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Study: 76% of people think road rage is getting worse. Here's why

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By Susan Meyer Info icon
Updated June 24, 2025
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Susan Meyer

Senior Editorial Manager

Susan is a licensed insurance agent and has worked as a writer and editor for over 10 years across a number of industries. She has worked at The Zebr…

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  • Licensed Insurance Agent — Property and Casualty
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Beth Swanson

Insurance Analyst

Beth joined The Zebra in 2022 as an Associate Content Strategist. A licensed insurance agent, she specializes in creating clear, accessible content t…

Credentials
  • Licensed Insurance Agent — Property and Casualty
  • Associate in Insurance
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  1. Key findings
  2. What people are experiencing
  3. Which cars are the worst on the road?
  4. Gender and generational differences
  5. Is road rage getting worse?
  6. Distracted driving is more concerning
  7. Avoiding road rage
  8. Methodology

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Driver behavior trends

Even with decades of advancements in automotive safety, driving is probably the most dangerous thing you do each day. 

While drivers have significant control over their own behavior—choosing how cautiously to drive, how fast to go, and what risks to take—there’s always an element of unpredictability. That unpredictability often comes in the form of other drivers.

Along with distracted driving and intoxicated driving, aggressive driving and road rage represent a major danger on the road. Aggressive driving and road rage alone contribute to 66% of traffic fatalities in the U.S. This can include behaviors like tailgating or weaving in and out of traffic to more directly antagonistic behaviors like shouting obscenities, rude gestures or even violence.

The Zebra periodically surveys drivers to learn what behaviors they’re experiencing (or committing) while on the road and their perception on how road rage is changing. Here’s what we learned:

Key findings

76% of people believe road rage has increased over the previous year. However, they still don’t think it’s as dangerous as distracted driving.

Ford was the make of car most associated with road rage behaviors.

The most commonly witnessed aggressive driving behavior was weaving in and out of traffic which 63% of respondents had seen in the last 6 months.

What aggressive behaviors are people seeing and experiencing in 2025?

When people think of road rage, they often think of the more targeted cases like yelling curses or rude gestures. Or they think of the more extreme violent cases that make the news with weapons being used or a vehicle being forced off the road.
 
However, aggressive driving behaviors like weaving in and out of traffic and tailgating are much more common and nevertheless destructive to traffic patterns and safety. 
 
In our study, when asked what aggressive driving behaviors they had witnessed in the past 6 months, weaving in and out of traffic was the number one answer with 63% of respondents reporting witnessing it. Tailgating and running a red light, which was the top witnessed behavior when we ran this survey in 2024, came in second and third. 
 
Overall, of our respondents 97% had witnessed at least one behavior on our list. 
Chart showing common road rage behaviors and how many people witnessed them.

When we shift the perspective to what people experienced themselves, instead of just witnessing, the answers changed. 

In terms of what they experienced, the top behavior was being tailgated. In some ways, this makes sense as you are probably less likely to notice tailgating unless it's happening to you. 

While experienced by much fewer people, some of the most aggressive and scary behaviors are still happening far too often.

For example, nearly 8% of people said they had been forced off the road in the last 6 months. 6% of people had another driver leave their vehicle to confront them. And 5% of people had someone start a physical fight with them. These are the types of situations where a disagreement on the road can turn seriously damaging...and even deadly. 

Chart showing common road rage behaviors experienced

So, who is doing all this tailgating, light running, and cutting off of other drivers? Apparently, not the survey respondents.

When asked what behaviors they themselves had committed in the past 6 months, 44% said absolutely none, which was the number one answer. That's actually even higher than when we ran the survey last year. 22% admitted to honking at another driver out of anger. Interestingly, this was only fifth on the list of witnessed behaviors and fourth on the list of experienced behaviors. 

This draws into question the reliability of people to monitor and reflect on their own behavior. People are naturally much better at witnessing and reporting bad behaviors in others than in admitting to it themselves, even anonymously.

Which cars are the worst on the road?

We asked respondents if there was a make of car that they thought was the most associated with the road rage behaviors they were witnessing. A little less than half of the respondents didn't think there was a correlation between a particular make and driving behavior. 

