You may feel the road rage during rush hour, but a new study says St. Louis drivers are actually the third nicest in the country.
St. Louis comes in right behind No. 1 Portland and No. 2 Pittsburgh on a list of the most courteous drivers in the U.S., according to a study commissioned by roadside assistance provider AutoVantage. Houston was named the city with the worst road rage.
Researchers ranked cities based on surveys with 2,500 adults age 21 and older who personally drive in rush-hour traffic three days per week or more in America's 25 largest cities.
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Compared to other cities, St. Louis drivers are the least likely to see another driver running a red light, shaking a fist at a driver or tailgating another car.
St. Louis drivers seem to have gotten nicer in the last five years. When AutoVantage commissioned a similar study in 2009, St. Louis was named No. 8 for most courteous drivers.
The results also show that while drivers have cut back on several distractions, texting while driving is still a serious problem. Observations of texting while driving increased by 9 percent between 2009 and 2014, while observations of eating, drinking and talking on the phone while driving went down by more than 11 percent.
The five cities with the most courteous drivers are, in order, Portland, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, San Francisco and Charlotte. The five cities with the least courteous drivers are Houston, Atlanta, Baltimore, Washington, D.C. and Boston.
Follow Lindsay Toler on Twitter at @StLouisLindsay. E-mail the author at [email protected].
