Other answers went beyond making displeasure known:

• 7% had accelerated to prevent another driver from passing or merging.
• 5% had braked suddenly in front of another driver.
• 5% had deliberately followed another vehicle closely.
• 4% had followed a driver for some distance after the original incident.
• 3% had gotten out of their vehicle to confront someone.

Using a vehicle to make a point
A separate question asked whether respondents had ever deliberately used their vehicle to make another driver, cyclist or pedestrian feel threatened during an argument or confrontation.

About one in seven (15%) said they had, and roughly half of them had done it more than once. Another 17% had considered it but not acted on the thought. In total, almost a third of drivers (32%) have either used their vehicle to intimidate someone or thought about doing so.

That question moves the discussion well beyond bad manners. A horn can express frustration; using a vehicle to frighten someone introduces a very different kind of threat.

When road rage escalates
A quarter of respondents (25%) said they had been involved in a road-rage incident that escalated beyond shouting or gestures. That 25% breaks down as:

• 10% said another driver had followed them.
• 6% said someone had gotten out of a vehicle.
• 4% said they had followed another driver.
• 2% reported a physical confrontation.
• 2% said a vehicle had deliberately been used to threaten or intimidate someone.
• 1% said police had become involved.

Running late, taking chances
Anger wasn’t the only factor in questionable decisions. The survey also asked motorists what they had done because they were angry, frustrated or in a hurry.

More than one in five (22%) admitted driving far faster than they normally would, while 17% had accelerated through a changing light. The appeal is easy to recognize: nobody enjoys watching the clock while traffic barely moves. The resulting decisions are harder to justify.

Respondents also reported:

• Aggressively swerving around slower traffic: 9%
• Making a risky lane change: 8%
• Following another vehicle too closely: 7%
• Passing despite limited space or visibility: 6%
• Racing or trying to “beat” another driver: 6%

A small dent and a revealing decision
The survey then presented a hypothetical scenario: after accidentally striking another vehicle and seeing only minor damage, what would respondents most likely do.

Most (89%) chose an option that involved stopping or leaving information: 61% would stop and exchange details, 17% would try to find the owner of an unattended vehicle, and 11% would leave a note before continuing their trip.

Around one in ten were prepared to let circumstances decide:

• 6% would drive away if they thought the damage was too minor to matter.
• 4% would drive away if they believed nobody had seen what happened.

Of course, “too minor to matter” is an easier judgment to make when the repair bill belongs to someone else.

Who has actually left the scene?
The final question moved from a hypothetical scrape to respondents’ own experiences: had they ever been tempted to leave the scene of a collision rather than stop and deal with the consequences?

In all, 21% had felt that temptation. Of all drivers surveyed, 7% acted on it and left, while 14% were tempted but stayed.

That distinction matters. Thinking about avoiding an unpleasant situation and actually leaving it behind are two very different decisions, especially for the person left to deal with the damage.

“Most drivers can give you a detailed account of everyone else’s bad habits. It’s harder to recognize the moment we start making excuses for our own,” said Brett Rosen, partner at Brett Rosen Law. “Being late, missing an exit, or struggling to find parking can be frustrating, but it doesn’t make another person’s safety less important. The most concerning answers here involve intimidation and leaving after a collision. Those decisions can leave someone else dealing with consequences long after the original frustration has passed.”
 

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