Febo]

Originally Posted by Kracka

I got passed by a school bus in Chicago once, and I was doing 85mph on the hwy in a Civic.

LMFAO! Best field trip ever for those kids.

[4g63tcrazy]

Didn't even see you said that! HAHAHAHA

[Kevin 1G Drummer]

The thing I hate the most is when you're going a little faster than the flow of traffic, then some dumbass decides to keep pace with you, but they stay right in your blind spot so that when you change lanes, you almost hit them cuz you don't know they're there.

[Kracka]

I also love it when you pass someone going really slow then they start tailgating you even though you're going 10+ mph faster than they were originally going. I find this happening the most often on rural highways. Its even better when they then proceed to pass you back and then slow down to their original speed.