| State | Most common complaint: | Quotes |
| 1. Idaho | Slow drivers | "The roadways of Idaho present a dichotomy of drivers: Those who are moving so slowly that they’re judged to be rude, and the aggressive drivers who speed around them and flip them off. Together, with their opposite yet equally vexing styles of driving, they push Idaho to the top of the rankings." |
| 2. Washington, D.C. | Aggressive drivers | “Driving in D.C. can be compared to the recklessness of our politics: self-serving, abrasive and unsafe.” |
| 3. New York | Disrespect | "New Yorkers are 'known for their lack of respect to other drivers. It’s not often that you see a driver in New York raise their hand [politely] or make some other gesture saying thank you to another driver for letting them through. What’s more, pretty much no driver in New York bothers to indicate before turning.'” |
| 4. Wyoming | Selfish drivers | "A few years back, as reported in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, Men’s Health magazine gave drivers in Cheyenne an “F” for quality of driving. The newspaper reported that “running red lights, disregarding stop signs, merging without signaling and speeding are some common traffic problems that lead to auto accidents.” |
| 5. Massachusetts | Overall rudeness |
“Massachusetts has the rudest drivers I have ever encountered. I rode in the car with one of my clients, and she never stopped shaking her fist at other drivers, spewing insults and profanities, tailgating and rushing lights. It was as if she owned the road, and other drivers were trespassing and in her way.” (Bryden and Sullivan don't believe this data was collected on the Cape, where rates are much lower than in Boston!) |
| 6. Vermont | Speeding | According to a 2010 study from DriverSide.com, the Green Mountain State is No. 3 in the nation for speeding tickets issued per capita. |
| 7. Delaware | Tailgating | “When doing the speed limit, I should not have to wonder about the make of a vehicle behind me, due to the fact the car is tailgating me so horrifically I cannot even see its hood!” |
| 8. New Jersey | Cutting it too close | ”People in our state love to try and pull onto the road with far less space than they should, never like to let the other car merge in, and don’t seem to realize that yellow means ‘slow down.’ And then there’s the ‘Jersey Slide’: cutting across two or more lanes with the same blinker – if they use one at all. A favorite phrase of one of my female acquaintances is, ‘Learn to [expletive] drive!’ which she learned from an aunt who [nonetheless] loves to text, email and Facebook while on the road.” |
| 9. Nevada | Aggressive driving |
"It’s more than rude, it’s really dangerous. You have to be totally on the defensive [when] driving here. You see accidents almost every time you go out. The worst thing that Las Vegas is guilty of is that you just know that whenever there is a light or a left-turn signal, there will be at least two or three cars going through the red. And there are always those folks, no matter where you drive on the freeway, who will be darting in and out just to get one more space ahead."
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| 10. Utah | Speeding | "Recent Utah resident Matt Stubbs says it appears the state’s motorists are all in a race. 'But nobody knows where it ends or how to get to the finish. So everyone drives 5, 10 or 15 miles per hour over the speed limit.'" |
What Makes Drivers mad?
According to Insure.com, which surveyed 2,000 drivers as part of its study,
- 47% of respondents said that seeing others talking on a cellphone while driving made them maddest on the road, while
- 37% cited tailgating as their number-one annoyance.
- Beyond that, 35% said it was not signaling for turns,
- 28% said it was weaving in and out of lanes, and
- 26% said it was simply driving too fast.
