Road rage survey cites LA among the worst

The inaugural In the Driver's Seat Road Rage Survey, commissioned by AutoVantage, a leading national auto club, found that the least courteous city in the country is Miami, followed by Phoenix and New York. The other two cities in the bottom five were Los Angeles and Boston.The most courteous city is Minneapolis, followed closely by Nashville, St. Louis, Seattle and Atlanta.

The survey was conducted to determine the driving habits and attitudes of commuters across the U.S. and to learn more about consumer views on the topic of road rage.

"Road rage has unfortunately too often become a way of life, both on and off the track," said NASCAR driving legend and AutoVantage spokesman Bobby Hamilton.”More and more, in cities across America, people are acting out their frustrations with dangerous results. It's bad for professional and everyday drivers alike.

"Our new Road Rage survey shines the light on emerging driving trends, and there are some very interesting results."

The best

and the worst

Least Courteous Cities (worst road rage): Miami, Phoenix, New York, Los Angeles and Boston.

Most Courteous Cities (least road rage): Minneapolis, Nashville, St. Louis, Seattle and Atlanta.

"This new study focuses on important attitudes and habits of drivers on the open road nationwide," said Brad Eggleston, vice president of AutoVantage." This groundbreaking research is an important tool to help educate and influence safer driving habits throughout the United States." When asked the major causes

of road rage in the survey, the most frequent theme was people being in a hurry, running late, being impatient and/or speeding. American drivers also feel that stress, frustration, bad moods and being gen

erally aggressive contribute to the widespread phenomenon of road rage.

Behaviors by other drivers that cause stress for commuters, and which can lead to road rage, include: driving too fast (57 percent observe this happening every day); tailgating (50 percent see this every day); cutting over without notice (44 percent see this every day).

Commuters also reported that other drivers frequently: talk on their cell phones (98 percent observe this at least once a week); run red lights (59 percent observe this at least once a week); slam on the brakes (54 percent see this happening at least once a week).

As a reaction to rude or bad driving by others, people surveyed reported that they: honked their horn at the offending driver (40 percent); cursed at the other driver (32 percent); waved their fist or arms (9 percent); made an obscene gesture (8 percent); or called the police to report the driver (5 percent).

About one in 100 (1 percent) said that they actually slammed into the car in front of them, although not always intentionally.

Other key findings of the study:

Younger drivers, and those who have the farthest commutes, are most likely to react to an aggressive or rude driver.

There is no real difference between men and women when it comes to road rage. Besides talking on the cell

phone while driving, the

one thing that drivers in this survey were most likely to have done is drive too fast (64 percent admit that they do this at least some of the time).

Overall, 30 per

cent of survey respondents said they see drivers doing other things like putting on makeup, shaving or reading while driving.

Los Angeles (43 percent) emerged as the city where this is most likely to be seen, while Seattle (18 percent) emerged as the place where this behavior is least likely to happen.