Road Rage Intensifies Despite Fewer Drivers on the Road
Around 57% of Americans report witnessing road rage over the past 2 years, while 3 in 10 say they have been victims of aggressive driving.
Written by Claire Beaney
Reviewed by Kathleen Flear
Table of Contents
In the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, traffic in the U.S. dropped around 40%, thanks in part to new work-from-home policies and travel restrictions. Despite this, a survey by Policygenius recently found that 57% of Americans have witnessed road rage over the past two years.
And around three in 10 Americans say they have personally been victims of aggressive drivers during the same time period.
Many view the pandemic as a critical turn in the rate of aggressive drivers on the road. 46% of Americans feel like road rage incidents have spiked during the pandemic, and 34% say they’ve seen an increase in the past two years. Around 12% of people surveyed have only felt an uptick in incidents in the past year.
According to the survey, aggressive driving is characterized as following another car too closely, changing lanes abruptly without signaling to stop another car from overtaking, and making verbal or physical motions to other drivers.
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More road rage stats
The 2022 Road Rage Survey also discovered the following:
- Parents with young kids are more likely to drive aggressively: Maybe they’re late to school or on their way to soccer practice, but more than half of parents with children (53%) admitted to at least one kind of road rage compared to those without children (46%) and those with children over 18 (49%).
- The majority of people think road rage is justified: Despite the risks that come with it, over half of Americans say angry driving is justifiable at least occasionally. This is especially true amongyounger driversaged 18–34 (70%)—the highest rate of any age group.
- Location and gender play a part: Men are likelier than women to believe aggressive driving is ever warranted (57% and 54%, respectively). And the area of the U.S. with the most reported incidents is the West, with over 64% of drivers there witnessing road rage.
- Fewer people admit to actually road raging: Around 25% of Americans admitted to shouting at other drivers or laying on their horn, while fewer revealed they’ve made threatening gestures (24%), tailgated or purposefully cut others off (12%), chased drivers (5%), or left their cars to confront others (5%).
Road rage can ultimately lead to reckless driving charges or accidents, both of which can lead to a
big spike in your car insurance premium
(or worse)."Not only can road rage put you in danger, it can be harmful to your finances as well. We found that, on average, aggressive driving increases the cost of
car insurance
by 40%," Andrew Hurst, auto insurance expert from Policygenius has said.Fortunately, no matter your
driving history
, drivers who face expensive insurance premiums can use the Jerry
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