Toronto, Ontario — Look at the driver to your left. Now, look at the driver on your right. You better start sizing one of them up, because odds are they are willing to throw hands over the lane you just blocked them out of, according to a recent poll conducted by Leger and published by RATESDOTCA.
Okay, maybe things don’t need to go that far, but the poll did find that 51 percent of Canadians admit to engaging in road rage of some kind, with 78 percent reporting that they themselves have been a witness to some amount of highway shenanigans.
Road rage, like most of the primate nonsense we humans engage in, is never worth it, as the study found that 28 percent of Canadians say they have witnessed an accident directly caused by road rage.
“Road rage has real consequences,” said chartered insurance professional and expert at RATESDOTCA, Tanisha Kishan.
“It increases the risk of accident or serious injury, and any collision or injury will also drive up auto insurance premiums for the person at fault. When you’re frustrated while driving, take a deep breath and let it go. Retaliation is not worth the risk.”
It was found that 17 percent of men are likely to offer an obscene gesture to their fellow motorists, as compared to 12 percent of women. Similarly, men seem to quite enjoy offering advice (yelling from their window) more than women do (10 percent versus six percent) and are more likely to exit their vehicle for a friendly chat with the other driver (four percent versus one percent).
The Ontario Provincial Police reported the number of fatal motor vehicle accidents due to speeding and aggressive driving was up 31 percent last year, with the number of fatalities rising from 62 in 2020 to 81 in 2021.
Luckily, the study does confirm that drivers tend to mellow out with age, however, noting that only 38 percent of drivers older than 55 admitted to engaging in road rage, as compared to 64 percent of drivers between the ages of 18 and 34.
According to RATESDOTCA, the online survey of 1,507 Canadians (1,341 licensed drivers) was conducted between June 17 and 19.
