DFW Ranks Second in Road Rage Survey

An automobile club has named Metroplex drivers the most aggressive outside of the Big Apple.

AutoVantage ranked Dallas-Fort Worth second in cities with the worst road rage and most aggressive drivers, with New York City taking first place.

"Cars create ambiguity," said Chad Henry, the owner of 123 Driving School. "With that, it's like a license for us to engage in bad behavior."

Tailgating, speeding and distractions were key factors in AutoVantage's annual survey of drivers across the country.

"The road rage situations happen because we as a driver believe that the other person did that on purpose to us," Henry said. "Then we become outraged."

Mark Anderson, a personal-injury attorney, says distracted driving can spark road-rage incidents.

"There's more cell phones, and now people are texting and reading e-mails on the cell phone," he said. "That's bad driving anyway, but it also makes other drivers mad."

Anderson said he is seeing an increase in road rage across North Texas.

"A lot of times, we can't even locate the person that started the road rage or started the aggressive driving," he said. "Then we just hope our client bought uninsured motorist coverage."

Henry, who has taught driving for 13 years, says drivers should switch gears and let the road rage pass.

"It's just the reality of, no they're just a bad driver or maybe the person is having a really bad day," he said.

In an effort to help reduce road rage, Anderson is trying to instill good driving habits early in young drivers with defensive driving instruction.

"If they sign the pledge not to text and drive, then we give them a bracelet, which hopefully will serve as a reminder," he said.

The bracelet is orange, with the words "I PLDG 2 NT TXT N DRV."

AutoVantage based its rankings on a survey of 2,500 drivers across the country. Detroit, Atlanta, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Phoenix, Miami, Houston, Cincinnati and San Diego also made the group's top 10 list.

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