Aggressive driving—fast acceleration, hard braking, speeding. GasBuddy, a PDI Technologies company, released the results of its annual aggressive holiday driving study. It reveals that U.S. drivers are up to 48% more aggressive on the roads during the holiday season. The study ranked the top 50 U.S. metros from most to least aggressive, placing Tucson, Arizona, at the top of the “naughty list”, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, as the city with the “nicest” holiday drivers, rising six spots from 7th in 2022.
Aggressive driving numbers polled from millions of drives
To build their list, GasBuddy looked at millions of drives during 2023’s Thanksgiving holiday weekend. It measured the number of events of speeding, hard braking, and fast acceleration.
Top 10 cities with most aggressive drivers
- Tucson, AZ
- Nashville, TN
- Orlando, FL
- Jacksonville, FL
- New Orleans, LA
- Richmond, VA
- Salt Lake City, UT
- Buffalo, NY
- Memphis, TN
- Oklahoma City, OK
Two Florida cities made the “naughty list” for the second year in a row, though Tampa, Florida, fell to the 13th most aggressive city. New Orleans also found itself in the top 10 most aggressive cities this year, rising from 14th in 2022.
Nice List – Top 10 Cities with the least aggressive holiday drivers
- Minneapolis, MN
- Providence, RI
- Portland, OR
- Seattle, WA
- Cleveland, OH
- Norfolk, VA
- Hartford, CT
- Las Vegas, NV
- Rochester, NY
- Columbus, OH
“Driving during the holiday season can be stressful, but it’s important to remember to stay calm and courteous on the road,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “Additionally, aggressive driving can negatively impact fuel efficiency, causing drivers to waste money that could be spent on holiday celebrations or gifts for loved ones.”
The full rankings can be found here. The most frequent aggressive driving habits during the holidays are: (1) hard braking, (2) speeding, and (3) rapid acceleration.
Methodology: The findings were compiled using data from GasBuddy’s optional, opt-in Drives Feature in the GasBuddy app that offers drivers an assessment of their driving habits during their trip to improve fuel efficiency, mapping out where a poor driving habit occurred. GasBuddy examined 8,149,863 drives in the top 50 metropolitan areas by population as defined by the United States Census Bureau from November 23-26, 2023, noting all events of fast acceleration, hard braking and speeding.
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When I took Drivers Education – 1964- being a “courteous” driver was part of the course. Guess that class has been deleted from the current course.
And while I am complaining- “What goes around; comes around.” Has been also deleted from the parents handbook!
I took Driver Education in 1973 and courteous driving was still taught then, here in east Tennessee.
Hope that was sardonic?
We travel all over the country and avoid cities for the most part. Without fail though, we encounter the most aggressive drivers when we return to our home area in coastal Virginia. As soon as we’re east of I-95 on I-64 (Richmond/Hampton/Norfolk/VA Beach), better be on high alert.
I don’t know HOW they can come up with lists like these – and show Las Vegas in the list of “least aggressive” drivers. Might as well add New York City to that list. Just as ridiculous!
They must have looked at Norfolk, Virginia, when all the aircraft carriers were deployed. Those young naval aviation types live for speed.
We noticed that recently in VA Beach…exactly what my husband said!
No California cities listed on the naughty list 🤔Who paid for this report anyways??
I moved to the Southern CA a while ago. To my surprise, I find the drivers mostly tame. What does blow my mind is how many people are on their phones. I haven’t taken a car trip and not witnessed someone looking at their phone while driving.
I always say the police could make a killing if they fined these menaces and make the roads safer. And yes, those people ARE menaces, driving over the lines, going too slow, slamming on the brakes.
Yup !
I hope Utah’s attempt at their passage of the road rage bill passes. They would be able to take your car if you’re caught and convicted.
As long as they wait until after conviction before taking your car, no problem. The way the law is written currently it is subjective and unconstitutional confiscation before trial and conviction.
So much the better! I take a zero tolerance approach to this.
Any of our other constitutional protections your willing to sacrifice or is it just the 4th and 6th ammendments? I kind of like them all but, thats just me.
I’m all for zero tolerance but it has to be done respecting the constitutional rights and protections enshrined in our constitution and subsequently afforded to all Americans.
It’s difficult to be an aggressive driver in either Seattle or Portland with their daily traffic gridlock!
Thank you, Russ and Tina! I agree that Nashville is bad. One possibly contributing factor is that I-65, I-40, and I-24 all cross one another there. Invariably if you are on one and wish to switch to another one, then you must cross at least two lanes of traffic, sometimes in less than a mile. Forty years ago I had no qualms about driving to or through Nashville, but now I avoid it entirely. I am surprised that DC and Boston failed to make the most-aggressive top 10. Having lived and driven in both for several years, I shudder to imagine how bad the top ten must be if they are all worse than either. Yikes! 🤔😲
“aggressive driving can negatively impact fuel efficiency, causing drivers to waste money that could be spent on holiday celebrations or gifts for loved ones”. LOL Talk about gaslighting! No WAY will you save enough money on fuel to buy presents! smh…
Another good reason to go electric. We can be aggressive and economical all at the same time while shopping for our loved ones with all that left over money once our home charging station has been paid for.
fffff right?!?
And EVs evidently accelerate FASTER! so they can brake harder to regen the batteries. Yep, give me an EV to drive thru a city and all of the Interstate Exchanges.
Except for the “driverless” EVs that hit pedestrians and cause collisions.
Smile now, but wait for the screwing the electric companies will be giving us. The utilities companies in NEPA have already started. Plus the problems the electric vehicles will be having with the new vehicles. I’ve experienced it now with the new vehicles. We’ve had three in the last two years.
Uh, I think he was speaking tongue-in-cheek Bob
No way It’s the truth
Matts correct Bob M. All said in jest. No EV on my shopping list either.
There is a huge difference between aggressive driving, rude driving, and oblivious driving
I’m not sure how Hartford Ct got on the nice list. I’ve driven 91 and 84 many times and those drivers are nuts. Cutting you off and speeding way past the posted limits. Maybe they paid someone off to get on the Good List.
I-95 “North of Richmond ” the insaneiest place I have ever driven.
Agreed, Greg. We lived there for 26 years. We return to see our former-neighbors and to go to our old church. Thankfully the campground we use is south of I-495. 🙂 We only drive our towed Jeep in and around DC; the RV stays well away from it. 🙂
I lived near Cleveland for 7 years. I think one reason for their rating is the fact that the police actually patrol and stop aggressive and speeding drivers. I now live near Pittsburgh and the traffic is horrendous. Speeding (15-20mph above the speed limit), unsignaled and abrupt lane changes, inattentive drivers, tailgating plus very few police on the interstates.
I4 across the FL peninsula! I hates it! I really hates it! Years ago on FL’s west coast they sold a bumper sticker. Pray for me I drive US29
Las Vegas is a “least aggressive” city? Right! @@
Thank god Annetta North, Texas is not on this list.