Half of Canadians guilty of road rage, survey says

A new survey says 51% of Canadians have engaged in road-rage behaviors and 78% have witnessed it.

The poll, conducted by Leger on behalf of RATESDOTCA, also found 28% of Canadians have seen an accident due to road rage.

The survey also says men are more likely than women to engage in obscene gesturing (17% versus 12%), rolling down the window to yell (10% versus 6%), and stopping and exiting the vehicle (4% versus 1%).

“Road rage has real consequences,” says Tanisha Kishan, RATESDOTCA expert and chartered insurance professional, in a statement. “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.”

According to the Ontario Provincial Police, the number of fatal motor vehicle accidents due to speeding and aggressive driving was up 31% last year, with the number of fatalities rising from 62 in 2020 to 81 in 2021.

The good news is as people get older, road rage seems to disappear with 64% of Canadian drivers, aged 18-34, saying they have engaged in road rage versus only 38% of those aged 55 or older.

The polls also shows 28% have seen someone rolling down the window to yell at another driver, 16% have witnessed a driver stopping and exiting the vehicle to confront another person versus 3% who have engaged in it.

The online survey of 1,507 Canadians (1,341 licensed drivers) was done between June 17-19, 2022 using Leger’s online panel with no margin of error associated with a non-probability sample (i.e. a web panel in this case). For comparative purposes, a probability sample of 1,507 respondents would have a margin of error of ±2.5%, 19 times out of 20.