Angriest drivers are from London

THE CAPITAL CITY of the UK is home to the country’s angriest drivers, with 63% of those who drive in London admitting that getting behind the wheel of a car made them aggressive and angry.

The most common reasons for drivers’ bad moods in London are traffic jams (45%), cyclists and pedestrians (34%) and waiting at traffic lights and junctions (33%). Lorries and delivery drivers also accounted for 26% and bad manners from other drivers ranked with 24%.

Other sources of anger for drivers across the UK include bad parking cited by 22%, slow drivers at 17% and school run parents that account for 12% of responses to research by ColinAppleyard.com.

However, the same drivers who become angry with others admitted they would flash their lights at other road users (60%) in an aggressive manner, sound the horn (45%), make rude hand gestures (31%), shout (23%) and even get involved in physical confrontations (1%).

The same survey also found that drivers in the Scottish Highlands (19%) and the North of England (17%) were the least likely to suffer from driving anger. The report notes: ‘There are still some big cities in the north, such as Newcastle, Leeds and Sheffield, but drivers seem to be far more courteous than they are down south.

‘All drivers are in charge of a machine that weighs as much as two tonnes. You've got a duty of care to operate it safely and you can't do that when you're angry.’

By Press Association reporters