Study says NJ does NOT have the most confrontational drivers
If you regularly drive on the Parkway, Turnpike, Route 1, 287, etc., you may find this hard to believe, but, according to Forbes, New Jersey drivers are in the middle of the pack when it comes to being confrontational.
They surveyed 1,000 drivers from all 50 states across nine metrics, including if you have ever gotten out of your car to yell or fight, if you’ve ever been intentionally cut off if you’ve seen rude or offensive gestures, if you experienced road rage, or been tailgated, and others.
Surprisingly, even though that sounds like a typical day on a New Jersey road, we ranked way down at 27th for most confrontational drivers.
Some of the individual categories: 32% of New Jersey drivers say they’ve been blocked from changing lanes, 37% have been cut off on purpose, 71.5% have been yelled at, threatened or insulted, and 3% have been forced off the road.
If we’re in the middle, who’s at the top? Arizona.
According to the study:
⚫ Arizona tops the list of states with the worst road rage, while Delaware is home to the most polite drivers in the nation.
⚫ Five of the top 10 states with the most confrontational drivers are in the South, including West Virginia, Virginia, Oklahoma, Alabama and Texas.
⚫ Four of the top 10 states with the most polite drivers are in the Pacific and West, including Idaho, Wyoming, Washington and New Mexico.
⚫ Drivers reported experiencing road rage most frequently on city streets (29.18%), on freeways or highways (26.59%) and in parking lots (14.9%).
With five of the top ten in the South, I guess that disproves the “rude Northeastener” trope.
As far as our neighbors, New York is 12th and Pennsylvania is 26th.
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Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle only.
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