If you’ve spent any time in traffic lately, there’s a great chance you’ve experienced (or been) one of many angry drivers on the road. Road rage is a fact of being behind the wheel, but it’s much worse in some states than in others. Finn, a car subscription service, recently combined data from several sources to create a list of the states with the worst road rage, finding that people in Arizona need to take a deep breath before getting behind the wheel.
While Arizona, Montana, and South Carolina were the worst offenders in the country, a few states stuck out on the opposite end of the spectrum. Minnesota drivers experienced the least road rage, followed by Hawaii and New Hampshire.
Unsurprisingly, Arizona also had the largest number of confrontational drivers. Rhode Island, West Virginia, Virginia, and Oklahoma were among the top five.
Hawaiians being nice behind the wheel makes sense, as it’s probably hard to be angry in paradise despite the constant train of tourists clogging up the roads. Initially, it would seem reasonable to assume that New Hampshire would get some spillover anger from the “Massholes” in Boston due to its proximity, but Massachusetts ranked right behind the state for the least road rage.
Finn also looked at the states with the most fatal accidents. Montana, South Carolina, and Wyoming were the “top” three, while Mississippi, South Carolina, and Arkansas had the most total deaths due to car accidents. The total includes pedestrians and people not directly involved with the crash.
Some states have hefty penalties for aggressive driving, such as California, where drivers can face up to four years in jail. Arizona, the worst state in the study, has a maximum jail sentence of six months. Georgia, Indiana, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Delaware take no licensing actions.
