You may have heard about a recent poll regarding cities with the most/least amount of road rage.
OK so why does it matter? I think most people would assume that road rage has two types of negative influences – emotional and physical. For the former, a bad incident would create a chain reaction of ill-will. For the latter, a bad incident would result in a different kind of chain reaction, like a 3-car pile up.
So let’s cross-reference the cities from the 2007 AutoVantage Road Rage Survey with a list of cities with the most accidents – most recently from Allstate’s America’s Best Drivers 2006.
Most Courteous Cities by Safety Rank:
35: Nashville
53: Minneapolis
89: Portland
124: St. Louis
143: Pittsburgh
152: Atlanta
165: Seattle
183: Dallas
Least Courteous Cities by Safety Rank:
75: Phoenix
139: New York
176: Miami
184: Los Angeles
196: Washington DC
n/a: Boston (I don’t think Allstate insures drivers in Massachusetts)
The numbers appear to be directionally correct: more road rage = more accidents. However, watch out for those drivers in Dallas – they’re nice, but they’ll hit you!