Out of my way! Phoenix No. 2 for rude drivers

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...ivers0517.html

If you think Phoenix drivers are the rudest, most impatient and most discourteous in the country, you\'re wrong.

We\'re second.

According to a newly released survey of U.S. cities, the nastiest drivers on the highway are found in Miami, followed by Phoenix, New York City, Los Angeles and Boston.
The list was compiled by AutoVantage, a Connecticut auto-travel club, after a survey of 2,040 drivers in 20 major metropolitan areas.
\"They don\'t put on their signals when they switch lanes, they tailgate, they run red lights, they don\'t pay attention to what they\'re doing,\" Charlene Laswell of south Phoenix said as she ticked off her list of driving complaints.
Laswell, 51, said Valley drivers are among the rudest she has encountered, including those back East.
\"In Ohio, they\'re much more patient, and they\'re more willing to give you the right of way,\" Laswell said.
Her daughter, Lore McCuin, 24, said she has seen a change for the worse in Phoenix driving behavior in recent years.
\"It\'s a lot tougher here than it used to be, I\'ll tell you that,\" she said. \"I\'m pretty frustrated myself by other people\'s driving.\"
The Driver\'s Seat Road Rage Survey, conducted by Prince Marketing Research for AutoVantage, targets the root causes of road rage, a growing problem on U.S. highways and a major cause of crashes.
\"More and more, in cities across America, people are acting out their frustrations, with dangerous results,\" said AutoVantage spokesman Bobby Hamilton, a NASCAR driving champion. \"Road rage has unfortunately too often become a way of life both on and off the track.\"
The Valley\'s growing traffic problems, road construction and long commutes have heightened the stress for drivers throughout the Phoenix area, said Rick Knight, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
\"I don\'t feel we\'re any worse than a lot of cities, but if you look at the ones the survey identified (as worst), they\'re all large cities that have grown very rapidly and have a lot of new roads,\" Knight said. \"What I see mostly are drivers who show plenty of patience for what\'s been going on.\"
The survey\'s methodology and conclusions were faulted by another DPS spokesman, Harold Sanders, who said the number of survey respondents was too small to give an accurate assessment of driver courtesy. He also said the survey questions and responses were mostly irrelevant.
\"This courteous rating doesn\'t make sense to me,\" Sanders said. \"What they\'ve come up with is ridiculous. No validation, no verifiable information.\"
Phoenix-area drivers often spend extra time in their vehicles because of long commuting distances in dense traffic, which can add to impatience, said Linda Gorman, spokeswoman for AAA Arizona.

\"People tend to be a bit more frustrated because it\'s such a big, spread-out area,\" Gorman said. \"It can wear on anybody\'s nerves.\"

A more-critical problem seen by AAA is the increasing instances of distracted drivers, a likely cause of accidents, she said.

\"Distracted drivers talking on their cellphones, playing with their Blackberries, talking with their passengers. That\'s more of a prevalent problem that we see every day,\" she said. \"We\'re doing a lot more things in our cars that have nothing to do with driving.\"

 

Ya -- Saw this on the news last night. These people do drive pretty bad out here. I think if they were all to take a drivers test again alot of them would fail.

 

i hate dowtown chicago drivers

 

I heard this on the radio this morning....

 

California was concidered fast paced and bad drivers. When I moved out here 6 years ago I saw that the critics were wrong, drivers here are worse. I hate a-hole drivers so I try to stay away but sometimes I'll mess with them to make them see that they are driving like an idiot.

 

Yup. I know people that have two cars. One for driving, one for driving the Dan Ryan.

 

Guess we will have to work a little harder to become #1

 

I second that.

 

guaranteed were not #2 in the summertime

 

people here just dont know how to drive period!

 

I usually try to give people some credit and make the excuse they are driving like @$$Holes because the sun has baked their minds

Anyhow, after growing up in SoCal. Phoenix traffic can suck, but at least traffic patterns in the Phoenix area were thought out better then most cities.

 

I was raised in SO-CAL and grew up on freeways and I think S-Cal is the worst and I have to agree with the poll Phx does suck too !!!!!, but in all fairness Tucson is getting really bad too.........................
I dont feel safe ridin my Hog around town anymore and I' ve been ridin in Tucson since 1973
wingsaseagles

 

yes i love it. number 1 haha lol but it is true. i see way too many accidents here on a daily basis