Report: Specific Behaviors That Trigger Road Rage

People love to joke about their “road rage” after another driver does something to anger them, but there’s nothing funny about this extreme form of aggressive driving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration defines road rage as when a driver “commits moving traffic offenses so as to endanger other persons or property; an assault with a motor vehicle or other dangerous weapon by the operator or passenger of one motor vehicle on the operator or passengers of another motor vehicle.” Over a seven year period, 218 murders and 12,610 injuries were attributed to road rage. Like we said, there’s nothing humorous about a violent reaction to another driver’s poor decision.

Just this month Expedia.com released the results of their 2014 Road Rage Report, which was conducted by Northstar. For this report, 1001 American adults were asked to identify what types of behaviors were mostly likely to elicit road rage, and the results are extremely interesting. The top most annoying or offensive behaviors were, in order from most annoying to least annoying:

The Texter (drivers who text, email, or talk on a phone while driving)
The Tailgater (drivers who follow others too closely)
The Multi-tasker (applying makeup, eating, reading, etc.)
The Drifter (either straddling two lanes or weaving between them)
The Crawler (driving well below the speed limit)
The Swerver (failing to signal before changing lanes or turning)
The Left-Lane Hog (drivers who occupy the passing lane without moving)
The Inconsiderate (those who do not let others merge)
The Speeder (driving well past the speed limit at length)
The Honker (drivers who slam the horn at will)
The Unappreciative (drivers who do not give a wave or gesture of thanks)
The Red Light Racer (drivers who inch ever closer to the light when red)

Can you relate any portion of this list? Maybe there are certain things that bring you to the brink of extreme road rage, or maybe you know you’re guilty of some of these behaviors. Either way, it’s good to be aware of what sets you off or angers other drivers so that moving forward, you can change how you react in certain situations and help make the road a safer place.

Share this article on Facebook! The more people who understand what can set off road rage, the better.

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Expedia’s Road Rage Report Pinpoints Annoying Driving Behaviors

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