Are British motorists in a state of perpetual rage?

A survey of 1,500 British road users conducted by the website Flexed.co.uk has identified the top causes of the nation’s road rage. As drivers, we all have our pet peeves; according to the survey responses, most drivers can identify something that grinds their gears – and it appears to be everything.

Flexed.co.uk said that every driver to whom it spoke told them something that irritated them, from a lack of a ‘thank you’ when they let somebody in, to driving with full beams on the other side of a dual carriageway via seeing dumping cigarette butts out of the car window.

“It seems that our road users were itching to get something off their collective chest,” said Flexed.co.uk spokesperson Mark Hall, “And our survey certainly opened the floodgates. Our researchers tell us they have never heard so much undisguised fury. And the big question we have to ask as a result is this: Is road etiquette dead in the UK?”

The top 20 annoyances about other UK road users

1.             Lack of courtesy – people who don’t thank you

2.             Using a mobile phone while driving

3.             Driving too slowly in the middle or fast lane

4.             Cyclists running red lights

5.             Tractors that don’t pull over to let faster traffic past

6.             Bad parking

7.             Tail-gating and driving too close

8.             Throwing cigarette ends out of the window

9.             People who don’t indicate

10.          Loud music

11.          Not moving up in a traffic jam, letting other cars in

12.          Not dipping headlights at night

13.          Seeing other drivers picking their nose

14.          Drivers who block the road when an emergency vehicle is trying to get through

15.          Motorbikes filtering through a traffic jam

16.          Wheel spinning

17.          Dirty or unreadable licence plates

18.          Spitting out of the window

19.          People who keep changing lanes in traffic jams

20.          Drivers who slow down to look at an accident

Flexed.co.uk also identified its favourite unusual gripes:

• “Baby on board signs. Do they want a medal or something?”
• “Personalised number plates. I get it, you’ve got money to waste.”
• “Oncoming drivers who flash you to try to tell you something. I’m not psychic.”
• “Fog lights. It’s not foggy. There’s no fog.” (Though Flexed.co.uk admits that this person may have been channelling a certain North Norfolk Digital DJ.)
• “I just hate people who turn right. Stop turning right, you’re in my way.”

“It’s very easy for us to suggest that drivers take a more relaxed attitude to their motoring when they’ve been stuck in a traffic jam for the best part of an hour,” Flexed.co.uk ‘s Mark Hall says, “but it’s something that hard-put road-users really have to take on board. We need a more live-and-let-live attitude. To steal David Cameron’s words – we’re all in this together.” (Tyrepress notes that Hall is not a High School Musical fan…)