Without any doubt, motorcycle riders are highly vulnerable in road rage situations. A car makes for a formidable weapon against a motorcycle, and it’s often easier for the driver to access a firearm. With that in mind, it’s good to know which states are most likely to have road rage incidents, and what sort of conflicts will occur. With that, we present the national road range rankings.
H&P Law in Las Vegas took data from The Trace and the NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System to compile its report. Different road rage actions were given different weights when determining a state’s rating. The heaviest-rated criteria were the number of fatal accidents and the number of fatalities as a result of Aggressive/Careless Driving. Firearm-related incidents were next. The lowest weighted numbers were Accidents Involving Aggressive/Careless Driving and Speeding Violations.
With those numbers in mind, let’s start with the good news.
The smallest state in the union, Rhode Island, has the lowest score of 40 on a scale of 40 to 90. Rhode Island did exceptionally well in the Accidents with Fatalities due to Aggressive/Careless Driving department, where it had the lowest per-100k-residents rate.
At the opposite end of the size and population scale is California, which had the 2nd-best (lowest) Road Rage rating at 42.6. California scored well with the 3rd-lowest Speeding Violations rate in the country and the 4th-lowest Firearm-Related Road Rage Incidents rate. Virginia tied with California with a 42.6 rating thanks to having the 3rd-lowest Percentage of Accidents due to Aggressive/Carless Driving and the 5th-lowest Accidents with Fatalities due to Aggressive/Careless Driving.
New Hampshire (42.9), New York (43.5), Massachusetts (43.8), Washington (44.6), Wyoming (45.2), South Dakota (46.0), and Iowa (46.2) round out the ten states with the lowest Road Rage scores.
According to the study, Louisiana is the worst state for road rage, with a 90 score. The Pelican State got there with the 2nd-worst rate of speeding violations, the 3rd-worst rate of Accidents with Fatalities due to Aggressive/Careless Driving, and the 4th-worst rate of Percentage of Accident due to Aggressive/Careless Driving.
New Mexico has the 2nd-worst Road Rage rating with an 89.4 score, scoring 4th-worst in Accidents With Fatalities due to Aggressive/Careless Driving and the highest Firearm-Related Road Rage Incident rate. Montana came in 3rd-worst with an 88.7 score with two 2nd-worst rankings—Percentage of Accidents due to Aggressive/Careless Driving and Accidents With Fatalities due to Aggressive/Careless Driving.
Arkansas (85.6), Colorado (78.4), North Carolina (71.4), Delaware (69.6), Florida (68.8), Wisconsin (67.7), and Tennessee (67.1) fill out the top 10 states with the worst Road Rage ratings.
While each of us will have different views of the methodology of the States With the Most and Least Road Rage study, it’s best to avoid road rage conflicts whenever possible, especially if you’re on a motorcycle.