Of those who saw worse behavior from some vehicles more than others, the worst offenders were reported to be those driving Fords. Nearly 12% of respondents cited Ford drivers as most associated with aggressive driving. The make of car that was the second most associated with road rage was BMW, with 7% of respondents choosing it. 

There were some clear differences across generations for this question. Boomers were the least likely to connect road rage to a specific model of car. Meanwhile, Gen Z thought Ford drivers were the worst by the widest margin. 

Interesting differences across generations

When looking at the data across generations and gender, we see similarities and differences in what was witnessed, experienced and committed.

For example, these are the top witnessed behaviors by generation and the percentage of people who witnessed them.

  • Gen Z: Weaving in and out of traffic (60% of people witnessed)
  • Millennials: Weaving in and out of traffic (60% of people witnessed)
  • Gen X: Tailgating (69% of people witnessed)
  • Boomers: Tailgating (69% of people witnessed)

This begs the question: Are different generations witnessing different occurrences of aggressive driving, or are they just more attuned to notice different behaviors? This is also a reversal from when we previously ran this survey. Back in 2024, Gen Z was seeing more tailgating, and the older generations were the ones seeing more weaving in and out of traffic. 

We also see differences in what was experienced, but along the same lines (with Gen X and Boomers sharing a top behavior):

  • Gen Z: Being cut off (20% of people experienced)
  • Millennials: Being tailgated (17% of people experienced)
  • Gen X: Being tailgated (18% of people experienced)
  • Boomers: Being tailgated (30% of people experienced)

There is one data point on which the generations are absolutely in lockstep and that’s on the road rage or aggressive driving behaviors they themselves commit. Across generations, people reported first that they didn’t do any of them, and if they did, it was universally honking out of anger. 

Different road rage behaviors are reported by different genders

While men and women shared many opinions on the severity of road rage, there was one key difference in what they were witnessing. Men were much more likely to witness running a red light, and it was the most common behavior reported by male respondents. Women, meanwhile, reported weaving in and out of traffic as the most frequently seen behavior. 

Both men and women said being tailgated was the aggressive driving behavior they most frequently experienced. 

Is road rage getting worse?

We asked respondents if they thought road rage had gotten worse since the previous year and the overwhelming majority said yes. In fact, 76% of people believe that road rage has increased, and that number held reasonably steady across all generations and genders.

So, has road rage actually gotten worse? 

When we did this survey in 2024, as in 2025, the top behavior people had experienced was tailgating. In 2024, around 45% of people had experienced it. And in our recent survey, around 52% of people had, so that did go up slightly. 

However, the reverse was true for some of the most aggressive behaviors. In 2024, over 13% of people said they had been forced off the road by another driver, compared to 8% in 2025. Similarly, in 2024, 10% of people said another driver got out of their vehicle to confront them, compared to 6% in 2025.

While the most dangerous road rage situations seem to be happening less, the more common behaviors that are witnessed every day may be happening more. This could be why people's perception is that road rage is getting worse. 

People are less concerned with road rage than other driving issues

We asked respondents to rank which they consider the greatest threat to driver safety: distracted driving, intoxicated driving, road rage or aggressive driving, speeding, reckless driving, or drowsy driving. Distracted driving was the clear winner. 34% of drivers ranked it as their number one. Speeding and reckless driving were second. 

Only 14% of respondents listed road rage and aggressive driving as the most dangerous driving behaviors. What’s interesting is that Zebra’s previous studies show a correlation with distracted driving actually being a root cause of many cases of road rage. People are increasingly frustrated with distracted drivers, which can make them take out that frustration on the drivers around them.

How to avoid road rage

If this study shows us anything, it is that people are driving aggressively on the road, even if they aren’t aware they’re doing it.

Pay attention to your own behavior when you’re driving. Are you following too closely? Acting in an aggressive manner? Breezing through that light as it turned? On your cell phone while waiting at a light? 

If another driver is behaving erratically or aggressively, do not engage. Try to stay well clear of them and— if the situation warrants it — report to law enforcement when it is safe to do so.

You can get more tips for avoiding road rage situations here. 

Methodology

This survey was conducted by Survey Monkey in June 2025 and received responses from 825 American drivers. 

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