You might want to lay off the horn the next time you’re behind the wheel in California.
The Golden State is No. 1 in the nation in terms of road rage, according to a new Forbes Advisor study ranking the U.S. states with the most confrontational drivers.
The personal finance platform surveyed 10,000 licensed drivers and compared all 50 states across nine key metrics, including the percentage of drivers who have witnessed road rage or experienced it themselves.
“Driving in the U.S. is getting increasingly dangerous due to confrontational driving,” Forbes Advisor said, adding that the number of violent road rage incidents across the United States has “surged” over the past decade.
Road rage shootings increased by more than 400% between 2014 and 2023, according to The Trace’s analysis of data from the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive.
California has the most confrontational drivers in the country, Forbes Advisor said, with “a high percentage of drivers experiencing some type of road rage, including being cut off, cursed at and tailgating.”
This year, it replaced Arizona as the No. 1 state in the United States for road rage.
This is a huge jump from 2023, when California was ranked at No. 13.
According to Forbes Advisor, California had the third-highest percentage of drivers who have had other motorists cut them off on purpose in 2024.
Nearly 50% of drivers in California have experienced this, the study found
California ranked fourth in the nation in terms of the percentage of drivers who have “been on the receiving end of yelling, insults, curses or threats,” according to Forbes Advisor.
About 32% of drivers in the Golden State have faced verbal abuse from other motorists.
About 11% of California drivers have seen other motorists leave their vehicles to fight or yell at them, Forbes Advisor said, and about 35% reported that other drivers tried to block their car from merging or changing lanes.
This is a stark contrast to Hawaii, which was ranked at the bottom of the list of states with confrontational drivers.
In Hawaii, only 1% of drivers experienced road rage very frequently.
Which 10 states have the most confrontational drivers?
These are the top 10 states in the United States with the most confrontational drivers, according to Forbes Advisor:
1. California
2. Missouri
3. Utah
4. Oklahoma
5. Colorado
6. Mississippi
7/8. Virginia (tie)
7/8. Indiana (tie)
9. New York
10. Maryland
According to Forbes Advisor, 41% of drivers witnessed an act of road rage in the past 12 months, while 32% experienced road rage from another driver and 22% felt road rage themselves.
Drivers who responded to the personal financial site’s survey said the the top reasons cited for feeling road rage included:
—Another driver was driving badly (40%)
—Another driver was driving aggressively (38%)
—Another driver cut me off (31%)
—I was already feeling stressed (29%)
—Another driver was tailgating me (27%)
About 36% of drivers reported experiencing road rage most frequently on freeways or highways, while 27% encountered aggressive drivers on city streets.
Other hot spots for road rage included intersections, parking lots and rural roads.
About 33% of survey respondents told Forbes Advisors that they saw truck drivers exhibiting road rage.
Drivers of SUVs and sports cars were also among the top culprits.
To determine which U.S. states have the most confrontational drivers, Forbes Advisor compared all 50 states across nine metrics.
These included the percentages of drivers who reported that other motorists forced their car off the road, exited their vehicle to confront them and tried to block their car from merging or changing lanes.
Data for all metrics came from a survey of 10,000 licensed U.S. drivers who are at least 18 years old and own or lease at least one car.
This survey was conducted by market research company Talker Research between May 30 and June 14.
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