Road rage in Utah: Survey says Beehive State worse than any other

David DeMille, St. George Spectrum & Daily News
·2 min read
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Emergency personnel responded to the scene of an accident on Interstate 15 north of Cedar City on March 29. A new survey suggests drivers in Utah witness more instances of aggressive driving, potentially raising the likelihood of accidents.
Emergency personnel responded to the scene of an accident on Interstate 15 north of Cedar City on March 29. A new survey suggests drivers in Utah witness more instances of aggressive driving, potentially raising the likelihood of accidents.

Utah residents often rate among the friendliest and most polite in state-by-state rankings but there is glaring exception on Beehive State roadways, according to a new survey.

Utah motorists rank as the worst in the U.S. when it comes to road rage, at least according to nationwide survey work published last week by Forbes Advisor, a consumer services advice company based in New Jersey.

More than half of Utah residents surveyed said they had been on the receiving end of a rude or offensive gesture while driving, including a highest-in-the-nation 76% who said they had been honked at. Utah drivers were also the second-most-likely to say they had been tailgated (73%). About 27% said they knew someone who had been injured due to a road rage incident.

The survey was conducted with more than 5,000 U.S. car owners last month, including at least 100 in every state, according to Forbes Advisor, which commissioned the survey work from the research company OnePoll. The companies said the margin of error was plus-minus 2.2, with a confidence interval of 95%.

Confrontation with other motorists could be stressful, according to the authors of the report, but it also could end up hitting drivers in the pocketbook.

The national average car insurance rate increased 45% after an accident with property damage, with a 47% increase after causing an accident that resulted in injuries, according to a separate Forbes Advisor analysis.

Police and firefighters in St. George respond to a traffic accident outside the Red Cliffs Mall after a two-car collision at the intersection of Red Cliffs Drive and Mall Drive in this file photo from Dec. 20.
Police and firefighters in St. George respond to a traffic accident outside the Red Cliffs Mall after a two-car collision at the intersection of Red Cliffs Drive and Mall Drive in this file photo from Dec. 20.

"Overall, 85% of drivers surveyed said they’ve experienced at least one form of road rage," according to the authors. "Some instances, like frustrated honking, may be fairly innocuous, but other forms can have far more severe consequences."

The survey found that 22% of respondents said they had seen someone cause an accident due to road rage, with another 19% saying they had seen someone lose control of their vehicle due to road rage.

Utah law enforcement officers have emphasized road rage as an area of concern in recent years, with the state's highway safety plan recommending increased efforts to fund aggressive driving enforcement and educational campaigns.

"Aggressive driving includes deliberate behaviors such as speeding, tailgating, weaving in and out of lanes, failure to yield, running red lights/stop signs and road rage continue to plague our roads," according to the plan. "As congestion and travel delays increase, so does aggressive driving."

This article originally appeared on St. George Spectrum & Daily News: Utah motorists ranked worst in US in road rage survey comparing states