Hey Seattleites, raise your hand if you’ve been a victim of Washington road rage 🤚
If you’ve driven around Seattle you may be familiar with the overall stereotype of Seattle-area drivers being, let’s say, overly-yielding (some may even call it “passive-aggressive”). That doesn’t seem to be the case all across Washington state, however. According to a new study, WA state drivers can be the most aggressive in the country. Read on for all the details about Washington road rage.
According to researchers at Forbes Advisor, Washington is ranked among the top ten states with the most confrontational drivers. We can at least take heart in the fact that we’re not in the top five; WA state landed at number 9.
The top five states in the country for worst road rage, starting with number five, are: New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado, Missouri, and finally Utah at number one. Utah, are you okay, babe?
Drivers in the Beehive State may not always be sweet as honey! Utah tops the list of states with the most confrontational drivers. Let’s look at other states. https://t.co/7Mu7WglrJS
— Forbes Advisor (@ForbesAdvisor) September 19, 2022
What defines road rage? The researchers compiled their data via a survey of 5,000 U.S. drivers (with at least 100 respondents in each state). They then scored each state based on various escalations of road rage incidents such as honking and exiting a car to fight. Some factors were weighed more heavily than others (a driver pointing a gun, for example, made up 15% of a score whereas tailgating was only 5%).
The researchers said that 84% of the respondents experienced road rage in some form and 22% witnessed a car accident caused by aggressive driving. The four most common displays of road rage that respondents reported were honking, tailgating, rude gestures, and cutting someone off.
According to the study, 46% of Washington drivers reported being insulted or threatened by other drivers. As for the road rage situation in the Seattle area, there have been 41 shootings on King County roads this year according to the Washington State Patrol. Some of those can be attributed to gang violence and not road rage, however.
If you experience road rage, be sure to report it to the Washington State Patrol.