America's rudest drivers aren't in Boston or New York after all


When you think of jerks on the road, finger-flipping New York drivers or horn-addicted Bostonians may come to mind. But according to a new survey from Insure.com, the rudest drivers in America are actually in Idaho. Yes, Idaho.
New York (No. 3) and Massachusetts (No. 5) still rank highly, with Washington, D.C., coming in at No. 2 and another sparsely populated Western state, Wyoming, ranked fourth. But Idaho takes the cake, Insure.com says, because of its "dichotomy of drivers: Those who are moving so slowly that they're judged to be rude, and the aggressive drivers who speed around them and flip them off." Arizonans (No. 34) hate Idaho drivers the most; Californians (No. 17) hate drivers from other states the most.
The nicest drivers in the nation, according to Insure's survey, are in North Dakota, Maine, New Hampshire, Montana, Minnesota, and Oregon. Maybe bad weather makes for courteous drivers? The things that most anger drivers about their fellow motorists, the survey found, are talking on a cellphone while driving, tailgating, refusing to use turn signals, weaving between lanes, and driving too fast.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
You can see how your state ranks in the map below. --Peter Weber

Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.