The summer road trip season is about to begin, which means plenty of people are about to go get their tire pressure checked, their oil changed, and give their car a general tune-up. But, before anyone hits the road this summer, there’s one more thing they should do: Take a few deep breaths. Especially if they’re driving through Louisiana.
In April, Consumer Affairs released its study showing the states with the most and least incidences of road rage, based on factors like “gun violence, fatal accidents attributed to aggressive or careless driving, fatalities due to aggressive or careless driving, and citations for careless or aggressive driving (including excessive speed),” data it collected via the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Gun Violence Archive. After looking at the data, the group named Louisiana as the state with the worst road rage.
“Louisiana drivers sure seem to be in a hurry to get somewhere or are distracted while driving. With one of the country’s highest rates of careless driving and speeding citations, the state leads our list for aggressive drivers,” the findings noted. “Unfortunately, aggressive and careless driving behaviors are a factor in 62.2% of Louisiana’s accidents, resulting in an increase in fatalities in the state that corresponds with a similar nationwide spike in traffic fatalities.”
Joining Lousiana high on the list is New Mexico, which it named the state with the second-worst road rage. “While New Mexico doesn’t necessarily experience more road rage incidents than other states, it does have a higher per capita rate of driver confrontations involving a gun,” the findings added.
Montana, Colorado, and Arkansas rounded out the top states for road rage incidences. As for who is the calmest in the nation, the study named New Hampshire the calmest of them all.
“What’s the secret to New Hampshire’s calm roads? Interestingly, the Granite State earned a higher (worse) score for more armed road rage incidents per capita than New Jersey and Arkansas, but this was heavily outweighed by its incredibly low percentage of accidents involving careless or aggressive driving (just 14.6% of accidents in the state),” the findings said. It was joined by South Dakota, Virginia, and California, and in second place, Rhode Island, for the calmest states.
“South Dakota also deserves a tip of the hat as one of only three states in the U.S. with no armed road rage incidents, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive,” it added.
So this summer, stay vigilant, and if you happen to be driving through Louisiana, at least you can stop in the town of Minden, named the “friendliest neighborhood in the south.”
See the full findings at consumeraffairs.com.
