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Road rage on the rise, Australian drivers becoming more aggressive

The overwhelming majority of motorists believe Australian drivers are becoming more aggressive.


A survey of 3740 Australians by insurance provider GIO revealed that 85 per cent believe drivers are more aggressive than ever before.

The study revealed Brisbane drivers are the angriest, while Sydney motorists are involved in less road rage than drivers in any other major capital city.

In total, 95 per cent of Brisbane motorists have been on the receiving end of road rage.

Adelaide and Perth tied for second with 90 per cent of drivers exposed to road rage. Perhaps surprisingly, Melbourne (87 per cent) and Sydney (84 per cent) returned the lowest levels of road rage among Australia’s major capital cities.

Across the country, 88 per cent of respondents said they had been the victim of road rage.

Rude gestures were the most common form of road rage (72.5 per cent), while more than half of those surveyed had also been the target of tailgating (57.4 per cent) and verbal abuse (53.3 per cent).

Almost one quarter of people (23.4 per cent) said they had been followed in their car by an enraged driver. The rate was higher for women than men.

Alarmingly, more than one in 10 people (10.1 per cent) said they had been forced off the road during a road rage incident, while 5.9 per cent said another driver caused damage to their car and 2.2 per cent had been physically assaulted in a road rage incident.

The survey revealed you are 10 per cent more likely to be tailgated or receive verbal abuse when driving in Queensland compared with Victoria or New South Wales.

Although 86 per cent of respondents said congestion was the major cause of road rage, the statistics did not support this, with similar levels of raging reported in capital cities as the rest of the state.

Do you believe Australian drivers are becoming more aggressive and believe that road rage is on the rise? Have you noticed it is worse in certain states or cities? And what do you think it the major cause? Feel free to vent your frustrations in the comments section below.

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